I am attempting to change my front shock strut assemblies. The bolts on the fork connecting the strut to the lower control arm were very hard to remove. Long story short, now I need to replace the lower control arms. When I tried to assembly the lower control arm, I noticed that the hole for the wheel hub was larger on the original.

Looking at the wheel hub, I see another spacer that looks like it can be removed. My options are:

• Return the control arms searching for one that has the larger hole size? I contacted the vendor and they verified that I have the correct part. I looked at several other vendors and some looked like they had a spacer on the control arm and others were similar to mine.
• Should I remove the spacer on the wheel hub? If it is removed, it appears that the control arm will now fit the wheel hub. Any suggestion removing the spacer (Honda's tool is over $500). I don't want to damage the ball joint.

 

the OEM design is a steel sleeve riding inside the cast iron LCA's hole.


remove the metal sleeve from your old ball joint. Be careful. Use a gear puller or some other method that won't damage the ball joint that holds the weight of the car.