The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop OT Honda front end

TAking a break from my '51 and need to do some work on the front end of my wife's ,99 Honda Accord. I ned to replace the ball joints but wonder about a few other items. Should I replace all the bushing in the Lower Control Arm while I at it? Also I need to remove the steering knuckle so should I have new bearings pressed in?
The only reson I feel somewhat confident about tackling this job is because I redid the front end on my truck! Thanks for any and all advice.

Put it on a ship back to Japan & get a good car.

I'll work on my trucks, and can do anything to them.
But I don't work on my newish car, it's no fun.
Save yourself the headache and have a profesional play with your car. The new stuff is often more confusing than they look.
And don't they look confusing to start with?

:p :mad: :rolleyes: :p

If you can work on your truck you should be able to work on the car.learning foriegn mechanical stuff shouldn't be any harder than learning domestic,maybe a good excuse to buy some new tools .

It's just no fun to work on the new stuff. And who wants to buy tools to use on something that is no fun?
It's like buying a post hole digger, the manual type, no one wants to because if you have one then you have to use it.

And what if you got good at working on the new stuff, you know what all your friends will want.....

I'm facing the same job on my '66 Pontiac Catalina.As much as we all hate to spend $$$,I think since you have to pull it all apart anyway,you should ask a trustworthy front end man what HE'D replace in your circumstances ,and replace all the replaceable parts he suggests-then you'll know you won't have to worry about 'em down the road. Get a good shop manual for the car and learn as much as you can about the job before you begin. Wouldn't be a bad idea to foster a friendship with a good alignment tech,too.

Speed

Don't listen to the haters.

Yes, do all the bushings you can. It will handle like new.

I'm happy with my '04 Honda, and I like to work on newer cars just as much as old ones.

Thanks for your encouraging reply! What is your thought about doing the bearings?

Work on your new car if you want... I've quit working on my '89 because I don't like the complexity. I prefer the simplicity of the old stuff.

And my old stuff doesn't have to run every day, so I can work at my own pace. My newer stuff has to work (the '89 and the wife's car) so its less stress to just hire everything done on them. Took me a while to figure that out, but it sure works better for me that way.

If you can afford to hire the work done, the next question is can you afford the time and disruption to do the work yourself. You know my answer, but yours could be different.

If the hubs aren't making any noise or have play in them, leave them alone. You'll have to take them to a machine shop to have them pressed out. You'll most likely need to do the bushing anyway, they seem to be a problem on the Honda's. Be carefull though. The control arms are very easy to bend if you don't have the proper press to change them. You may consider getting the entire arm, which has a new balljoint and bshing in it. Just install the new arms and have the alignment checked and you're done, no pressing out old parts.
By the way, Accords are made in the USA, in Ohio.

Trade that puppy off, you either make the payment at the Bank or the Parts Store/Garage. I enjoy building myself a nice truck, from the ground up, no problem but I hate to work on the wife's Mustang or the minivan.... The tranny went out of the van and she wanted me to pull it, my suggestion was to take it to the shop, after a couple of comments and the final "Would you do something to my Van", well she went shoping and I sent it to the crusher, Gave her $211.00 when she got home and told her it would have been more if I had of taken the tires off. Funny she has never asked me to work on the Mustang.

A lot of times you can get rebuilt control arms with new bushings put in them from online parts stores. It's less hassle than doing the pressing yourself. This is what I did with my '89 BMW, it only cost me $80 per side.