I want to give you a shout out because this video was able to let me do this myself instead of paying 800$ the mechanic wanted. That's 800 in my 7 kids mouth thanks to you!!!! Hats off to you my friend
+BadAss Jeep Thank you! We love empowering our customers and showing how to perform DIY auto repairs with our high-quality auto parts, not to mention save you some money! 1AAuto.com
I replaced these hoping to fix a clunk I had when accelerating from a stop and when heavy braking. I started noticing the clunk after I had the subframe out of the car when changing the transmission input shaft bearing. A year later, and after replacing nearly everything in the front end with no success, I finally found the issue. Apparently the subframe should be tightened with weight on the tires, not when jacked up. I loosened the 4 -17mm bolts holding it, let the car off the jack stands, then tightened them back up. Clunking is finally gone! Another thing I did was make sure the sway bar was aligned correctly, equal distance from the control arm on both sides - loosen the 2 bushing brackets and use a pry bar to wiggle it left or right as needed. I even paid a mechanic to diagnose the noise, he had me replacing parts unnecessarily. Thanks for video, hopefully my comment will also help someone out there, cheers!
Great videos. Little tip - when torquing the lug nuts, orient the torque wrench so you are pushing down rather than lifting up. Trying to pick up that much weight while bent over is hell on your back when you could just use your own weight to push down on the wrench.
*Tips for getting the REAR BOLT of the control arm to lign up* You bearly threads in the front bolt and ball joint nut. Intall the new sway bar links but do NOT tighten them yet just put the nuts on the ends of the threads. Then you take your rubber mallet and tap the arm into the front first, line it up with the screwdriver and get the bolt in a few threads and leave it alone for now. Seat theballjoint and get the nut on the end of the threads then leave it as well. NOW For the rear, push the arm in to where it should bolt upto the subframe then tap it in with the mallet until you see the holes line up, line it up with the screwdriver then slide the clean bolt with some penetrating oil or fluid film in until it stops. If the threads won't line up, take a wrench place it against the axle shaft and apply light pressure like 1lb at most, to the head of the bolt, tap the top of the arm downwards with the bolt still in, now take your screw driver and wedge it under the rear control arm and subframe and give it a wiggle while still keeping light pressure on the bolt. It will click or move in more when you have it lined up correctly, then without letting off of the bolt try turning it and getting the threads to finally seat and tread together. It takes a while but tapping the arm down with the mallet with the bolt in part way then lifting up the arm with the screwdriver while holding the bolt in was how I got it together. Just do it over and over until it works, don't crossthread it. Tighten the front bolt the ball joint both sway bar nuts then the rear bolt and it pulls itself together tighten each nut a bit at a time so nothing binds.
My breakdown and tips. Get new swaybar links the old ones won't survive easily. Need a Allen key to stop the ball and screw from spinning in the socket. I just angle grind them off. It's not worth the effort and time trying to save sway bar/stabilizer links. Sway bar link - 14mm - around 20/25lbs Balljoint nut - 17mm - 43lbs torque install Front control arm bolt - 19mm -61lbs torque Rear control arm radial bolt - 19mm - 61lbs •Ball joint puller tool not the c shaped one with the screw in the center it didn't fit H.F. tool. The lever style would work on this civic. 100× better then the hammer (Use hearing protect and eye protection if you go hammer) •Long screwdriver for bolt alignment. Helps big time getting the rear bolt back in. •Rubber mallet or dead fall hammer •wire brush or wheel to clean rust and hardware •fluid film spray to coat the control arm inside and nuts and bolts. Clean with isopropyl and rags first.
hey im having a slight problem the bolt that goes in is the subframe the nut is now turning with the bolt i think the welds broke off from age i guess on bc i put to much strength when torquing it back do you know i cant do vice grips are not doing the trick do i have to change the subframe? or i can just call a welder and weld the nut?
