How hard to remove a steering knuckle?
 

The right steering knuckle needs to come off, so a dry front wheel bearing could be pressed out and replaced.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult is that job, based on your experience? Please advise.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (gulfview)
 

Very easy, take off the wheel, the axle nut, caliper, upper and lower ball joints, abs sensor, and tie rod end. Thats it. By the way, change the rotors while you have the bearing out if you have the kind that requires the bearing to be removed to change the rotors. When you put it all back together, be sure to tighten the axle nut to the right spec and make sure you bleed the calipers.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (silverstrike)
 

you need a 36mm socket to take off the axel nut. 17mm wrench or socket to remove the upper and lower balljoint, tie rod end and caliper bracket . a 10mm socket or wrench to take off the abs wire retainer, upper balljoint nut cover and the brake line braket. And a pair of pliers to remove the cotter pins in the tie rod and balljoints. Removal of the wheel bearing requires a 10mm 12 point socket. Lastly, you will need a hammer to whack loose the tie rod end, and lower balljoint. The upper balljoint has some upward tension, so it should come out on its own.

i'll give you the steps I do it in.

After the wheel is removed....
1) loosen and remove axel nut(36mm) and tap the axel loose from the hub with the hammer.

2) using pliers, remove the cotter pins in the upper and lower balljoint, and tie rod end. (remove covers as neccesary)

3) using a 17mm wrench or socket, remove the tie rod end, and whack it loose from the knuckel, and set aside.

4) loosen and remove lower balljoint bolt. and loosen from knuckel.

5) remove caliper bracket and set assembly aside. Secure the caliper so its not hanging by the brake line.

6) remove ABS wire if applicable

7) loosen and remove upper ball joint.

8) remove knuckel from car.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (JDM_DC4_Fanatic)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need a 36mm socket to take off the axel nut. 17mm wrench or socket to remove the upper and lower balljoint, tie rod end and caliper bracket . a 10mm socket or wrench to take off the abs wire retainer, upper balljoint nut cover and the brake line braket. And a pair of pliers to remove the cotter pins in the tie rod and balljoints. Removal of the wheel bearing requires a 10mm 12 point socket. Lastly, you will need a hammer to whack loose the tie rod end, and lower balljoint. The upper balljoint has some upward tension, so it should come out on its own.

i'll give you the steps I do it in.

After the wheel is removed....
1) loosen and remove axel nut(36mm) and tap the axel loose from the hub with the hammer.

2) using pliers, remove the cotter pins in the upper and lower balljoint, and tie rod end. (remove covers as neccesary)

3) using a 17mm wrench or socket, remove the tie rod end, and whack it loose from the knuckel, and set aside.

4) loosen and remove lower balljoint bolt. and loosen from knuckel.

5) remove caliper bracket and set assembly aside. Secure the caliper so its not hanging by the brake line.

6) remove ABS wire if applicable

7) loosen and remove upper ball joint.

8) remove knuckel from car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hitting it might not do the job. You might want to get a ball joint remover/seperater. The bearing assembly might be hard to take out. Especially if this is your first time removing the bearing.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (The-Kid)
 

Thanks guys for your great advice! https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (The-Kid)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by The-Kid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Hitting it might not do the job. You might want to get a ball joint remover/seperater. The bearing assembly might be hard to take out. Especially if this is your first time removing the bearing. </TD></TR></TABLE>

using a pickel fork to remove the balljoint usuially requires the replacement of the the balljoint after because 95% of the time it rips the boot. Using a hammer to hit the control arm will ALWAYS knock the balljoint loose since its only pressure fit. I guarantee if you hit it hard enough, it will come out.

The bearing will also just be rusted in there. Nothing a tap from a hammer wont take care of.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (JDM_DC4_Fanatic)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I guarantee if you hit it hard enough, it will come out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I always do it this way and haven't had any problem until I went to change the LCA on my 92 Civic one day. I hit that damn thing with a mini sledge I don't know how many times, began to think it wasn't going to work for the first time then it finally dropped.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The bearing will also just be rusted in there. Nothing a tap from a hammer wont take care of.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wish. When I did the brakes on my 95 EX I unbolted the four bolts on the back and it wouldn't move. So I tried tapping it hit a hammer, nothing. I hit it harder, still nothing. Then I used a slide hammer because I was replacing the bearings anyways. I pulled the hub out of the bearing and the bearing never came out of the knuckle. I had to take the knuckle into a machine shop and have it removed with a press because it was so rusted. I cleaned and greased it before installing the new bearing so the next time it wouldn't be so hard.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (TouringAccord)
 

be careful when tapping the lower ball joint with that hammer. The guy who owned my car before me did that and it ruined the ball joint. the damn thing just kept spinning with the nut on the end. VERY NOT COOL. took a cut off wheel to get the nut off. just keep that in mind guys.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (DoC-JoneS)
 

yeah, just leave the nut on the bottom of the threads at the end of the ball joint to protect the threads from being damaged from a miss with the hammer.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (JDM_DC4_Fanatic)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

using a pickel fork to remove the balljoint usuially requires the replacement of the the balljoint after because 95% of the time it rips the boot. Using a hammer to hit the control arm will ALWAYS knock the balljoint loose since its only pressure fit. I guarantee if you hit it hard enough, it will come out.

The bearing will also just be rusted in there. Nothing a tap from a hammer wont take care of.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not talking about the fork. I'm talking about the one that they have in autozone. It is similar to a 2-ton jaw puller. It pulls it out safely, W/O the chance of damaging the threads. https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (TouringAccord)
 

the bottom of the stud mushroomed from the PO beating on it so much. and the balljoint freespun.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (TouringAccord)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I wish. When I did the brakes on my 95 EX I unbolted the four bolts on the back and it wouldn't move. So I tried tapping it hit a hammer, nothing. I hit it harder, still nothing. Then I used a slide hammer because I was replacing the bearings anyways. I pulled the hub out of the bearing and the bearing never came out of the knuckle. I had to take the knuckle into a machine shop and have it removed with a press because it was so rusted. I cleaned and greased it before installing the new bearing so the next time it wouldn't be so hard.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe you hit like a girl https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmileo.gif LOL j/K https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (DoC-JoneS)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DoC-JoneS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the bottom of the stud mushroomed from the PO beating on it so much. and the balljoint freespun. </TD></TR></TABLE>

oh, well thats the problem. They shouldn't have been hitting the threaded stud.

Re: How hard to remove a steering knuckle? (JDM_DC4_Fanatic)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe you hit like a girl https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmileo.gif LOL j/K https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif </TD></TR></TABLE>

https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmileo.gif LOL! https://honda-tech.com/forums/images...s/emsmilep.gif