I need help figuring this one out!!

On my 96 ek i was in need of an axle change on the passenger side
my stock axle had a broken boot and was clicking which got annoying.
So i went to the auto parts store and bought a new one.
As soon as i changed out the axle i took it to a test drive. I noticed
my car had abnormal torque steer. If i accelerate from a dead stop without my hands holding the steering wheel it will pretty much turn itself almost 90 degrees to the right..
I then jacked the car up and noticed nothing out of the norm. Since i used a ball joint separator during the changed i checked my ball joint. sure enough it was busted. so i bought a new one and changed it out. Still having the same tq steer problem. So i got an alignment done, still having the same issue.. i am at a complete loss and have no idea what is wrong with my car. Someone please help me out on this one... THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

 

Did the shop that did the wheel alignment job suggest what the problem might be?

Is the inner side of the axle fully inserted into the transmission or is there an abnormally large gap between the axle and transmission?

Put the front end of the car on stands and check for any obvious differences between the right and left front suspension components.

 

maybe you got two dust boots on the axle, making it longer?

 

I've jacked the car up and triple checked everything. Axle is in perfect. I've looked for anything that looks abnormal and noticed nothing. Nothing looks broken or bent whatsoever. I figured getting my alignment done the person doing the alignment would maybe notice something i overlooked or whatever, but nope.. nothing at all. Its getting really annoying driving on it like that. So far i've put maybe 500 miles on it driving like this. Some highway some in town. Doesn't give me any strange noises or any weird vibrations or anything.. just has a major torque steer and has a steady pull to the right when accelerating. If i hold a steady speed without accelerating it stays straight.

 

open to any and all suggestions !!

 

I replaced both axle on a 4door 92, and when I backed it out of the driveway, the drivers side popped out of the transmission.
The car would not move at all until i popped that drivers side axle back in. It just sat still and grinded off the end of the splines. The nieghbor looked at me funny.
I jacked it up and popped it out to look at the splines.

The cause was the boots were too tight on the remanufactured ones, and it yanked it out. So i had to move the boot in a little to provide more slack until they wore in a little.

So anyway the point of that story was that if your axle popped out you probably wouldn't be able to move.

My "normal" torque steer on my coupe d16 turbo pulls pretty good to the right, but I don't think it would take me 90degrees if I let it... hmm maybe I should try that...
or buy a limited slip differential.

 

Maybe people could help you better iof you'd post a topic with a better title than just "HELP" - this crap is getting really old, really fast. I edited the title to actually describe your problem.

Anyways one of the triple tree pods/bearings could be broken/damaged even on a "new" axle. Take the axle back and exchange it under warranty. I have changed literally hundreds of axles (seriously) and this has happened a few times.

Unless you took something apart that is unrelated to the axle in order to replace the axle I can't see how it can be anything other than the axle itself.

Here use my axle tutorial just to double check on how to replace an axle to make sure you didn;t do any "extra" steps:

Begin paste:

I've taken some pics of various tools that you will need in order to swap an axle. I work at a shop so air was available to me, but for you at home there might not be some tools pictured here that you will need - I'll get to that in a minute.

32mm socket
19mm socket
17mm socket
17mm wrench or additional socket
1/2'' driver for big sockets
3/8'' driver for drain plug/sockets
hammer
dykes
prybar
*big-*** breaker/cheater bar for the 1/2'' driver to break the axle nut loose and tighten it back down*

*Optional*

Depending on tranny you might have to drain and fill the tranny. I make this a common practice every time I swap an axle and I recommend that you do too. In my tutorial I will detail how to drain and fill the tranny. If doing so add these things:

3 qts of Genuine Honda MTF (you won't use all 3 - B-Series takes like 2.5 qts.)
Long funnel
crush washer for drian plug (get it from Honda - same one as your engine oil drain plug)
10mm socket with LONG extention
driver for 10mm socket/extension

Here we see the various tools laid out. Missing from the pic is the big-*** breaker car for you at home that will need it for the 32mm axle nut. Also missing are the funnel and 10mm socket.extention/driver combo for the drain/fill procedure. I has air tools available so I used them.



Close-up of cotter pin (you'll only need one) and drain plug washer



Drivers and 17mm end wrench:



32mm, 19mm, and 17mm sockets:



And if you're lucky and have tools a 1/2'' impact will be very helpful:



Okay so let's get started.

1. Take the 19mm socket and break your wheel lugs loose. they will be hard as hell to break loose if you've already got the car in the air.

*For those without an impact*

It has been brought to my attention that if you are using a 32mm socket with a 1/2'' driver and a big-*** breaker bat you might want to break the 32mm axle end nut loose while the car is still on the ground. Hopefully you can access the nut with the wheel still on, because if not you'll have to get someone to sit in the car and hold the brakes on with the engine on in hopes that the wheel won't turn while you try to break the 32mm nut loose.



2. Jack up the car and secure it on a STABLE set of jackstands. I used a lift so sorry, no pics.

3. Locate the drain plug and use a 3/8'' driver with no socket and remive the drain plug:



Replace the drain plug washer and tighten the drain plug back after draining is complete. I didn't do this until later on because I waited to drain the tranny until right before prying out the axle, but I recommend doing this first at home and then tightening the plug back until you feel/hear the washer crush. This insures no leakage during work and also so that you remember to drain and tighthen the plug up before you start the real work.



4. Remove the wheel and look for the 32mm axle end nut. Yeah the pic sucks.



5. Remove the axle nut with the 32mm socket. At home you will need a breaker bar or cheater bar to get much-needed leverage to break this bastatrd loose. I used an impact.



