Repla acingLowerControl C ArmBushings B ona 2007Honda aAccord4CY YL Disclaime er: I have benefited b gre eatly from others o who

who h have taken the time to post auto r repair videos/tutorialsonline.Totryandreturn r thefav vor,Ihavedoc cumentedaf fewofmyrecentrepairs.Itryto perform the work co vice manual, onscientiously y in accordan nce with the e Honda serv , but I am n not a profession nal technicia an by any st tretch so ple ease use this s material a at your own risk. I hope e this informatio onmightben nefitotherswh hoareprepar ringtodothis isjob. This write eup describes how I re eplaced the three lower control arm m bushings. Usually the large Compliance Bushing (s shown below) ) is the first to o show wear, , typically cra acking in the b bushing rubber. In c therub bberwillcrack kallthewaythroughand thecontrola armwillbefl floatinglead dingto extremecases, clunking noises n and a drifting feel l when steer ring. In the c case shown b below there i is only very m minor cracking (red arrow) and a the bush hing really do oes not need d to be repla aced yet (in f fact it just p passed n at a Honda dealership). However, si ince there are e 250k miles on it, I figure ed I would re eplace inspection thebushin ngswhileIha adthetime(a andsincethebushingsare erelativelyine expensive).Iamsurether reare different views v on the subject, but I have heard some say tha at the bearing should be r replaced whe en it is crackedhalfwaythrou ugh.

 TherearethreeLowerControlArmBushings:ComplianceBushing,ShockAbsorberBushingandRear Bushing.PertheHondaservicemanual,thefollowingboltsandnutsshouldbereplacedwithnewparts whenreinstallingthelowerarm(pertheservicemanual):20,21,19,18,16.

Rear Bushing

Compliance Bushing Lower Control Arm

Shock Absorber Bushing

#1 Loos sen the Rear Bushing bolt but leave it in i place to ho old the Lower Control Arm m in position when the ball jo oint is remov ved. This bolt t was not too o bad to get out, but was s much worse e on the othe er side whereIha adtouseato orch(MAPP)to t heatthenu ut(redarrow) w).

#2LoosentheComplianceBushingbolt.Soundseasy,butitwasnt,atleastinmycase(theboltwasin therefor250kmilesandthroughNewEnglandwinters).Theboltdidntbudgewithanimpactwrench (780ftlbrating)orbreakerbarwith3cheater.

#3IheatedthetopandbottomoftheboltusingaMAPPtorch.Thereisametalpowersteeringline thatrunsveryclosetothebolt.Toprotectit,Iwrappeditinawatersoakedrag.

#4Thenusingabreakerbarand3cheaterIwasabletobreaktheboltfree.However,Iwasnotoutof thewoodsyet!

#5Evenaftertheboltwasbrokenfreeofthenut,themetalbushingsleeveremainedfrozentothebolt. So as I twisted the bolt, the center of the bushing twisted with it. I pushed hard enough that I thought the bushing was twisted so far that it could break. I didnt really want to tear the bushing apart so I put a pair of Vise Grips on the inner sleeve of the bushing and used a crowbar (yellow) against the frame to keep the Vise Grips from twisting. With a LOT of force on the end of the cheater, the bolt eventually brokefree(somewhatamazinglytheViseGripshelddespiteallthattorque). Anotherpossibilityistosimplytwisttheboltandnotworryiftheinnerpartofthebushingtearsfree.As the bolt is extracted it should force the inner sleeve off the bolt and the bushing is going to be replaced anyway. I just didnt want to do that because I didnt want to destroy the bushing in case I wasnt able togettheboltout. Another possibility would be to try and heat the inner bushing sleeve with a torch to get it to expand. I suspectthiswouldworkwellbuttheonlyproblemwiththatapproachisthatitwilllikelysetthebushing onfireandmakealotofstinkysmoke. Ididalsoapplypenetratingoil,andperhapsithelpedsome.However,itcertainlydidnthelpasmuchas theheat.IdontthinkIcouldhavegottenthisboltoutwithoutusingheat.

