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5th Gen Prelude Lower Ball Joint Guide

76K views 62 replies 29 participants last post by  Radludatic1007 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys, it took me months and a lot of time and money figuring all this out. I have four leftover ball joints due to this. I am posting this as a reference hoping that it'll help someone out. That said, don't blame me if this doesn't work out for you. THIS IS A GUIDE FOR LOWER BALL JOINTS ONLY.

First off, the base Prelude only has 4 lower ball joints as opposed to the 6 lower ball joints the SH model has (2 extra for the front radius rods).

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Some ball joint info:

Honda TSB 99-039: Honda TSB for front lower ball joints for Preludes. This TSB was released along with a ball joint "kit" that includes two ball joints along with two axle nuts and a few cotter pins. This "kit" is very COST EFFECTIVE.
Part number: 04510-SL5-000
The ball joints in this kit, I found has the exact same dimensions as the 51220-SL5-013 ball joints. Comparison pictures below.

ALL 5th Gen Preludes have the same basic rear suspension sans rear sway bar and maybe other tidbits. That said: the rear ball joints I found are the exact same dimensions as the front lower.
2001 Prelude Base right rear knuckle:
52111-S30-C00 Part #6
2001 Prelude SH right rear knuckle:
52111-S30-C00 Part #6

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Honda part numbers:

97-01 Prelude base
Front lower ball joint:
04510-SL5-000 (comes with 2) or 2x 51220-SL5-013

Rear lower ball joint: THE SAME AS THE FRONT
04510-SL5-000 or 2x 51220-SL5-013

---DISCLAIMER: Honda does not sell the rear ball joint separate from the rear knuckle. Whatever reason this is, I don't know. I found that the ball joint pressed in just as snugly as the front ones. That said, they also didn't carry the front lower ball joint separate from the knuckle, yet they released the TSB.---

97-01 Prelude SH
Front lower ball joint:
04510-SL5-000 (again, comes with 2) or 2x 51220-SL5-013

Radius Rod ball joint:
51220-S30-N21 Part #4 ---ONLY HONDA WILL CARRY THIS PART--- I found absolutely no aftermarket replacement.

Rear lower ball joint:
04510-SL5-000 or 2x 51220-SL5-013

---SAME DISCLAIMER AS THE BASE---

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To sum up if you want to replace all of your lower ball joints for your Prelude with OEM parts, order:

Base: 2x 04510-SL5-000 (2x will come with 4 ball joints)
SH: 2x 04510-SL5-000 and 2x 51220-S30-N21
Castlenut part number: 90307-SL5-000 (4x for base, 6x for SH)

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Picture comparison of 04510-SL5-000 & 51220-SL5-013. They are the same. Which is which? Exactly (actually, I don't remember).

Happy Luding.





 
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#2 ·
Very helpful man, I am looking to replace all my balljoints soon on my SH and I was confused as to what to get. One question though, do the ball joint kits come with castlenuts or do I have to order it seperately? You mentioned something about the "kit" coming with them, but you also said to order six if you were looking to replace all of them on an sh.
 
#6 ·
The "kit" comes with two AXLE nuts. You aren't supposed to reuse axle nuts, so Honda threw them in. You can, however, reuse the castlenuts. I just put up the part number in case anyone wanted to replace them with new ones. New balls should have new nuts. Lol.

Forgot to mention:

---Special thanks to TheJGB3 for answering some questions I had about ball joints.---
 
#9 ·
Pretty hard I would say. Only thing that was more difficult working on my car was changing the clutch on my SH. It took me about 4 days working 5-6 hours to do all the ball joints, bushings, and some other suspension components. I don't recommend tackling this job without the right tools and Red Bull.

You'll definitely need an impact wrench for the C clamp press (I used an electric impact), and you'll need a Honda adaptor set. Both can be rented at Autozone. Regarding the Honda adaptor set, I opted to use a shallow 1/2" 1" socket to fit over the ball joint stud instead of what was in the set.

Item # 27023 & 27164

It's tricky to get the C clamp press set up correctly. I wish I had taken pictures. Removing the upper ball joints was much easier compared to this. A tip I can offer is to use your spare wheel and set the front hubs over the face of the spare and thread some lug nuts on the other side. It'll spin on its hub but remain steady and upright. This tip won't work for the rear though.

Another tip is to order some extra ball joint boots in case you rip one while pressing it in.
 
#8 ·
somewhat unrelated question but if answered properly it could help others as well...