6. Now find the cotter pin lovated on the 17mm castle nut below the lower balljoint and remove it by unfolding it with your dykes:



7. Now take the 17mm socket and remove the 17mm castle nut from the lower balljoint. Yes this pic sucks too.



8. Now take your hammer and beat on the lower control arm where the hammer head is in this pic. This will break the balljoint loose. The pics get better sometime.



9. Now locate the through bolt that holds the lower strut "fork" to the lower control arm:



10. Using a 17mm socket on one side and either a 17mm wrench or another socket to hold the other side, remove the through bolt .

11. Now take your hammer and LIGHTLY tap on the end of the axle to get it free from the spindle:



12. Now pull the lower strut fork to the side and it should all look like this:



13. Now you're ready to pry the axle out. Take the prybar and position like so in the pic and pry. You might want to secure the spindle out of the way so it doesn't hold the axle in:



14. Compare your new axle to the one you pulled out and make sure the new axle is correct. The old axle might not "look" bad, but in this case here the shaft is actually broken in half inside the outer boot.



15. Now you're ready to put the new one in. Simply reverse the removal procedure. First get the spindle out of the way and pop the axle back into the inner joint. It might take a bit of pushing, but it will pop in. Make SURE that the inner joint is all the way in and butted up against the tranny casing fully.



16. Here's where steps can be swapped around, but I did mine in this order. Put the lower balljoint back into the lower control arm and slide the outer splines back into the spindle - finger tighten the 32mm axle nut on so the axle doesn't pop back out while you do other work.





17. Now you're ready to line up the lower strut fork with the lower control arm to put the through bolt in. It helps to tighten the lower balljoint 17mm castlenut first. Replace the cotter pin too! VERY IMPORTANT!!! Remember to tighten the 17mm castlenut in a manner so that you can slide the new cotter pin in.



18. Push up on the lower control arm and slide the through bolt in plave and put the 17mm nut on the end:



19. Using two 17mm sockets or whatever combo you choose, tighten the through bolt:



20. Now tighten the 32mm axle end nut. If you have no air tools then use the breaker bar and tighten it up pretty snug. STAKE THE NUT DOWN! Use the hammer and something flat to make an indention in the nut like pictured:



So the new axle is in. Time to fill the tranny. There's a few schools of thought on how to fill the tranny, but this methid here is by far the least messy and to me the easiest.

*Optional* Find the fill plug. It is seen here right next to the inner joint of the axle. It has a crush washer so if you loose it your'e screwed. Honda doesn't usually sotck this one. I chose not to loosen my fill plug because I know my tranny takse 2.5 qts., but the way you fill it is to fill until fluid dribbles from the fill hole so this is optional if it makes you feel better.



Here's where the trick comes in that will save you headahces. Usually you have to ghetto-rig a funnel and tube to fill the tranny in the fill hole which really sucks. My method is really easy.

1. Remove the vent cap found near the front/top of your tranny:



2. Find the Speed sensor located on the topside of the very back of your tranny:



3. Take the 10mm on a big-*** extension and remove the bolt (it's the orangish one in my pic - yours probably won't be oragnish):





4. Now see that big-*** hole left after you move the speed sensor out of the way? Use the funnel and fill through that hole! By the way, no need to unplug the speed sensor - just move it out of the way.





5. Fill up with specified amount or until fluid dribbles from the fill hole below.



6. Put the speed sensor back in, tighten up the fill plug (if you loosened it).

7. Replace the vent cap and you're done!



Now put your wheel back on, torque the lugs to spec with a torque wrench and take your car for a test drive!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lsvek &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">got annoying.
So i went to the auto parts store and bought a new one.
As soon as i changed out the axle i took it to a test drive. I noticed
my car had abnormal torque steer. If i accelerate from a dead stop without my hands holding the steering wheel it will pretty much turn itself almost 90 degrees to the right..</TD></TR></TABLE>

bad replacement axle, simple as that.

 

Sorry about the title guys kinda slipped my mind, Thanks for the fix.. Well i have swapped many axles, a lot actually so this isn't near my first time doing it. I've swapped motors,axles,trannys etc.. just never exp. anything of this sort which is why i posted to get some advice.. I jacked up the car again today and still noticed nothing that looks out of norm so after reading here that some of you have experienced this with bad reman. axles i'll be looking in to that for sure ASAP.. Again THANKS TO EVERYONE for their input

 

got a new axle today, just finished the install and test drive.. still has the same problem.. im at a complete loss as of now..

 

Any chance the driver-side axle is the problem?

 

well im not a pro but i doubt it. it didnt do it until i changed out the passenger side axle. (the original was clicking from a broken boot *12 years old, guess it was its time) this problem is extremely annoying, not only because its pulling but mainly because i have no clue to what it is.. i wish i did, atleast that way i could fix it or have it fixed.

 

Anyone have any idea of what it could be?

 

wow did u ever got it fixed?

 

I'm actually having this same EXACT problem. I finally got my new axle in and it goes straight when I'm maintaining speed or I let off the gas but as soon as I give it more gas it wants to go right. Could it be because it's new and everything is tight and hasn't worn in yet? I'd like to know myself, because it's quite tiresome to have to keep turning the wheel every time I touch the gas. If you find out what it is please let me know.

 

memory steer? make sure you put everything back in facing the same way in the same position . my teacher stressed this when i was in class learning suspension/drivetrain.

 

same problem here but i have mfactory diff....i changed axles didn't help either. all i did was pull the motor replace it and had gear speed re build the tranny now it steers to the right.

 

I would say check your bushings and your ball joints. Sometimes when you seperate an old lower ball joint that has never been replaced before it gets damaged and needs replacing. Not saying it could be it, but happend to me when I seperated my lower ball joint to do my axles.

 

was ur car pulling to one side? i don't see a ball joint forcing a car to the right or left but first time for every thing. i had this problem once before and a new axle fixed it right up but this time i put to old axles in and had no change what so ever.