crxses

I just called the closest place to my work for a quote on replacing the alt. and they told me they would have to pull the axle in order to replace it. Does this sound right? I replaced the alternator on an '87 and an '88 accord and I didn't need to remove the axle.

crazyguy

i have heard alot of people have to pull the axles out in order to replace alternators on their eg civis..but i have personally done the alternators swap on eg civic without have to pull the axles off..i just drop alternator in between axle and down pipe exhaust. and i was doing that on my b16 swap eg with less room to work on. no need to drop axles.
and installation is just the reverse of removal

marcus029

crazyguy, i dont understand because i dont know where you guys find room in between the axel and the exhaust. Personaly, i removed the axle... to get the alternator of.. and it was on a civic 93.

B18C5-EH2

I always pull the axle on stock 92-95 Civics, but on my friend's LS swapped EG I was able to squeeze the alternator out through the top in between the brake booster/master cylinder and the intake manifold - he has no power steering, so no p/s high pressure hose is in the way.

The key is does the car have power steering or not? If no power steering it might be possible to get the alternator out through the top, but otherwise the driver's axle needs to be pulled to make clearance for the alternator to come out through the bottom.

If somsone has a universal way to get it out otherwise without pulling the axle, on any stock 92-95 Civic I'd be interested to know how.

crxses

yep it has power steering so taking it out through the top won't happen. Thanks for the info guys.

slowcivic2k

If you have a jackstand you should be able to remove it from the bottom as well with the tire off the ground, works for sure on all 88-91's and my 2000 EX

crazyguy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marcus029 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">crazyguy, i dont understand because i dont know where you guys find room in between the axel and the exhaust. Personaly, i removed the axle... to get the alternator of.. and it was on a civic 93.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
oh yeah i forgot to mention.i dont have a ps system

groundzerocivic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marcus029 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">crazyguy, i dont understand because i dont know where you guys find room in between the axel and the exhaust. Personaly, i removed the axle... to get the alternator of.. and it was on a civic 93.

</TD></TR></TABLE>


i have plenty of room to drop mine out from the bottom without removing the axle....and i have a ls/v in my 95 dx ej2

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxses &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I just called the closest place to my work for a quote on replacing the alt. and they told me they would have to pull the axle in order to replace it. Does this sound right? I replaced the alternator on an '87 and an '88 accord and I didn't need to remove the axle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes this is very quite common in hondas, atleast in older ones.
had to drop my axles on my 89 accord, which the same as a 87 &88, so if you can share the wealth!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I always pull the axle on stock 92-95 Civics, but on my friend's LS swapped EG I was able to squeeze the alternator out through the top in between the brake booster/master cylinder and the intake manifold - he has no power steering, so no p/s high pressure hose is in the way.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah i did this in my 93 hatch (b16 w/ PS). i had to remove the alternator brakcts and MC (w/o unbolting hardlines of coarse) to get it in and out.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If somsone has a universal way to get it out otherwise without pulling the axle, on any stock 92-95 Civic I'd be interested to know how.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

crxses

When I replaced the alternators on the '87 and the '88 Accords I had them in the air on jackstands. It was about 6 years ago, but from what I remember I turned it a certain way and it came out just fine.

When I was underneath the civic the other night in the same manner it looked like there would be enough room to get it out the same way I got the alternator out with the accords.

jdmcars.com

It is really a matter of patience. It can be removed without removing the axle, but for me, it is actually just faster to get the axle out of the way than it is to fight with spinning the alt around and trying to pull it out.

If you are doing it yourself, just leave yourself enough time to either play with it, or remove the axle if needed.

Another suggestion, what I have found is the faster for myself, I will keep the axle in place, and just remove the lower ball joint. This gives me just a few inches of play so I can move the axles just far enough out of the way to wiggle the alt out. I normally already have the wheel off so I can get under the car better and work on getting the alt out, so breaking loose that lower ball joint takes a whole 1 minute than it's done.

B18C5-EH2

BTW:

It's noteworthy that removing an axle isn't time consuming or really hard work.

If a shop is charging labor it will certainly add about an extra hour to the job, but honestly if you're doing it yourself it's not a big deal to simply pull th axle out of the way. a lot of the time you don't even have to completely remove the axle itself - I can usually leave it in the transmission still if I don't want to risk spilling transmission fluid out if it's a 5-speed. If it's an auto I pull the axle completely out.

I can see how an axle job might be a PITA at home on the floor if you don't have all the tools.

Here's my axle tutorial topic:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=382416

slowcivic2k

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If it's an auto I pull the axle completely out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What's the difference? Still spills oil everywhere.

sqsi

I just did mine on my 92 hatch, you can just move some of the brackets and the PS hose out of the way and come out through the top.

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slowcivic2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What's the difference? Still spills oil everywhere.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No it doesn't.

I've probably changed, oh I don't know, 250+ axles in my lifetime and the only ones that ever spill are 5 speeds.

