My sister's '92 Civic 4DR LX needs a fair amount of work done to it and I'm trying to find all of the cheapest, and more importantly DIY ways of doing it. By the way, I searched but apparently there are some problems with that feature at the time of this writing.

First of all, I think that her front driver-side wheel bearing has gone. It makes a somewhat metallic grinding sound while driving, and the frequency of it correlates to axle speed. Also, the noise goes away when turning right. I lifted the front of the car and that side's wheel is a tad wobbly whereas the passenger side wheel hardly moves at all. The pivot seems to be within the knuckle, and there's nothing else that seems to be the cause of the noise. My diagnosis is the wheel bearing. With that said, is there a DIY way of removing/installing a new bearing without special tools, maybe rigging up a hydraulic floor jack in some way? What about removal of the hub for that matter? Also, a guy who lives on my street has a wrecked '97 LX that he might part out. Does the '97 use the same wheel bearing as the '92, or better yet, does it use the same knuckle?

Both rear coil/damper assembles on my sister's car are crapped out too. Quick question, can the rears on the '97 be used on a '92?

 

The part numbers on the rear shocks for both models are different, so I don't think they would interchange. However, the part numbers for the hubs and bearings are the same, so they will interchange. The part numbers on the entire knuckle assemblies are different, so they probably won't work. As far as getting the bearing and hub out of the knuckle, there's really no way around it unless you use a press. If you do use a press, be careful not to damage the bearing. You can get one brand new from majestic honda, along with a new hub, for 100 bucks.