Hi. Great video! Thanks. Where did you place the jack, on the control arm?, when you lifted up the arm to where the car just came off the lift before screw in tight the front and rear bushing arms?
always good videos. most of the suspension work i did so far was done with the help of these guys. got my rear shocks from 1Aauto and will get to that 2morro. ✌
+Omar Chisolm Thank you for the great reply. We love to empower our customers by showing you how-to perform your own auto repairs while installing our high quality auto parts. Have a great day! 1aauto.com
Good video, except for the part about loosening the ball joint. I hit it with a big hammer several times, as suggested. But it wouldn't budge. Ended up renting a screw type ball joint separator from an auto parts store. That did it in about a minute. Worked in my driveway, with jack stands; that was OK. The rear bolt on the passenger side arm was tricky, as the steering box is in the way.
Ryan Smith I have a 03 Honda Civic my right side control arm broke I was told it has one type control arm while some else said it has a upper and lower is there one arm or two
Replacing Honda parts is almost funny lol. My dads a self taught mechanic he owned a shop back in the day. It’s cool to do work with him even though I Mostly ask questions and watch lol. Driving after he changes something is funny because it just makes me happy that he helps me with my car lol.
All there parts are china made i wouldn't buy it from them go with "moog" you get what you paid for also check out "import direct" orielly brand they're great!
My lower control arm bushings are all shot on my 02 Civic, I was wondering if it’s worth going through each bushing and changing them out or would I be better off replacing the whole lower control arm?
A little tip for anyone I just got done, my control arm was STUCK to the ball joint I used a torch and put a long pry bar and hammered it off from the top
From my experience, yes! You probably dont have the gear to get the alignment lasered precision! Its super essential for a smooth drive! After replacing control arm, definitely have an expert have the system aligned ad they will do it right!
Was going to do the front struts as did the back last week. After watching the this video, seems might as well do the control arms as since more room with strut assembly out of there. Any issues doing this?
im having hell separating the ball joint from the lower control arm; the loaner tool from AZ (arizona) just dont cut it. the video pretends it is a breeze and no help for those like in my case. it is not the first time I go through this. last time I hit the hell out of the ball joint from below until it popped out. afterwards I couldnt put the castle nut back on due to all the damage done to the end of the ball joint but that was my last resort. so a couple bangs with a good hammer, eh? - I doubt it.
Where did you place the jack when you simulated driving conditions in order to torque the 19mm bolts? Also How high do you need to lift it prior to torquing?
+Javi Aguilera This installation process should be very similar. At this time we do not have any videos showing this installation but are always expanding our video library. We would suggest checking through some other RU-vid channels or forums for your vehicle.
1A Auto Parts it’s because i got a control arm for my 03 civic lx from your company and was wondering if i could take off the bushings that are on there
+RattlingLalo Thank you for your inquiry! The bushings that come with the new control arms are not meant to be removed, as bushings from other companies might not fit them.
seems so simple until i actually do it and get to the castle nut part off other 2 bolts ready to come out and... can't disconnect the tie rod from the control arm. feels super fused together.
So I got the back bolts out and now the arm is hanging from the ball joint I don't have a good size hammer what do I do It's 8:49 pm mosquitoes are out!!!
+Michael McCullough We don't have a how-to video for your vehicle right now, but the basic steps in this video should be enough to do this task. Buy this part for your vehicle on 1AAuto.com: 1aau.to/m/Shop-1AAuto-c
+Frank Bob Todd The lower control arms for the hatchback are different than the coupe/sedan lower control arms. Due to this, the procedure may be slightly different. Thanks for checking us out!
Why didn’t you also replace the ball joints? I need to do this but I also need the ball joints replaced and I thought the control arms come with a ball joint in them already?
Today i got new ball joints and the mechanic brought me over to see the lower control arm passnager side and he showed me it slipped down hanging there ..he said i need a new arm but why cant i just change the middle bushing
You can just change the bushing. It's not a big deal if you access to a hydraulic press, but if you don't, it gets pretty expensive if you need a shop to press out and press in the new bushings.
You can. But they need to be pressed out. Maybe he didn't have a press. Bushings are way cheaper than a whole new control arm. Maybe that's y he told you to put a new one
You're better off doing it yourself. Unless you find a mechanic that works for liquor you're gonna pay $500 or more when you can spend $150-$200 on parts and tools.
It may be a different procedure on your application. We currently do not have an auto repair video for this particular year, make and model. Thank you for asking. 1aauto.com +Richard Loayza
