DIY Full-Race traction ball install

Alright here it goes! This is just a helpful tool to make your install go a little easier. 8thcivic and myself are not responsible for you getting hurt or messing up your parts if something goes wrong.

Started off my getting the car in the air and taking the wheel off.


We then preceded to take the axle nut off because it make it easier to take the LCA off the car.


From there we took off the 2 nuts and 1 bolt that connect the LCA to the lower ball joint. All 3 are 17mm.


We then took off the nut that connects the sway bar to the LCA. It is 14mm.


Once all that is out of the way you can move the axle and suspension out of the way and the LCA will hang freely.


After all that is out of the way you can take off the rear bolt by the cv boot that holds the LCA in place. It is also a 14mm.


After that you are on to the last bolt. This is the bolt that actually goes through the stock bushing we are replacing. It is on the underside of the LCA and is 17mm.


Once that bolt is removed you can now take the LCA off the car. Now to get the stock bushing out of the LCA we used a hydraulic press. I know most of you wont have access to one of these so you might be able to rent something like this YA6810, Kit, Honda/Acura Bushing Tool, 5 pcs. to get the stock bushing out.

Ok here are some pictures of what we used to press the bushing out. The pipe we found is about 68mm and it is perfect for resting the LCA on while we pressed the bushing out. The second piece of pipe we found was 65mm and thats what we used to help push the bushing out.
68mm pipe

65mm pipe


We then set everything up and pressed the bushing out.




Time to press in the new traction ball. Make sure you press the traction ball in from the top of the LCA so that the snap ring goes on the bottom. We also just used a vice to press it in because it took little force. We pressed in the traction ball without the bearing in the main bushing. If you want you can add the bearing to the bushing and then press the whole set up into the LCA.


We got it as far as it could go with the vice then set the LCA on the 68mm pipe and tapped it in the rest of the way with a hammer.



Here you can see the groove where the snap ring goes. Install the snap ring and youre set for the main bushing.




Next install the bearing into the bushing. We just sprayed a little wd-40 and it slid right in with little force. Install the snap ring into that and youre set.


Finally you are ready to reinstall the LCA back on the car. This is what it looks like when on.


Once in place just reinstall all nuts and bolts like you took them off and your golden. Also make sure to "key" the axle nut when you put that back on.



Initial driving impressions. The car does feel more solid and planted to the ground. No extra road noise from what I could tell. Also only took us about 20 minuets a side to install.