Unless the auto is WAY overfilled it should never drizzle fluid out when popping an axle out.

By the way I just pulled an axle out of my car ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD YESTERDAY so again it's nopt hard at all people!!!



Note the inner joint shaft piece broken off into the diff:



The **** ain't rocket science guys. Took me literally 10 minutes on the side of the road with nothing but hand tools.

If you can't pop an axle out then you shouldn't be trying to change an alternator!



BTW I had to get the car towed as I wasn't prepared (needed a swivel deep well 14mm socket and 3/8th drive wratchet, along with a long enough rod to pop the broken piece out through the intermediate shaft side) to have to remove the int. shaft to pop out the broken axle piece.



I swappd both axls out and the intermediate shaft out in about 20 minutes today at my shop. Power tools and a lift help, but again if I can change an axle on the side of the road you can do it in your garage/driveway.

slowcivic2k

I guess then my car is the only one on the road that spills ATF without a drain. (1991 DX Auto)

The differential is the same basic design, the bearings are lubed the exact same, so please explain to me how ATF will not come out of the side gear and driveshaft hole when the driveshaft comes out...

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slowcivic2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I guess then my car is the only one on the road that spills ATF without a drain. (1991 DX Auto) </TD></TR></TABLE>

How much fluid do you have in it?

I suppose if jacking the front of the car up it's more likely that you're spilling fluid from the diff, but I'm used to doing these cars on racks which lift the vehicle up level. I suppose that's the difference. If your car still leaks even on a rack then it's overfilled, end of story.

BTW you can raise the BS flag on me if you'd like, but I've been working at this shop for over 7 years now and have replaced more axles than you can imagine, and literally maybe twice have I ever had an auto spill fluid out when rmoving the axle - but remember I'm not doing this on the floor with a floor jack.

You can take my word for it based on years of experience and hundreds of different Hondas and Acuras, or we can take your word based on your car and your car alone.

BTW:

Spillage is completely avoidable if you jack the side of the car you're working on really high - this even applies to 5 speeds.

Mine is wet under neath because I pulled the right axle out while the car was still flat on the ground since the inner joint wasn't really even butted against the axle seal. I could have not spilled a drop with how high my car was jacked up had I not pulled on it while it was still flat on the ground, but that was part of my sweet roadside diagnositc skills.




Modified by B18C5-EH2 at 5:56 PM 12/14/2007

B18C5-EH2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slowcivic2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The differential is the same basic design, the bearings are lubed the exact same, so please explain to me how ATF will not come out of the side gear and driveshaft hole when the driveshaft comes out... </TD></TR></TABLE>

You added that while I was replying...

A 5-speed tranny uses it's fluid to simply lubricate and bathe the gears/synchros, etc. All of the fluid settles VERY quickly when the car is still, so it's much more likely to be pooled in the bottom of the tranny.

Automatics, however, use the fluid to actually shift gears, and the torque convertor stores a fair amount of fluid - the longer the auto sits the more likely it'd be to spill.

In theory the hundreds of cars I've replaced axles in could have been fresh off the road, with the torque convertor completely full and not drained back into the tranny, but somewhere along the lines I'm sure I've replaced axles on cars that had sat overnight waiting on approval.

The torque convertor can also in theory only drain about halfway unless it's tilted completely sideways or laid flat with the hole towards the ground.

Can you see how these differences could account for spillage vs. non spillage?


Modified by B18C5-EH2 at 9:24 AM 12/17/2007

JaredKaragen

you can swap out the ALT with P/S,

I just losten everything on the ALT side of the motor so it can be moved out of the way, then you pull the alt up, turn, wedge, turn, then pull out. putting it in is easier.

midwesta

You DO NOT need to pull the axle on a 1992-1995 Civic SOHC. I just did it, to do it I removed the lower alternator bracket and took off the plastic splash guard.

ShinyNewPenny

When I replaced the alt on my '93 Si I dropped it down and turned it a little and it came right out. No need to pull the axle really.

BustedHonda77

With your pictorial description it looks fairly simple. I m not a mechanic, professional or otherwise but I have always been able to fix anything IF I CAN UNDERSTAND IT. Would you please put this in "Axle-Removal & Alternator changing in a 92-93 civic for DUMMIES format?" Mine is a '93 5-speed so I may be able (hopefully from what I've read) to bypass the axle removal & just get the alt out & back in. This car is as old as I am and all I have to drive. Any help would be awesome. Thanks! (ps: You look like you like this model of car... come buy mine from me!!!

redm3turbo

^ maybe your changing axles on the side of the road in the south in 15 year old plus cars....but no chance of that here in the northeast....

rust belt makes having a torch and an impact wrench or 6' cheater pipe a necessity. Neither of which I ride around with in the trunk, lol.

and not for nothing but whoever is in that pic above doesn't appear to been working on a car, by the looks of the hands in the photo. I wear gloves to work on my car and it still looks like I just got out of a bp spill, especially with axles. I have grease on my forearms, shirt, pants, lol.