is this something that can be done with hand tools?

 

Yes

 

lol ok what do you need? any kind of how to anywhere for this job? the thing i cant figure out is how to get the huge nut off the hub. this is for an 88 accord btw

 

unless you hace air tools,,car ip park e-brake on and better yet get a friend to step on the brake pedal.....big pry bar,, 32mm socket step on pry bar with all your body weight going counterclock of course , once loose, need to raise car up, remove wheel, remove lower ball joint nut, separate joint from control arm, remove the fork 17mm bolt with nut and a 14 mm bolt once all those are off get a big scrwedriver and pop axle out from tranny......reverse order to install and don't forget to stake the axle nut geta punch and hammer for that . .it is an easy job

 

whats a punch hammer? how big of a screwdriver are we talking to pop the axle out of the tranny? how hard is it to get it back in? also what do you mean by stake the axle nut?


Modified by JeremyL at 7:20 PM 4/29/2005

 

This should help you a bit. even has pics.

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

 

ehy bd nice explanation and pics i agree with most of it ,,, jeremy do not and i repeat do not drain the tranny fluid to replace the axle it is absolutely unnecessery at times a bit of fluid comes out if it is an automatic almost never ,,,,,and the stuff about removing the sensor to fill tranny back up???? what about using the dipstick if it is an automatic or the drain plug refill if it is manual

 

the hardest parts will be the axle nut and ball joints... so basically its not very hard.

 

will i have to replace the ball joint? I have had issues in the past with pulling a castle nut and then not being able to put it back on. it basically just keeps turning the ball joint and i cant get it back on

 

You probably wont need a new ball joint. Make sure you use plenty of wd-40 on it though so you dont strip the threads if they're really that tight.


I didn't need a new one when i had to fix my sister's honda which is now mine. And she melted the brakes... beyond warped. They were so hot, they pretty much welded the axle nut on. I couldn't get it off w/ a 1/2 in. drive breakerbar and a 4 foot jack handle on the end. I just drove it to a local shop and had a friend use the impact and re-tighten it loosely. Not a big deal, but an impact wrench is definitely preferred.

You should bend the part of the axle nut back out of the groove it's in before you try to take it off, and put it back when you're done... this is what he meant by staking the nut.

Also, the sledge hammer trick didn't work for me - i had to get a puller.

This can definitely be done in a garage in a few unexperienced hours. Good Luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ehy bd nice explanation and pics i agree with most of it ,,, jeremy do not and i repeat do not drain the tranny fluid to replace the axle it is absolutely unnecessery at times a bit of fluid comes out if it is an automatic almost never ,,,,,and the stuff about removing the sensor to fill tranny back up???? what about using the dipstick if it is an automatic or the drain plug refill if it is manual </TD></TR></TABLE>

actually this came from the eg civic forum, which has very similar axle replacement to the accord.. im not really sure why that guy didnt use the drain plug to refill the tranny.

 

well i would imagine that their isnt gonna be a huge variance with pretty much any front front car

so i get the part about having to pry it out of the tranny but if it takes that much work to get it out it should take an equal amount of work to get it back in...what do you use to get it back in?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JeremyL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">will i have to replace the ball joint? I have had issues in the past with pulling a castle nut and then not being able to put it back on. it basically just keeps turning the ball joint and i cant get it back on</TD></TR></TABLE>

i had a similar thing happen when i changed an axle on my gf's civic. i had to use another jack to apply some pressure to the ball joint and it finally bolted in tightly.

 

it is actually easier to get out than back in. i replaced both on my '94 accord about a year ago and i really only had trouble with the driver side. all you have to do is push the shaft in till you hear a click. once you get the shaft into the tranny, then try to get the rotor back on and if it gets through enough you can start tightening the bolt back on and get it all the way through that way, but make sure if your using an impact gun that you do it slowly so you dont mess it up. the only reason why getting it back in is so hard is because it sucks getting the rotor lined up with the splines on the shaft.

 

well i just finished up, havent driven it yet so hopefully everything is ok. so i pop the wheel cover off and put the 32mm nut on with the 24" breaker and it pops right off. so im thinking jeez great this is gonna be smooth sailing. take ball joint out, get the fork off and pop the shaft out. going great and im about 30 min in. so i take the new shaft and slide it into the tranny, fits like a glove and im thinking im gonna be done in about another 10 min. getting that flipping piece of horse sh*t back into the f*&^ing spindle was worse than giving birth. what a friggen nightmare. i really dont even remember how i got the damn thing back on but its on and i got the nut on fine and did stake it properly. road test in the morning. if you can get a helper to do this then please for your own sanity do it. if one person can hold the ball joint in line to the LCA while the other guy smacks the hub into the spindle it would make it A LOT easier