#6Removetheboltholdingtheforktothelowercontrolarm.

#7Removethestabilizerlinkfromthelowercontrolarm.UseanAllenwrenchintheendoftheboltto holdthestabilizerlinkboltfromturningwhilethenutisremoved.

#8Pullthestabilizerlinkoutofthelowercontrolarm.

#9Removethecotterpinfromthelowerballjointnut.

#10Loosenthelowerballjointnut,butdontremoveitcompletely(tokeeptheknuckleandlowerarm fromflyingaroundwildlywhenthelowerballjointisseparated).

#11Useatwojawpullertoseparatethelowerballjointfromthecontrolarm.

#12RemovetheboltsfromtheRearBushingandComplianceBushing.

#13Andwithalittlestruggling,outcomestheLowerControlArm!

#14The eComplianceBushingmustbeinstalled dinthecorrec ctorientation.Scratchsom memarksinth he controlar rm(redarrow ws)liningupwith w thearrow wsontheCom mplianceBush hing.

DOTgo oesto Outside eof Vehicle e

#15Istartedbydrivingoutthecenterofthebushingjusttogetitoutoftheway.Ipusheduntilthe bushingsnappedandthecenterportionofthebushingbrokefree.

#16Withtheinnerportionofthebushingremoved,Iwasabletouseaflatdisk(fromawheelbearing presskit)thatfitovertheouterbusingsleevetopushtheCompliancebushingoutofthelowercontrol arm.

#17Topush p outtheShock S Absorb berbushingIused u abearin ngseparators sizedtobejus stlargerthan nthe bearingsl leeveandaso ocketthatfitontheoutersleeveofthe ebearing.

#18Therearbushingisperhapsthetrickiestbecauseithasacollaronthesleevethatleavesverylittle roomtoholdthelowercontrolarmwhilepushingthebearingthrough.

MetalCollar

Themetal collarleavesverylittleofthecontrolarm exposedtosupportwhenpushingoutthebushing

#19Iusedacoldchis selandhamm mertobendup pthemetalc ollarofthebushingontw wooppositesides.

#20ThenIwasabletoinsertabearingseparatorunderthecollarandpushoutthebushingusinga socketthatfitontheoutersleeveofthebushing.

#21ThenewShockAbsorberbushingcanbepressedinusingasocketthatfitsontheoutersleeve.

#22ThenewRearBushingcanbepressedinusingasocketthatfitsontheoutersleeve.(Yeh,Iknowit iscrookedbutitstraightenedout!

#23TopushinthenewComplianceBushingyouwillneedsomethingthatlinesupwiththeoutermetal sleeveofthebushingbutgivesclearancefortheinnerbushingsleeve.Iuseda2steelpipeendcapas shownbelow.

#24MakesurethattheorientationoftheComplianceBushingiscorrectandpushitin.

Dottooutside ofvehicle

Arrowslineup withyour orientation marks.

#25Pushthebushinginuntilthereisanequalamountofthebushingsleeveexposedoneitherside.

#26NowtheLowerControlArmwithnewbushingsisreadytobereinstalled!

Icoatedtheinsidesleevesofthebushingswithantiseize.

#27ReinstalltheLowerControlArmandlooselyinstallallfasteners(ComplianceBushingbolt,Rear Bushingbolt,ShockAbsorberbolt,StabilizerLinknutandLowerBallJointNut).Then,beforetorquing downthefasteners,raisethelowercontrolarmsothatitsupportsthevehiclesweight.

#28Tightenallthefastenersdowntospec. TorquetheComplianceBushingboltto61ftlbs. TorquetheLowerBallJointnutto58ftlbs.

Torquetheforkboltto47ftlbs.

TorquetheRearBushingboltto47ftlbs.

#29InstallanewcotterpinontheLowerBallJointnut.

Hopeyoufoundthishelpful! JohnC.