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So I was turning into an alley and the front passenger side of my 1998 Honda Civic crashed down and started dragging. I stopped the car and got out.
The lower ball joint nut was missing. This Summer I put in new front wheel bearings and I remember putting in a heavy duty cotter pin but it was now sheared off, I could see the two strands in the hole. The lower control arm fell away from the lower ball joint.
The wheel hub pulled the passenger side axle off the inner barrel. The barrel is still stuck in the transmission.
As I waited for a tow, I started the car again and drove backwards a little to relieve the wheel pressure on the fender well.
Then I drove forward a little, and felt the driver side pulling forward. But the passenger side mess was still holding back the car.
I had the car towed to in front of my apartment building. The next day I went and got a new Passenger Side Axle and lower ball joint.
I took the castle nut from the new ball joint and put it on my current one. It threaded up. I repositioned the lower control arm and then zipped up the castle nut though it with a 1/4" impact driver. It threaded up fine and tightened up the lower control arm.
I thought I was home free.
I planned to slowly drive the car into my underground parking to work on it and get it off the street. To use the unbroken Driver Side axle to pull the car into my garage. But instead I was surprised by THE CAR GOING NOWHERE. It would no longer move, in 1st Gear or in Reverse or even in 2nd gear.
I put on the emergency brake and I was able to let go of the clutch and rev in 1st gear and Reverse, but the car wouldn't move.
1998 Honda Civic EX D16y8, not sure of the transmission. Whatever came standard with a 1998 EX.
I read some other threads and people mentioned the C-clips coming loose.
Can someone explain that in more detail? How does the passenger side axle barrel coming out a smidge stop the driver side axle from moving?
If I hammer that broken barrel back into the passenger side of the transmission will the car start driving again? (it looks like it's still pushed in all the way.)
Should I pull the loose barrel out of the transmission all the way, then push it and the splines back into the tranny?
Does anyone suspect trouble with the driver side axle?
Is there some fuse or sensor that prevents the driver side axle from working on it's own?
What can I do to get this car moving so I can slowly drive it into my garage?
What happened during the towing, or the day sitting, that makes the car not drive now. Immediately after the passenger side axle tore out the car was still trying to move forward and backward, it was just the loose passenger tire stopping the car from moving.
If you know how to get the driver side axle moving this car, please let me know! Thank you!
Passenger side outer CV boot intact and held on with axle nut. Passenger side inner CV boot torn off inner axle barrel. Passenger side axle barrel splines still in transmission.
Well based off the photos and what you typed I am assuming the passengers side axle isn't installed into the transmission or at least the joint is broken and the splined portion is still installed? If that is the case and your car more than likely has an open differential, which means your car is trying to apply power to the passengers side axle, instead of the drivers side. Basically applying power to the side with the least resistance, so you will never move under your own power until you put the passengers side axle back in.
It is also possible when this first happened, the joist was still in on the transmission side and allowed the car to move a bit, but after loading it up for towing and unloading it popped the rest of the way out.
If you can get under the car and pop the joint on the passengers side back into the portion attached to the transmission you should be able to limp it to where you are wanting to work on the car.
Thanks for that advice everyone! I crawled under the car in the street and was able to eventually replace the axle. I held my breath and pressed the gas and YES! It started driving again! Hooray!
I don't understand what an "open differential" is, but when I twisted the broken CV barrel (splines still inserted) with the car off, it moved the good CV barrel in the opposite direction and vice versa. Which I thought was weird.
I had some trouble getting the CV axle to click in lying on my back, but it eventually went flush. What gave me the most trouble was getting the strut fork bolt back through. Is it critical which direction the bolt and nut face? When I started the nut was towards the front, but I couldn't get the bolt back through from behind, because the fork or bushing was kind of twisting. So I had to use a small jack to push down the upper control arm to help line up fork and eventually get the bolt in from the front, with the nut in the back.
Secret technique to finally get the fork bolt back through.
Make sure your lower ball joint nut is properly torqued, or this is all going to happen again. Do not just "zip it on", tighten by hand preferably with a torque wrench. Then install cotter pin. The pin is not the primary thing that holds the nut on, as you found out it isn't strong enough to do that anyway. The nut must be tight.
After actually reading the original post (my bad), he only replaced the nut.
I think since he bought a new ball joint, I would go through the process and replace the ball joint. But then again, I also assume the old one is worn and loose.
Yes. Step one was to get it driving and off the street. I'm working on replacing the ball joint now.
The current ball joint is stiff and the threads look good, but yes, it was 8 months ago, but I did just zip it up with a battery powered impact. I never put the torque wrench on it. Will do this time.
And replacing the whole thing just to rule out thread issues. Thanks everyone!
The lower ball joint is 40 ft lbs. This was not as tight as I expected. I feel like I must've had the last nut tighter than that.
Not sure why the last nut fell off. Not sure what happened after 8 months to make it loose.
Is there any guideline to how many times a ball joint or nut can be tightened or loosened or pressed into a knuckle before it wears out or gets too small?
Originally Posted by tony_2018
even if you hit it with an impact driver you still need to torque it to spec to ensure it doesn't fly off again.
Did you make sure to cotter pin the castle nut? Or do you have the ball joints that do not have cotter pin provisions?
If the latter, I would use a loctite green penetrating thread locker. It's what I used on mine without cotter pin provisions and have not had the nuts loosen at all.
I had some trouble getting the CV axle to click in lying on my back, but it eventually went flush.
When installing the CV axle did you use a rubber mallot or outer axle as a pseudo slide hammer to push the inner axle in as flush as possible? If not, it may pop out. Being that you got it to click in is a very good sign that it is installed correctly.
If it has a friction lock nut instead of a castle nut and cotter pin, you should use a new nut every time it is taken apart. The castle nut system is reusable.
This is with a stock cast iron control arm. All bets are off with soft metal ebay control arms.
02-21-2017, 10:53 PM
Ball Joint Tore Axle, Now It Won't Drive!
Will do this time.
