[20Piloteer07]

My LCAs need replacement. Compliance bushings are severely cracked/torn. What brand should I steer toward and/or avoid? OEM is just too spendy ($300 each).

I was thinking Moog, but it has some bad reviews here, so now I am unsure which to choose.

Here is RA's offerings:

2007 HONDA PILOT 3.5L V6 Control Arm | RockAuto

RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.

www.rockauto.com

1A Auto's:

Search Results for lower control arm - 1A Auto

1A Auto is a National Auto Parts retailer offering a No Hassle Return Policy, Secure online ordering, Same day Shipping and the highest quality auto parts. Buy replacement aftermarket car and truck parts, for most makes and models.

www.1aauto.com

and OEMs:

Search Results | Majestic Honda Automotive Parts

www.hondaautomotiveparts.com

 

[aggrex]

Mevotech installed without any issues

 

[morfdq]

Just did mevotech last week. Love them. It was like 350 for both on rock auto.

 

[Tacoma'03Pilot]

I used ProForged because of their good reputation for ball joints. They fit well and have been fine for 35k miles. It's a showdown now to see if the Pilot lasts longer than the LCA's.

 

[morfdq]

I hope what happened to me doesn’t happen to you. My ball joint seized in the knuckle. If that happens just take the knuckle out with the lower control arm and take it to a mechanic. It only happened to me on the passenger side. It really is an easy job as long as that doesn’t happen. Even then it maybe added an hour to the job.

 

[20Piloteer07]

I hope what happened to me doesn’t happen to you. My ball joint seized in the knuckle. If that happens just take the knuckle out with the lower control arm and take it to a mechanic. It only happened to me on the passenger side. It really is an easy job as long as that doesn’t happen. Even then it maybe added an hour to the job.

Anything I can do to prevent that from happening in the future? Some lube on the Balljoint before insertying through the knuckle?

 

[20Piloteer07]

I ordered the Mevotechs from RA. $225 shipped for both. Thanks for inputs.

 

[aggrex]

Anything I can do to prevent that from happening in the future? Some lube on the Balljoint before insertying through the knuckle?

On my LCA replacement I cleaned up any surface rust, installed and torqued to spec. BJ removal with proper BJ separator or pickle fork was uneventful.

 

[morfdq]

No. Don’t add any lube. Just an FYI. The knuckle has a “sleeve” that the ball joint slides into in the knuckle. I spent 5 hours trying to separate it. I finally took the knuckle and lower off together. Once I got it on the floor I was able to separate them. Something didn’t look right that’s when I noticed that sleeve was still attached to the ball joint. I took it to a mechanic and he got it separated and the sleeve put back in the knuckle. I’m just letting you know in case it happens to you. Also if you’re renting a pickle bar from an auto parts store get the widest one. It’s important and that’s why maybe I had so much trouble separating them. I got the widest one for the drivers side and it popped on like the third whack. Im guessing the fork they gave me had maybe a 2 or 3 inch opening. The standard one is like an inch. I don’t think it’s wide enough. It seriously could have been why I had so much issues.

 

[headknocker]

The ball joints on my '05 were still in good shape at the 180K mark several years ago when I knew I needed to do something about the deteriorating compliance bushings on the LCA's. I've found Honda BJ's to last a very long time so I decided to only replace the compliance bushings with Honda OEM which I bought on Amazon from Honda so I knew they weren't counterfeits. I bought a tool to remove and install them on ebay for $50 and it worked like a charm.

 

[jwilkins]

The ball joints on my '05 were still in good shape at the 180K mark several years ago when I knew I needed to do something about the deteriorating compliance bushings on the LCA's. I've found Honda BJ's to last a very long time so I decided to only replace the compliance bushings with Honda OEM which I bought on Amazon from Honda so I knew they weren't counterfeits. I bought a tool to remove and install them on ebay for $50 and it worked like a charm.

Sorry to revive this thread after so long, but was wondering about your process of removing the bushings? Was it a difficult process or was it decently straightforward with the tool? Did you notice any difference after replacing the bushings or was it about the same in the ride comfort and road noise? Also could you provide a link to which tool you used for the process? Thanks in advance!

 

[morfdq]

The bushing is super easy to remove. When putting it back in it must be at 8 degrees. I downloaded an app to my iPhone and used that to get it to 8 degrees. Lay the LCA on the floor then insert the compliance bushing and adjust it to 8 degrees and tighten.