My lower ball joint snapped the other day and I spent four futile hours trying to get the rotor and hub assembly off. I tried penetrating lube, propane torch, ratchet with 4-foot steel tube, impact driver, etc. - nothing worked.

My manual gives some details for removing the main center nut, but it says it's 24mm and mine is closer to 36mm - a 1 9/16" socket fits.

Can anyone tell me if there is anything unique to getting the rotor and hub off? Are they reverse threaded?

Thanks,
Chris

 

1 9/16 is 40mm. I've had to use a 1" impact to get one off before, and had to hit it for 10-15 mins constant to get it to come off. Be careful with the torch, you could fry the bearing.

 

It's suppose to be a 36mm for my 96 Accord EX. And it's not reverse threads.

You already did "unstake" the dimple on nut right?

Keep working with the breaker bar extension. You will probably want to get a longer pipe. One last thing you can do is, remove that whole assembly with the axle in place... If nothing works out.

Is it the rust that is ruining the job?

 

Get an impact with more ***** like a ingersoll rand 2135

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

The Kid, what do you mean unstake the nut? I forgot to take pics last night, but the nut looks like a standard nut. There is a small flat indentation in the bolt that it threads to, however, but we didn't know what that was for.

I don't know if putting more pressure on it is going to work - we already broke one ratchet cranking on it with the steel tube.

 

Refer to this guide for details regarding unstaking the nut:

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0...MGRhMDU1&hl=en

 

Yup, its a 36mm socket for the axle nut. Unstake the nut, and impact that bish if you have access to air tools. Otherwise, use a 3/4" drive and 40" tall breaker bar to break that sucker loose!

Then you need to remove the four bolts behind the knuckle after you remove the knucke out from the car. Find two same diameter bolt like the fours from behind but longer bolts, place the two new bolts criss-cross from each other and hammer away till the bearing slides out from the knuckle then you can remove the rotor.

It'll be a PITA if those bearings have never been removed before; same goes with the axle nut.

 

That helps a ton! We didn't unstake the nut...hopefully that'll do the trick. Thanks!

 

I used a small 2by4 that one side was cut to fit the whole bearing, and gently tapped the other side with a hammer to pop out the bearing. Worked perfectly.

 

If you plan on keeping the car longer, I would suggest gettin a conversion to rotor over hub. This will save you from doing all of this work next time. You can order the conversion kit from http://www.tasauto.com/

 

That's a good idea bro. That'll definitely get the job done as well.