Hi guys,

I'm a DIYer and I think I have a bad ball joint and want to change it before it fails. I don't have all the tools but I might be able to pay my local mechanic to press in a new ball joint for a few $$$. My question is:

Is it worth changing the ball joint only or should I change the whole arm? I could go to the junkyard and try and find a used control arm for not too much $$$ that should last a few years.

Thoughts? Anyone tried doing this repair?

 

"Copy and paste" suggestion:

 

I’d change out the entire control arm with the ball joint already preinstalled. I did it and it was pretty straight forward. Just remember to be careful and not separate the cv shaft joint... it’s a pain to get back together. Support the rotor/spindle with a floor jack or jack stand. You might need to bend the brake dust shield back to normal but it should help avoid the cv joint fiasco. Also, use a pry bar between the sway bar and control arm to pop the ball joint out. A ball joint separator tool is a good thing to have on hand. The video is spot on but of course everything is clean and has already been broken loose.... in real life it’s more difficult to get things loose and apart.

 

I just got under my car today and I found that my ball joints are good. I did take my car to Honda for a check and they said it was the "links". Are they referring to the vertical bars? Like sway bar links? Im also on the fence between oem and aftermarket links. What do you guys suggest?

 

Yes, the links are the vertical bars that connect the sway bar to the struts. They are also called sway bar end links. I replaced mine with Moog end links from RockAuto. They were bigger in diameter than the OEM ones and also had greaseable ends. The OEM ones are fine as well... the Moog are just a little better upgrade. That being said, with the car being an 2007 the end links are most likely going to be seized/rusted in a bit. You will need to soak the bolts and threads in PB Blaster or something similar. Most likely, you'll end up having to cut them out with a dremel tool or a grinder. My 2013 Fit end links barely came out... and even then I stripped the hex head out a little bit. I had to pound the next size up hex bit in with a hammer. I got lucky and didn't need to cut them out.

Here is a link from another forum member detailing the process: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...eplacment.html

Bad news was that didn't fix my clunking noise. I figured it must be a bad control arm bushing. I then replaced the entire control arm (with loaded ball joint) with a Moog replacement. That whole process sucked because I accidentally dislocated the cv joint. It took 2 hours to get it all back together. Bad news... that didn't fix my noise either. In the end, I found out that the passenger side strut was weak and the strut mount was slightly damaged (previous owner must have hit something). I then purchased some super cheap complete strut assemblies from 1Aauto (didn't want to mess around with a strut compressor). I replaced both struts and strut mounts. That fixed the issue!... for about a month. Now now both sides rattle a bit and make a squeaking/"seal lion like noise" in cold weather. Word to the wise... use OEM or high quality after market replacements.

I had a similar issue with "cheap" after market end links on a Ford I once owned. I ended up ripping both replacement end links off and replacing them with Moog a few months later.

 

I have a 2009 base Fit automatic. Can you tell me what the 3 different bolt size lengths are? I see what I think are those in the Honda Body/Front Sub Frame diagram, shown as #4, #5 & #7. I need to confirm if those are right before ordering. The other diagram under Chassis/Front Lower Arm show a #15 in one of the holes, but it's a different bolt than the ones shown in the other diagram. I don't know which ones are correct.

 

That noise in cold weather is the control arm bushing that lies in the centre..easy fix