Hi everyone,
I found this great video out there that shows the basics for replacing the front control arms on the 1st Gen Fits.

However, it's pretty basic and doesn't have very many details...
- What are the torque specs for those bolts?
- When they lift the brake assembly when putting it back together, how high should I lift it? Just enough to take weight off of the components?
- where do they put that crowbar near the rear control arm bushing? and what for?
- anything else I should watch out for? or that isn't as straight forward or easy as in the video?

Thanks for your help!

 

I replaced a control arm in my gen 2 with a moog control arm (it came with a new ball joint already installed). Removal and installation were pretty straightforward. I had two issues… And they called me a large amount of grief. First, I had a hell of a time getting the old ball joint out of the knuckle. Second, I accidentally separated the intermediate cv shaft (the tripod gear in the cv boot). In order to get the axle to go back together I had to unbolt the strut from the knuckle. It was only two bolts, a brake line, and a sensor clip. But it was the only way that I could get the angle on the knuckle and rotor to force the joint back together. Just be super careful to not separate the axle. If you do you can go back together just take your time and be careful. I think mine came apart when I was beating on the control alarm to get that ball joint out of the knuckle.

To answer your specific questions:
- I don't know the torque. I wire brushed the bolts, buttered them up with anti-seize, and put them in "good and damn tight" (not too crazy though)
- Crow bar is placed in The back of the control arm in between the swaybar control arm. This allows you to force the crowbar up and down while smacking the spindle with a hammer to break the ball joint lose. You don't want to hammer on the actual control alarm. If you use a ball joint separator tool you'll most likely tear the boot on the ball joint… I did not use a crowbar between the swaybar and control arm and used a ball joint separator. The hammering and ball joint separator are what caused my axle to separate. It's better to use a prybar and to pry down the control arm while you're smacking the knuckle it should just drop down 2 inches and catch on the castle nut that you didn't completely remove from the beginning of the removal process
- Honestly I don't know how far you should jack up the entire assembly. I think he might be doing it just to get the bolthole to a lineup on the front of the control arm in the body/frame. He might be doing it because the vehicle on a lift in the suspension is unloaded and it's all hanging down and he needs to push it up just an inch or two.
- I would jack up one side of the vehicle from the center Jack point, put a jackstand under the pinch weld on whatever side you are replacing the control arm on, let down he vehicle so it's resting safely on the jackstand, and use the floor jack so it just touches the bottom of the brake rotor. This might make things tight space wise while you were loosening up the ball joint. But ultimately this will keep the axle and hub from dropping down too far after you remove the entire control arm assembly. This will help keep the axle from pulling apart and make sure you're all lined up to put the new control arm in. It's very easy to bend the brake dust shield with the floor jack on the bottom of the rotor. This will cause a metallic sound when you're turning the wheels. Just make sure you use a flathead screwdriver and Bend the dust shield back away from the rotor a little bit
- Also if it were me I would start all three bolts into the frame first. Maybe get them about halfway in and then get the ball joint started.This will kind of make sure everything fits and The lined up.... then you can start tightening things up like they should be
- I made the mistake of putting the ball joint in the knuckle first and then trying to tighten it to the body. Once my axle was popped out I had a hard time getting everything back into place because the 35 pound control alarm was dragging the hub assembly down… it was a real pain in the butt. I should have started it into the frame loosely first checked for fitment an alignment before continuing

Hopefully these tips help. It was my first control arm replacement too and I learn a lot. Let us know how it goes!

Good luck!

 

just an update for everyone... I couldn't get the ball joint off for the life of me. It was a major pain in the rear even on the "practice" cars in the junkyard. I ended up admitting defeat and getting someone else to replace the bushings for me. Thanks for all the help though, I sure learned quite a bit.