Senna88

Anyone know where I can get a set? Have rang Honda and they only sell them as a complete knuckle.

A few threads on Honda Tech mention that a 97 Accord front ball joint may fit, but I can't seem to find any more info out about this on the specific model variant (as we know there are loads of them)!

Does anyone know, is the front lower the same as the rear? As the fronts are much more readily available!

Reason I need 2 new rears is because I screwed up the thread. With a hammer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Senna88

I've found Hardrace do a replacement rear lower ball joint:

http://www.hardrace.com/products.asp...1&strClass2=31

But I want my car back on the road asap really

loftust

eBay?

Senna88

Tried there, they only list front ones, which is why I'm wondering if they'll be the same? Would save production costs wouldn't it.

TangoVTEC

Try autoprochassis (who is also an eBay seller).

He has most parts, and usually responds quickly to emails.

Senna88

Thanks Tango, checked but they only list the fronts.

Having spoken to a car spares place they said pop the old one out, bring it down and they'll match it. So fingers crossed

Si2k

Failing that you could rethread the end with a die to allow you to get the nuts back on

Senna88

Si have you done this before? From a bit of searching around it doesn't seem very recommended as the thread on the ball joint has been weakened (I've mushroomed the thread a bit) and there have been a couple of stories (on Honda Tech) that people's suspension have fallen off soon after! Are they just scare stories?

Si2k

The top part of the thread is only there for show once the nut gets past them. I had to retap the nuts a little to help them go on when i used them on the balljoint (upside down) whilst using a ball joint splitter when changing a rear hub.

They won't have been significantly weakened as the loading it really in single shear and on the non threaded part of the balljoint. A threaded section would never be subjected to shear loads.

Senna88

Thanks for replying Si, assume your an engineer of some sort?

Well in the end I didn't want to risk it with the ball joint, wasn't sure whether I may have weakened the structure from all the hammering.

Tried many many car spares places in an attempt to match it with other Honda ball joints as mentioned by some US guys to no avail Accord ball joints were the closest but still a few mm too small!

Eventually managed to find a scrappy who had an s2000 in, only to hear they'd sold the rear suspension already thought i'd go for a look see anyway to see if there's any bits I needed and, by a stroke of luck, for some reason they'd chopped off the hub, cut up the rear lower arm but sitting there in its little perch was the ball joint!

So bought that, cut it out rather than messing around bashing it about and got it replaced! Job done

Moral of the story? Always put the castle nut back on upside down when separating the ball joint! Even when your using a scissor-type ball joint separator!!