Anyways, i have a pretty sharp knock sound on larger bumps coming from the rear wheel area on the drivers side only, any chance this issue is related to the ball joint?

i checked everything just visually and it's all tight and appears intact but i am yet to check the ball joints
 
#10 ·
Sorry man, I couldn't tell you for sure. My ball joint boots were drying and cracking. That's why I replaced them. They moved more freely compared to the new ones but there was no play in them.

Search "prelude shock knock" and you might find the answer you're looking for.
 
#13 ·
This good info! For the front lower ball joints, Get a propane torch and heat up the metal, and then use a mallet or hammer to beat the ball joint out. It takes a little more effort, but it will eventually work.
 
#17 ·
Bumped in to a little problem with this. Ordered LBJ with this 51220-SL5-013 part number from a local parts dealer (Not honda, original would have ripped me off 140€ so..)
Anyways finally got my hands on it. Now when looking at it and it looks totally different from what pictures above are showing. Boot is totally different shape, there is only one cottery pin hole and it's missing that lower groove. Could it bee that manufacturers have slight difference between themselves?
But what i need to know now before doing anything with this are the measures of what they shoud be.. Full height, diameters of the widest point and next wide one, boot height and thread part height.. Not sure yet that is this all waste of time and do i just go and throw it in lake or something.
 
#58 ·
I know it's an old post, but this is concerning to me. Is there really any difference between the ball joint 51220-SL5-013 that connects to the lca and the ball joint that connects to the radius rod/traction bar 51220-S30-N21?

I have a '97 sh with 190k, pretty beat up (got it cheap) I was in a bind and had two 51220-SL5-013's and was able to press both of them them in the drivers knuckle and get my car driving. It was handling perfect.

Then two days later I broke my passenger upper. Put an adjustable one in, couldn't seem to get it to drive right. Then i noticed my inner tie rod ends were bad, replaced those (made sure I counted turns) and eventually (now) burned out the camber on the inside of both my front tires.

I plan to order new upper control arms. I need lowers because the bushings are shot, and a drivers side axle. Any suggestions? Think I should press out that 51220-SL5-013 and replace with 51220-S30-N21, hoping I didn't mess my knuckle up by doing this...
 
#22 ·
a ball joint press that you can borrow from your local parts store and a little bit of luck. I had to heat one of mine too to get it out even with the press.
 
#24 ·
I should take a look at mine, I did my front when I got the car, but the rears didn't look totally spent yet at that time. according to this thread the rear lower is the same as the from lower on a base. per Honda NOW, you can only get the front and rears as a knuckle assembly w/ the ball joint. that's whack. get yourself a good quality a/m joint and you'll be fine. I used raybestos pro-grade from rockauto. I think they were still like $50/piece.
 
#25 ·
An fyi for any of you doing ball joints in the future, especially the rear lowers, as previously stated they are the same as the front. Also, some guy on another prelude forum said that 03 up accord front lowers are the same as well. These are much more readily available at parts stores and on short notice. After ripping a boot on one of the new ones i got online i went to autozone and got accord ones and they work just fine. Exception being you need to either add a few extra threads or shim it with a washer on the bottom inorder to get it to press into the control arm.
 
#32 ·
As I said above, the basic c clamp style kit (same as an autozone kit...but cheaper because i got it at harbor freight...) in conjunction with the honda kit I purchased off amazon....

Which you said did not work


Indeed works.

I'm too lazy to do quotes via mobile
 
#33 ·
i mean the autozone adapter kit for honda. anyway, this clarification isn't worth this much trouble lol. the clamp works just fine. do you know what brand the honda kit you got is?
 
#34 ·
I've been wondering this for a while now, I feel like I'm missing something. I've read this before and in the disclaimer and also post #24 it says that you can only get the ball joints from Honda by purchasing the whole knuckle. I tried entering the part number for the ball joint kits on majestic Honda and I was able to add them to the cart and checkout (I didn't submit the order).



If someone can clarify if these can be purchased separately or not it would be greatly appreciated
 
#38 ·
Jv, were you able to find them just doing the catagorized search or did you just enter the part numbers somewhere? I looked just out of curiousity and can only find the whole knuckle and then ball joint boots seperate.
 
#35 · (Edited)
You can buy them separately if you want. the part number 04510-SL5-000, brings 2 new axle nuts with 2 new ball joints so if you buy three kits your going to have 6 new axle nuts and 6 new ball joints lol, if you don't want that just buy 2 kits and you'll be set. The part number to just buy the ball joint separate is 51220-s30-n21 but I say the kit is better.
 
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