rear knuckle broke!! help!!

[johnwc723]

hey i was just driving earlier today and all of a sudden i hear this terrible noise from the right rear of my car, i get it off the road and right away i notice the wheels bottom is way out from the car and the top is way under the car like this \

i took off the wheel and jacked it up and i think what broke is the rear knuckle arm (this thing is shaped like a V on its side and sorta sticks out away from the car) whatever the v shaped thing is broke right where the parts of the V come together, it looked kinda like a ball on one end and then it went into the other end

do you guys think i should have a professional fix this, and how much you think it may cost? is it possible that i bent the whole back of my suspension terribly!! will i have to get a new arm or can it be put back together..?

thanks soo much guys!!

this sucks :sad2:

[MrBen]

Sounds like your balljoint went out. Very dangerous when they go, which is why in the future you need to make sure they don't get that bad. They are pretty easy to replace but you need to have a press. If you don't have one, you might want to have a mechanic do it. You can get the part on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2475747580&category=33583) or go to your autoparts store and buy a rear control arm with balljoint. If you have a shop do it, they will charge for about an hour of labor.

[Vanilla Sky]

you can most likely fix it yourself, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it, by all means have a friend or a mechanic do it... if you're nervous about fixing something, you'll usually fuck it up... so unless you're comfortable doing it, have it done for you

[johnwc723]

yeah i dont have a press, ill probably just have a shop do it but ill keep an eye on the prices they are gonna try to charge me for that ball joint , so you say thats all they probably are gonna have to replace? (stuff dont get bent?)

im already going to have to buy a new tire as it rubbed the crap outta the inside of my one that was on that wheel

[MrBen]

You'll find out when you get your tire if it bent the wheel since they'll balance it. I don't know if the other suspension components could have been bent but I guess it could happen.

[johnwc723]

well the shops that i called near me all want somethning like $250 to fix it, sounds a bit steep to me!! im thinking maybe ill try to do it in my auto tech class

when you say i need a press, does the ball joint need to be pressed back into the kunckle? or is the press only essentail if i buy a seperate ball joint from the upper arm, if im gonna do this im gonna just buy an upper arm with the ball joint and everythign already in it (would that mean i dont need a press?)

im lookin in the manual and it dosent really say about installation, it just shows the balljoint being seperated but not put back togher, all i see is the tension of the nut in it

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

The upper arm as far as I know, comes with a preinstalled balljoint. It should be about 40-60 bucks depending on where you are getting it. Installing it is also a breeze. Remove two bolts holding the arm to the body. Remove the castle nut, use a small two-jaw puller to get whatever is left of your ball joint out of the knuckle. Reassemble the new arm and you are good to go. (Two bolts, one castle nut, one cotter pin, done...) Hope this helps.

[kruddler]

This is a common problem. It has happend to me twice. Once I was going 70mph on the freeway and gouge a huge trench into the tire. You should be able to fix it for $25 (the cost of a new ball joint). You will need a two jaw puller to remove the ball portion of the joint from the lower arm. Remove the upper arm and remove the other part of the joint. Then press the new joint back into the upper arm an reassemble. I had access to a press which made it alot easier, but you should still be able to do it with a vise and sections of pipe or sockets to get the ball joint out and pressed back in.

[johnwc723]

yeah i think my actual upper arm is messed up too so im just gonna buy a new upper arm too, it seems like the bolt from the ball joint that bolts into the knuckle is complete rusted out (im gonna have to pound it out maybe) but once i get that ball joint off the knuckle i shouldnt need any special tools or presses as long as i get a upper arm that has the balljoint pre-installed?
you guys are raw, thanks

[Roadhouse]

I know at most auto-parts stores they have a ball joint press you can borrow if you just put down a deposit. I know this because i have the one from the local auto zone for about a week, because i am lifting my truck and put in all new ball joints.

[Gregg86DX]

Get the ebay control arm for about $25 shipped and install it yourself. The ebay part is a Beck-Arnley piece and seems to be decent quality (I bought one). Installation is very easy, the only tricky part is getting the ball joint pin out of the knuckle. After you remove the cotter pin and crown nut, any basic puller should pop it right out. Then it's just two easy bolts on the chassis end of the arm. Reassembly is just bolting back together. This is a 30 minute job, including 5 minutes of beer-breaks and 10 minutes of ass-scratching.

Gregg

[johnwc723]

thanks for the help guys check out my new thread about how one of the bolts is completely rusted on