So I'm trying to get the axle to come loose to get the alternator out of my 90 civic 4 door. What a colossal pain in the butt just to get at the damn alternator.

Anyhow I have the wheel off but we are having one hell of a time getting that axle bolt to move. It's unstaked, so that isn't in the way any more and it should move. We've tried PB blaster but so far it hasn't helped. We have a wrench about 16" long and we still can't get enough torque on it to budge.

What is the factory spec on that thing? They must've overdone it because it seems like we're going to need a 3' breaker bar to get that thing off there.

 

hold up!

you do NOT have to remove the axle to get the alternator out.

you just remove the lower bracket and the alternator will slide out, just over the axle. orient it so you point the pulley face upwards. its MEANT to go out the way.

if you need more room, unbolt the two 14mm socket nuts for the shocks in the engine bay and you can push the suspension and axle down further.

you are doing it the hard way trying to take the axle nut off.

however, it is a hard one to take off. unless you have power tools, i just stick a screwdriver in the rotor and use as long of a cheater bar to multiply torque to wrench off the nut.

 

^^^agreed..HOLD UP AND READ^^^

 

Yeah, its like Tyson said. I just did my alternator on my 91 Hatch Friday. I disconnected the alternator and found it wouldn't come out (like it did on my sedan), so I unbolted the mount from the engine block (two bolts) and then I had room to take it out. Put the new alternator back in, set it on the frame, then bolt the bracket back up and reconnect the alternator.

 

We couldn't get the bracket out. The two bolts were just on there to good and in a difficult to reach location. So the axle had to move. As it turned out we got the stake nut off by using a big cheater bar. With that out of the way getting the axle moved wasn't all that tough. Had to use a pickle fork to get the ball joint apart. Since we couldn't get the bracket out of the way we still ended up having to take more out - the oil filter. Luckily everything was in the pan so not a drop was spilled.

Finally the alternator is out and we put the new brushes in. Now we just have to get everything back together. Looks like I'll need new boots or a new axle on both sides though as we noticed they're starting to crack. Probably a project of next summer I think unless it goes before then.