Ok, I am replacing my passenger side axle on my 1990 Civic hatchback with a B16A swap.

I know how it is done, I removed the axle nut, the cotter pin holding the nut for the LCA on, and removed the nut itself holding the LCA to the brake assembly. I am absolutely 100% stumped as how I am too remove the LCA from the brake assembly. I see that the brake assembly has a stud that the LCA slide up...and then the nut holds the LCA on. I can't seem to pry the LCA DOWN off the stud. Help? Anyone? Quick?!

-ryan

 

You have to separate the balljoint and then slide the arm off of the stud. What i did is put pressure on the arm with a floorjack and then used a hammer and hit the arm a few times and it separated. There is a little flat spot on the arm where I hit. HTH

 

Thanks, Im going to give that a try...the "balljoint" you are referring to wouldn't be above the stud? I was prying at the LCA trying to pry it DOWN and some brown oooze came out...hmmmm...

brb...let me give it a try

-ryan

 

Yeah that is it but you don't want to break the boot over the balljoint. Inspect the boot and make sure you didn't damage it cause they can be a pain to replace.

 

NO LUCK...I put the jack RIGHT under the LCA to put pressure up on it...banged on the side of the LCA...removed the jack...and the LCA refuses to come down.

Did I do what it right?!

-ryan

 

Yeah that is what I did just put a little pressure on it not too much. The first time I separated it during my swap I had to smack it real good. Give it another try.

 

Put pressure under the LCA and hit the LCA on the sides?! How will that seperate it?! Im confused here...I removed my entire suspension so I have have some more room to work. Will the LCA just FALL right off when it is "seperated"?

-ryan

 

Did you remove the LCA on the other end??

 

no...the LCA is still bolted up on the other side of it.

 

Still no luck. anybody?!

 

you gotta hit it pretty hard. or you can unbolt the upper a arm and fling the whole assembly out and have someone stand on the rotor and that should give you enuf to pop the axle out. but that is the caveman way to do it.

 

I just bought a small gear puller, and when I was trying to push the stud through the lca it decided to bend the ******* arms on the puller...so I am back to sqaure one...I am going to just undo the ******* top arm and pop the axle out...

-ryan

 

I bought a ball joint seperator from Advanced auto for a couple of bucks. Looks like a huge tuning fork. It did the job for me.

The first time i did it though I had to use the BFH to get it off

good luck,

aj

 

Ok, I banged the **** out of my LCA...it will NOT do anything...NOTHING...I mean I beat the ****** up 110% It is actually dented from me beating it so hard. This balljoint splitter you speak of...what size do I need because the only size I saw was enormous...(pepboys and autozone)

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP...I feel like ******* crying I am so upset.

-ryan

 

Hey man this is jacob. If you hit it with a hammer make sure you're using one of those big *** hammers with the short thick handle. also you don't have to use a jack under it. just loosen the nut a good amount and bang the hell out of the lca with a big *** hammer and you will see the 2 pieces separate. If that doesn't work use the ball joint separater but you're probably going to tear the boot. You're probably going to need the bigger of the two separaters. The big one is for ball joints and the small one is for tie rod ends. hope it works

 

When I bought mine there was only one size available.

I will post a picture of it for you if you are still interested.

I think you should take a break right now though. It seems as if you are very frustrated. The same thing happened to me when I was in this situation. Walk away from it, drink a beer, and relax. You don't want to break something out of frustration because it will just hurt you even more in the future.

good luck,

aj

 

hey jacob...it looks like I need to get a new hammer, because my hammer is NOT seeming to do the job, although I can tell you this RIGHT NOW...the LCA has some serious scars...Dents from my hammer...but you know what, the damn lca and that stud will NOT seperate...AT ALL...I'll go to harbor freight in the morning to get the ball joint splitter.

-ryan

 

Ya the tunning fork worked just fine for me. I did not even tear my boots at all.

I also used a sears hammer, looks like a hammer but has a sledge hammer head on it. I had to bang the **** out of it to pop it off. When you hit it just keep banging the **** out of it you will know when it pops.


[Modified by SpooN Man, 9:25 AM 4/16/2002]

 

Thanks guys...after trying to pull it down and bang the **** out of it with the hammer I have (which is obviously not enough) I got somewhat frustrated. I went to a few shops to try and find a pickle fork/balljoint splitter. At pep boys I picked up a small gear puller and a big set of pry bars. The small gear puller SUCKED...the arms on it actually BENT instead of pulling the LCA DOWN.

So I finally said, "look, this thing has to come down one way or another!" So I just pryed the **** out of the balljoint...obviously broke the boot...oh well, not too bad. Guess what? After 30 mins of prying with a medium and large pry bar, it finally gave, and popped down.

I replaced the axle in a matter of 3 mins. The old one came out in two pieces..."woops". Now I am just waiting on a friend to come over and step on the rotor so I can get the last bolt through the fork that holds the suspension to the LCA. That was one helluva job...and only because I did not have the right tools. If I would have had a balljoint splitter/pickle fork...I have a feeling it would have taken like <1 hour.

-ryan

 

one thing to do when using the ball joint separator/pickle fork is to grease up the forked end of it. this will make it harder to rip the ball joint boot.