Has anyone used the loaner ball joint press from Autozone to put in a new lower ball joint or new control arm bushings? It looks like a big C-clamp with several adapters.

Or should I just take the knuckle/control arm to a machine shop and have them press the ball joint in there?

 

A BFH works well.

 

What does BFH stand for?

 

I'm guessing Big F'ing Hammer.

 

That would be a correct guess.

 

So I changed the lower ball joint last weekend.

Taking apart the suspension wasn't a big deal, but that press that you can rent from Autozone doesn't work. You can't get that press on at the right angle, because the top of the ball joint sits too close to the opening for the hub/rotor plus the rotor splash shield gets in the way.

Some places told me that I would have to remove the hub for them to do the job, but I found a local shop that had several presses. I pulled the knuckle and took it up there with the hub/rotor/bearing intact. He had the same c-clamp, but had a lot more adapters. His had a cylinder with a notch in it, so the hub opening didn't get in the way. He had to bend that splash shield a bit press the new one in, but I just pushed it back to its orignal location.

So the total for the ball joint was $22 for the part from my local Honda Dealership and $25 to get the new ball joint in the knuckle. The original quotes for the job were in the 250 to 300 range.