Why me...

[InAccordance]

9018
Ball joint broke. Ripped axle apart with it. Hoping it didn't damage steering rack or transmission...
Fml

Sorry pic is sideways, it's off the phone..

[Donnyten]

Jesus.. im going to be changing out a majority of steering and suspension components soon.. due to age.. Don't know if that was your cause but I'd hate for that to happen to me. Ordered some axles the pther day.. thsts fuked up

[InAccordance]

They weren't old, changed out 9 months ago or so when I was doing the suspension work

[Donnyten]

well, thats pretty gay, transmission and rack still intact?

[2ndGenGuy]

That sucks man! Hope everything is okay! (Aside from that balljoint, obviously)

[InAccordance]

rack is screwed. Turns ok but pops at a certain spot and will only go a short distance turning one way and the other way goes further than it should.
Transmission seems ok but dont really have a way to test it driving. Will go into gear however.

[AC439]

That's sucks. It was a PITA to change the steering rack. Did it once and never want to do it again.

[InAccordance]

Pulling engine so won't be as bad to change the rack. Mostly just the cost of it.

[profquad]

damn! that sucks! might i ask who made those ball joints? about the replace mine, would like to avoid this kind of thing.

[InAccordance]

From Rockauto, dont remember the brand persay but they were cheap ones. Get what you pay for I suppose.

[Miss_My_1988]

Very sad and could happen to any of us. My 2002 Accord sees a lot of action (and I live in a state with salted roads and drive her in winter) so this could happen to me. I had my rack and pinion replaced two years ago so they probably inspected everything else.

I hope you can get this fixed and continue. *I miss my 1988!

[InAccordance]

Oh yea, she'll be fixed and back in action soon.
Maybe it's a good thing as it has accelerated my plans. 5 speed swap is coming. Pulling engine so going to be doing some refreshing there (head gasket, seals all around, timing belt, etc etc). Have a short shifter from the old prelude I'm going to see if will work.
She's going to be a new car when I'm done.

[Miss_My_1988]

You are converting an auto to a manual? If so, I'd like some basic info on that.

1). How hard is that to do? *How much would a garage charge?
2). What trannies would fit a 1986 to 1989 Accord?
3). Could aftermarket trannies work?

Thanks and good luck.

[Dr_Snooz]

The upper control arms, both front and rear, are a good thing to inspect regularly. They wear quickly and can let go without warning, causing serious carnage. If you see any play, replace them immediately. You can dig up the old threads showing all the trouble we've had with aftermarket control arms. Personally, I stick with Moog for all my suspension parts. I even choose Moog over Honda OE parts. I try to do an inspection any time I remove a tire: bushings, boots, brake pads, lines, etc. Wiggle all the suspension parts. Look for fresh oil. Anything else out of the ordinary figure it out and fix it. It's a good habit to get into. Our cars are old and stuff happens. You want to stay ahead of the curve so you don't end up thumbing rides.

[InAccordance]

Front upper ball joints are already showing signs of wear. Most likely because they are Prelude ones and not really meant for this car and where it's lowered. Only aftermarket ones I have are the rear uppers. Adjustable ones. Guy who put them in and did the alignment said the same thing about them, they will come lose and have to be readjusted regularly. Been keeping a eye on them and seem to be ok for now but will have em checked when I take the car to him to realign it after everything gets put back together.
Just never expected a ball joint to fail after less than a year.

As for the 5 speed swap... I duno, but I'm about to learn lol. It's my first time. A shop would probably charge up in the thousands just in labor.
From the research I've done.. any 86-89 accord transmission will work as well as the 85-87 Prelude SI (the fuel injected ones). Carb Prelude one might but would take some modification.
Aftermarket doesn't exist for these cars anymore =P

[firefighterwhite89]

I got a Prelude Si 5 Speed. A2K5 IIRC as the original was the A2Q5 transmission IIRC(May have that backwards). The shorter gearing is awesome if you drive mostly mountainous and hilly regions out in the sticks. However, little did i know a few years later I'd DD this laser guided missile 120 miles daily just to work then back home, 50 of those miles being Interstate. It's all fun and games until you're doing 80MPH @4100RPMS while watching your gas gauge quickly drop. Gas mileage dropped a noticable amount, but I've always loved the B16 YS1 transmissions short gearing and this is about as close as I can get from the factory for an A20. Best of luck to you ahead.

[InAccordance]

10 years ago I had an 87 Prelude SI. Loved the gearing in that thing for off the line stuff and I live in east TN so there are hills a plenty. You are right about that 5th gear though on the interstate. Even in those it was too short. One of the popular mods back then was to take the 5th gear out of an Accord just for the highway mileage increase.
I feel like a Prelude box would be real bad with the dcoe's as they drink gas as it is but damn it would be fun =P

[Tread]

Hopefully you have her back up and driving again. I don't suspect any real damage, my 92 did that on me years ago. I had to replace the CV and the ball joint.
The cool part is that it looks like your joint broke at a relatively low speed. I was going about 50mph.

[InAccordance]

Working on it, just waiting on parts to come in right now. Got both front knuckles off and remains of the broken join out of the control arm. Soon as the parts come in, taking them and having new joints and wheel bearings put in. Figure I may as well do the bearings too whilst I've got them off and one of them is rather wiggly so they are due.
After further inspection, the steering rack may be okay. Just looks like it got whacked hard but there are no leaks and it turns just fine. The pop it had is gone now.
Got the 5 speed trans and all the stuff to go with it so since I've got most of the front suspension apart, I figure what the hell, lets manual swap it.
Of course, now there is a hurricane on the way and I'm projected to get hit when it's still a tropical storm so there goes a few days I cant do anything with it.

[Dr_Snooz]

Dang. I didn't realize your joint was that new. That totally sucks. First that, then a hurricane. Yikes!

If you're going to do wheel bearings, replace your lug studs too while you have it apart. It's really crappy to have a lug stud gall and break a month after you've replaced the bearings.

Someone is going to have to figure out how to shoehorn a K20 into a 3g. After that, these cars will get real interesting again.

[InAccordance]

I went with the hub kits, new bearings, hub with studs and seals, all in one sort of thing.
Just waiting on the ring gear for the crank pulley now, everything else came in. Got new shiny toy too.. 6 puck ceramic clutch disc. That and the lightweight flywheel are going to be interesting =P