We did the work this weekend and what a difference it made. We're lucky
we made the 2 hour drive b/c when we got there we took off the right
fron't tire and it had a huge knot in it with steel belts coming out.
It wouldn't have made the trip home.

We had a couple of cases of seized bolts, but nothing a torch couldn't
take care of.

We replaced the following:

Upper ball joints - easy since it came as the whole control arm and two
bolts held it in
Lower ball joints - pretty difficult b/c the remover/installer had a
hard time getting into the relatively small spot in the knuckle
Inner tie rod - very difficult b/c of the cramped working conditions
and the snap bolt/ locking washer that holds it in. It was hard to get
to with the boot pulled back.
Outer tie rod - easy to install, just screws in then has a bolt to lock
in place
Stabalizer bar/bashing - easy compared to the other work.
Front rotors and pads - the hub was seized pretty good to the knuckle,
but this was an easy job and made a huge difference in braking . The
original rotors had 235K miles on them and were never turned. They were
severely pitted though.
Right front tire - her cousin did that at his shop.

In all this was a tough job, but well worth the money and effort. It
took us about 8 hours to do the work. We got everything back together
and I took it for a ride. We had measured the old tie rods and
everything was straight steering wise. We're still going to get an
alignment and the tires balanced.

The ride is dramatically changed. The outer tie rod ball joints had
significant wear upon inspection. It made the steering pretty sloppy
before, but now its like new. No vibration and no steering wheel wobble
is great too. The brakes used to take a lot of effort and go almost all
the way to the ground, but now it grabs well.

I would say almost anyone with mechanical knowledge could do this job.
We got the special tools we needed from autozone and got our deposit
back. Other than that it was basic metric tools. An impact wrench
really saved some time and effort, but it could be done without. Make
sure you have a big socket for the spindle nut.

hondahookup.com has the manual for the 94 accord, and although we
didn't use it that much ... it helped when we got stuck on something.

Thanks for the input everyone.

joutlaw wrote:
> I took the plunge and ordered the parts. We're hoping to get the work done
> this weekend. I printed 40 pages of information on the front suspension from
> the 1994 Accord workshop manual.
>
> Her dad has replaced the axles on that car before, so I believe the tear
> down will be similar. He also has a ball joint seperator tool already. We're
> going to do the loaner program from Autozone for the ball joint
> remover/installer.
>
> Up next is going to be new tires all around and an alignment. Hopefully it
> will drive a lot better after this work. I'll update this thread after the
> work.
>
>
> "Butternut Squash" <rxrx@yamama.com> wrote in message
> news:7Y4ig.152630$Fs1.29853@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> > jqoutlaw@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> >> I posted last week about a 1994 Accord EX with 235K+ miles that needed
> >> suspension/alignment/steering work. It is tugging and jerking the wheel
> >> up to around 40Mph, then a had vibration around 50-55, then a constant
> >> vibration to about 80Mph. Any transition in speed will cause a
> >> vibrationa as well. Oddly, if you go into a corner the vibration stops
> >> while turning at speed, but resumes when you get straight. The
> >> condition is getting worse, and I'm afraid it is getting pretty
> >> dangerous to drive.
> >>
> >> With the mileage, I'm guessing its the ball joints. The car is showing
> >> its in alignment, but its wearing the inside of both front tires.
> >>
> >> I figure a lot of bushings are worn out up front as well, and found
> >> this auction on ebay:
> >>
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/94-97...QQcmdZViewItem
> >>
> >> For around 160$ shipped this looks like a steal, but wanted to see if
> >> anyone had any input on it. Wouldn't it be easier to just replace all
> >> these parts at one time while the front end is apart?
> >>
> >> Do you think it would be a tough job for a DIY'er. I have access to a
> >> lot of tools, impact wrenchs, etc... , but not a lift.
> >
> > With that many miles if may be worth it to replace the whole front end if
> > you plan to drive the car another year. You won't reget it.
> >
> > I replace the suspension on my 87 accord and it drove and handled like new
> > until I sold it. If I can do the work, then anyone can. Order the parts
> > online, take the control arms to a machine shop to push out the bushings.
> > replace all the rubber and upper and lower ball joints.
> >
> > The lower ball joints are pressed into the knuckle. You can either get a
> > ball joint press or take the knuckle to the shop as well. That's what I
> > did.
> >
> > Make sure you check the bushings on the radius arm as well
> >
> > Reassemble and enjoy. I never regretted the work I did once. The only
> > thing
> > I wish I did differently is that I did all the work in one shot.