On 2006-01-04 06:54:14 -0600, "T L via CarKB.com" <u10197@uwe> said:

> AFAIK, honda sells them separately. Its listed on hondaautomotiveparts.com
> under 'Knuckle' for your car. $10 for lower boot, but i think on the upper
> you are outta luck. You may be able to find a generic out there that could
> work....
>
> t
>
> Mark Alexander wrote:
>> I recently purchased a 1993 Accord DX with 151k miles. The car was in
>> very good condition
>> overall, but two items came to my attention: the muffler (now replaced)
>> and leaking grease boots
>> on both front upper ball joints and tie rod ends. The lower ball joints
>> appear to have been
>> recently replaced, so they don't concern me at present.
>>
>> The local Honda dealer says "replace all these, as soon as possible,
>> because they will soon
>> seize and break, with CATASTROPHIC consequences!!!", and showed me the
>> usual graphic
>> images of death and destruction. Needless to say, I did this on my
>> previous Accord (a
>> 1993 SE), to the tune of about $900 for all four joints and both rod ends.
>>
>> The people who sold me the car (an independent garage which specializes
>> in Hondas)
>> say "you can replace them if you want, but it's a lot of money for
>> something which will just
>> reoccur in a year or so. Just keep 'em greased."
>>
>> Who's right here? And, why can't I just replace the boots? (I know
>> Honda doesn't sell them
>> separately, but aren't there aftermarket replacements?)
>

You were right about the lower joints, and the rod ends (listed under
"Tie Rod"). But it's the
upper ones I need, and it's these which are not available
separately--to get the joint, one
must purchase the entire upper arm assembly. :-( At least they look
easy enough to replace.

To return to my first question, is it necessary to replace the joints
just because of bad boots?

And if not, how frequently should these be greased?

Thanks, MLA