i am taking off my uppper control arm from the front passenger side,
the bushing snapped, but i bought a new upper control arm, i just need help pulling out the last bolt that connects it to the brakes, any info would help. THANKS

 

you need a ball joint removal tool.

 

The part that it's connected to is called the knuckle. And yes, you need to pop the balljoint stud out of the knuckle. You need a balljoint separator, do not use a pickle fork - which is what most autozone type places will try to sell/rent you if you ask for a balljoint removal tool.

HF sells a balljoint separator. Often a pitman arm puller, or pulley puller can be substituted if you've got the clearance to use it... I just did this, but I can't remember how the clearance was on the front.

Steps:

1) remove cotter pin
2) remove castle nut
3) pop balljoint stud out of knuckle

And a note: do not grease the tapered balljoint stud when you put the arm back on the car.

And another note: one of the welded-on nuts for the front upper arms stripped out on me during reassembly... had to cut the sumbitch off. It's M12x1.25 if this happens to you.

 

yeah I had those welded nuts strip on me upon reinstallation recently, it happened on one nut on each of the front arm attachment points. I got a longer Honda suspension bolt and a Honda suspension nut, I just double nutted the attachment point and used the longer bolt , so I didn't have to cut those sumbitches out. My Honda parts guy did a great job of sourcing me replacement parts that would fit perfectly. If anyone wants the part numbers let me know I got some spares sitting around. I think those nuts are common problems due to corrossion and the high torque levels they hold.

One note on the balljoint removal, remove the castle nut and turn it upside down prior to popping of the joint, this helps prevent the tapered part from crushing at the hole of the lockpin.

 

That's excellent advice.

Because of the multiple interruptions of the threads in the nut when installing it castle-side first, it takes a bit of finesse but can be done. Thread it on until it's almost flush with the end of the male threads. That way, the ball joint tool presses on the nut, and cannot damage the threaded end of the ball joint.

 

Yeah, definitely throw up the part numbers.

 

Okay, hope I'm not threadjacking and perhaps this could be posted in a seperate thread but here is the info.

If you should ever strip the welded nuts that are on the front upper control arm mounting points on the chassis you can use these Honda parts to re-attach the control arm to those mounting points. Using these parts retains the proper geometry of the suspension, and they are Honda suspension bolts and nuts, so they function as intended.

There is one new bolt needed, it is Honda part number 90118-SNA-000, it is about 1.5 inches longer than the original bolt, it has a tapered end and a smooth center section to rotate within the bushing. The Honda nut is part number 90395-S5A-003. It is capable of holding the torque levels of the intended use, approx. 75 ft lbs. as it is a suspension nut.

Once I was sure the orginal nut was stripped I cleaned out the threads as best as I could, inserted the new longer bolt with some lube through the old nut into the new nut. So it becomes a double-nutted attachment point, hold the new nut with a box end wrench and torque the bolt to spec, worked flawlessly and made a very stressful situation a simple fix.