crxaddikt

car is 1990 crx si, i wanted to get a feel for how hard it is to do a steering knuckle replacement and if its something i would feel comfortable enough to do myself or not.

i have had a bent steering knuckle (hub) on passenger front since 2007 because i hit a curb at an angle,

the damage caused me to have to replace radius rod, bent rim, control arm, and the sub-frame, and i got it towed to shop and they put an adjustable ball-joint on that side, because they said that was the only way they could be able to do an alignment on it, so at least i got it driveable again, but only thing that was'nt done was replacing the bent steering knuckle, partly cause it wasnt totally necessary and they said i could drive with it like that for a while cause the adjustable ball-joint corrected it a little.

now i'm ready to replace the steering knuckle, so i can finally get it aligned correctly again and not have it pull towards the right, or have it wear through tires as fast as it does.

so that leads me here............. i did look carefully at the steps in the HELMS for removing/ replacing steering knuckle (hub), and i understood mostly the steps from beginning up til about the middle of all the steps, but on the second half it started to look complicated because it said you do stuff with a "hydraulic press" and they mention using "special tools" and stuff ???

i just wanted to get some opinions from people on here how hard of a job is it to do and whats the hardest parts about it? and how it would compare to other jobs?

(as example
like would it rate around how hard it is to drop a steering rack and replace with new one??

or would it rate more in the effort range of replacing brake rotors and pads all around?


any thoughts would be helpfull, thnx

EL Vap133

It can be easy if all the bolts and nuts are not rusted and such. The "hardest" part might be getting the axle nut off.

tonythetuner®

Its not to hard I rate it a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10 lol. All you need is a ball joint separator. First take the brake caliper off and unbolt the brake line fron the knuckle. Then take the axle nut off. After that reomove the bolt for the upper ball joint then use the ball joint separator to free the knuckle from the ball joint now slide the axle out of the hub. Then loosen the bolt for the lower ball joint and use the ball joint separator to free the knuckle from the ball joint. Also you must unbolt the tie rod from the knuckle

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

who needs a ball joint seperator when you got muscles of steel like myself...i just did this last week to change out my front lca's and a good tire jack and breaker bar and some mild effort is all it took for me...my moog ball joints were never touched and still look flawless...!!!

hatchet_honda

i use a ball joint seperator tool everytime. takes 2 min and no problems everrr.

hatchet_honda

given the bolts are not seized or anything removing the steering knuckle is a piece of cake. finding another one to replace it is another story.

zrickety

iTrader: (1)

now is a good time for the integra big brake upgrade. all you need are the knuckles (with calipers, rotors) and a 4040 prop valve. then get an alignment and enjoy!

Tyson

it can be difficult if its your first time. especially if ball joints and axle nuts have not been removed in years.

the ball joints and axle nut are the big issues of course.

to do the lower ball joint, there is a popular trick to jack up the suspension and put a wrench in the right spot and then drop the weight, letting the suspension and spring separate the balljoint. i never tried this. and it wont work on the tie rod since theres nothing to sandwich. i use the hammer method to take all the balljoints off.
search in the FAQ for videos of how to get it done. it will also show some tools which work as well.

i dont recommend a pickle fork because it ill destroy the balljoint, or at least the boot. but if youre replacing it, then i guess its moot. however the hammer trick has worked for me nearly everytime so i dont see any other reason to try anything else.

the axle nut just needs torque. dont try to use the brakes to lock the wheels, you need more torque than the brakes can muster to be honest. best way ive done is i stick a screwdriver in the vane of the rotor and lock it against the caliper. this is with the wheel off of course. then you can put as much torque as you can with a long cheater bar and breaker bar (dont use a ratchet, it will break any ratchet). use your LEGS, dont be a dumbass and use your weight or jump on it. you can lift more than you weight, and its safer.

but once you do this a few times, THEN it all becomes easy and you can be as cool as big chorizo.

Tyson

also when you put the castle nuts back on the balljoints, if you dont have new castle nuts, reusing the old ones will most likely not want to go back on the balljoint easily and will just spin the balljoint.

you either need to TAP the threads, or replace the castle nut. thats the best solution, since really, thats the problem. the discontinuous threads caused by the castleation of the nut stretches the threads and thats why it catches. so fix the problem, fix the threads.

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

nobody can ever be as cool as me...carry on...!!!

jrivas356

If you havn't replaced the knuckle already I can do a quick write up for this. Im replacing the wheel bearing on my 91 civic sedan and need to take the knuckle off anyway. Also watching videos on Youtube of this will help alot.

zrickety

iTrader: (1)

i would definitely recommend the pickle fork...you won't mess up the threads, and chances are your boots are shot or will be soon.
you can get replacement ball joint boots from advance/autozone for cheap. #13562, made by Dorman (Help! products).
i replaced all my boots with these and have not had any problems.

crxaddikt

thanks for your guys opinions............

i did'nt mention, i did already know how to do steps like balljoints, seperating using pickle fork and stuff, etc... a couple years ago i put new steering rack, along with lower ball-joints and some other things, but upper ball-joints were never replaced, i've also done shocks & springs before so i understand seperating those parts to get to that are, and since they bolts have been broken free while doing that then maybe they would be easier this time around.

the steps i was more intimidated by and wanted to know about i listed below (copied from Helms) , so i could tell whether it would be out of my range to do myself or not too :
----------------------------------------------------


SEPERATE THE HUB FROM THE KNUCKLE USING THE SPECIAL TOOLS AND A HYDRAULIC PRESS

REMOVE THE 76MM SNAP RING AND KNUCKLE RING FROM THE KNUCKLE

PRESS THE WHEEL BEARING OUT OF THE KNUCKLE USING THE SPECIAL TOOLS SHOWN AND A HYDRAULIC PRESS.

REMOVE THE OUTBOARD BEARING INNER RACE FROM THE HUB USING THE SPECIAL TOOLS SHOWN AND A BEARING PULLER.

PRESS A NEW WHEEL BEARING INTO THE HUB USING THE SPECIAL TOOLS SHOWN AND A HYDRAULIC PRESS.

INSTALL 76MM SNAP RING SECURELY IN KNUCKLE GROOVE.

INSTALL THE SHAFT IN THE BASE WITH THE APPROPRIATE SIZE END ACCORDING TO THE FRONT HUB I.D.

PLACE HUB ONTO THE SPECIAL TOOLS AND INSTALL THE PILOT

SET THE KNUCKLE IN POSITION AND INSTALL USING SPECIAL TOOLS AND HYDRAULIC PRESS.

INSTALL FRONT KNUCKLE RING ON THE KNUCKLE

--------------------------------


could anyone just go over these steps, and explain what tools i would need to do it, whats hard about it, or any details to understand them better, so i could help gauge how hard they are so i could know if i can do myself or not? thanks