I went to swap my struts out in my '05 Civic Hybrid and when I unbolted the strut from the LCA on the passenger side, I obviously didn't have enough support of the hub and it pulled the inboard CV joint loose (but not entirely loose, turning the rotor still results in the entire shaft turning all the way to the transmission.

But now that I've got the strut back in I can't get the halfway engaged cv shaft ball/socket joint back engaged and can't get the hub inboard enough to bolt to the strut.

Any tips in realigning the geometry of the hub/LCA/CV shaft in order to get the CV re-engaged?

Jason

 

Remove the axle from the hub, grab the outer shaft with your hand and start rotating it like you'd rotate a steering wheel, then jiggle and rotate until it pops back in. Depending on how strong you are, you could even jiggle the knuckle around and move it side to side with the tie rod off to get it back in, I do it all the time.

 

Yeah that was the route i ended up going (still am). I got the 32mm nut off the outboard side of the axle shaft, but can't get it out of the knuckle. Only thing holding the knuckle on at this point are the wheel speed sensor wire, ball joint, brake line and a rope I used to tie the strut bosses on the knuckle up to the strut top mount points.

Any tips on how to get the shaft out of the knuckle at this point? It's got about an inch or two to go. And I'm having a bitch of a time trying to get the ball joint off without the top of the knuckle being attached to a strut tube.

Lame. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Any advice would be helpful.

Jason

 

Use a pickle fork and a hammer on the lower ball joint if you can't get it off. Use a pry bar to bend the lower control arm down enough to clear the ball joint.

 

Yeah I was hoping to not have to use the pickle fork for fear of damaging the ball joint boot...but you're right - that's looking like the only solution.

Jason

 

whack the shart out of it with a 5 lb sledge. worked wonders for me.

 

Is there a circlip inside that inner CV that could have popped off, and if so, do I need to remove the entire shaft all the way back to the transaxle in order to disassemble and replace the circlip?

Jason

 

If you can't get it back in, take the axle out all the way and do the jiggle/rotate method on a bench. It'll go back in, they always do.

 

We left it in, just pulled the boot, got it back in and then reclipped the boot. Worked fine.