I have a 2005 CR-V EX AWD with 98,XXX miles. I'm replacing compliance bushings and lower ball joints on the front end. I have done a fair amount of work on my cars over the years including complete engine rebuilds, engine swaps, clutch replacements, etc-but not a lot of other drive train or suspension work except for shock replacements. A lot of my experience has been on VW Bugs and American RWD sedans.

After reading a lot of posts on Honda-Tech and reviews elsewhere, I went with the Moog Problem Solver components (K Series)

After 11 years, there are a lot of rusted, stuck components and bolts, and as usual the job is taking longer than planned. I've used a lot of PB Blast and Freeze-Off, and I broke my 1/2" breaker bar trying to loosen one of the 36 mm axle nuts. (Went to Harbor Freight for a 3/4" breaker)

I am having real problems with the passenger side. I haven't been able to get the hub/steering knuckle assembly to release from the axle, despite many attempts. Here's what I tried:

1. The standard light tapping on the end of the axle (which did work on the driver's side)
2. Vigorous pounding placing the rounded end of a ball peen hammer on the dimple in the end of the axle and striking it with a 5 lb sledge, with a lot of Freeze-Off sprayed on the axle shaft end and threads.
3. I went ahead and had the control arm bushings and the driver's ball joint pressed at a machine shop, and the old-timer there suggested that I put everything back together, lower the car back down to the ground, and repeat #2 above. He said he's seen a lot of stuck axles and that having the weight of the car on the axles often will break things loose better than when it's jacked up. Maybe it does, but it didn't work for me.

He also said that sometimes it works to reassemble everything, but leave the axle hub nut a "little looser" rather than torquing in down, drive it for a few days, and then try it again. This sounded a little sketchy, but at that point I was almost desperate enough to try it - but the ball joint on that side was also horribly stuck and the Pitman Arm Puller broke about an inch off the ball joint stud, which made reassembly even more risky.

I considered removing the whole axle with the hub attached and trying to remove the hub with the axle in a vise and vertical so that my PB Blast could seep all the way down into the splines and maybe loosen things up. The passenger side has what my Chilton's guide calls an intermediate axle. I haven't been able to pry the outer axle out of the bearing/connection assembly between the outer and the intermediate axle. The other side came out very easily. I'm wondering if all of the vigorous pounding I have done on the end of the axle shaft may have jammed and stuck the CV joint in that connection/bearing assembly. Is that likely, or do I just need to pry more forcefully? Is taking the entire axle/steering knuckle out as a unit a viable option?

I have also just rented a 7 ton gear puller at O'Reilly's but I'm a little hesitant to try it - I'm concerned that if the splines are really stuck bad, the puller may just pull apart the hub/steering knuckle assembly. Has anyone used one of these to pull off the steering knuckle assembly? Any thoughts? Worth a try, or a bad idea?



I attached some pics. BTW these were taken at night using awesome 1000 lumen LED worklight I just bought at Menard's for $30. Smart Electrician 1000 Lumen LED Work Light at Menards® They have some other units up to 7800 lumens.

Any help or fresh ideas would be appreciated.

 

Whack the axle stub with the ball side of a ball peen hammer, being careful not to damage the threads. Leave the nut loosely threaded on there if it helps. Give it a few good whacks and it'll move. Your car doesn't look very rusted based on your pics.

What state are you from? I'm from the chicago burbs and I've never met an axle I couldn't remove with a ball peen hammer. Be mindful of the angle you have the hub at. Pushing the axle as STRAIGHT back as possible will help.

Since you're going through all this, I will heavily advise that you do not use Moog components. They likely will fail before 50K and you'll be doing this again.

If the Honda component isn't bad, DON'T replace it. Honda ball joints and tie rods often go 200+K miles without devloping play.

If you need to replace it, buy genuine Honda. I would not trust moog for tie rods or ball joints. Their bushings are also garbage.

Parts sites like bernardiparts.com sell discounted Honda parts. The price difference isn't that bad between genuine Honda and moog.

 

Here are my Moog compliance bushings after like...50K miles or less. I have no clue when they tore out. May have been much earlier than this. I started hearing noise about 35-40k after installing them. On the up side, they are made with consistency...because the other side has become seperated as well.

The Honda bushings were a whopping $8 more. But since I was doing all the work..I decided to try out Moog. I won't be using their "lifefime warranty". Because I don't want another Moog part to replace them with.

I'm replacing them next weekend with Honda parts.



In comparison, I just replaced LCA's on an Accord with OEM honda bushings. 215K miles and the bushings were still not fully cracked thru. The car still has factory ball joints and tie rods as well.

Moog doesn't make the same quality parts as Honda does. If you're used to VW and Domestic cars...you're used to badly made OEM parts (no offense...just truth), in which case Moog may seem like an improvement.

 

Hit them with a hammer.

You can try leaving the axle nut on it. (You will likely ruin the nut) Be careful not to screw up the threads on the axle.
With that said, I beat the **** out of one of my axles and It didn't effect the threads at all. Ruined the nut though.

 

Sorry for the delay in posting how I finally got the hub assembly off the axle, and thanks to those who posted suggestions.

I tried repeatedly to loosen the hub by pounding with a ballpeen hammer, to no avail. I also took the entire axle out with the hub attached and put the hub on my bench vise so that the axle was vertical, hoping that the PB blast would seep down along the splines better using gravity, and then pounded on the axle. It still didn't budge from the hub.

So I put the 7 ton gear puller that I had rented from O'Reilly's on the hub and axle and started turning the crank. After several turns and the crank getting more and more difficult to turn, I heard a loud ping, and the hub loosened from the axle. What a relief!

The center point of the gear puller did slightly damage the end of axle by digging down into the center depression at the end of the axle and enlarging it, slightly deforming the threads on the axle at the top, but my machine shop guy was able to clean up the threads using a thread file.

In retrospect, I probably should have placed a steel shim between the center tip of the gear puller and the axle, letting the shim take the punishment rather than the end of the axle.

All's back together, and working great. The new compliance bushings and ball joints really tightened up the steering and handling.