I know there are atleast 2 ways of going about changing an axle. I usually end up taking damn near everything off the car but Im usually doing a swap or much more work so Ive never gone directly for the axle only.

Whats the least ammount of work/ easiest way to swap just the axle (both sides) All the balljoints and connections on my crx are fairly fresh and wont be rusted solid, but avoiding uncessary work would be great.

Hope there some experienced mechanics without a lift and have done this in a driveway with handtools.

 

i usually just separate the lower ball joint and then take the lower bolt out of the shock and pop the axle out.

 

In my head isnt the shock bolt under pressure?? Once you pull the bolt out you just pry the axle between the freed LCA and shock fork??

 

how i do it is i drop the lower ball joint and swing the hub and strut out of the way after taking the castle nut off the hub, and just lever the thing out of the trans axle lose oil? not if the car is jacked up far enough =]

 

^^^ So you dont remove the bolt that goes through the shock fork and LCA with that method??

 

no, not on the 76 or 80 hatches, or the 84 station wagon, the whole lot just swings out of the way

 

welll I guess I should specify for 88-91 chassis lol

 

lol yeah, should work on other ones too tho i had a look under an 88 civic last weekend and it would work on that one too (was changing brake shoes on my sisters honda)

edit: err changing the pads not the shoes!

 

x2

 

x3

 

I take the axle nut off, remove the lower fork from the shock, separate the lower ball joint and pull the axle out. It takes me about 45 minutes to have the old out and a new one in and the car back on the ground. I dont drain the trans oil either

 

shouldn't take more than 15 minutes unless you are physically handicapped.
wheel and axle nut off, pop the lower bj with a breaker bar and a jack, bottom bolt of the shock off and pop the axle out with a pry bar real quick.

 

Ok but when you pull the bottom bolt out of the shock fork, isnt there a lot of pressure and it wants to shoot down??

Ive heard of this breaker bar and jack to pop the balljoint but I dont really get it

 

No, the car is raised off the ground, there's not much, if any.

 

I guess Ive gotta research this breaker bar and jack to seperate the balljoint.

My lower balljoint is fresh so it shouldnt be to hard, but you never know I guess, and Id hate to ruin my new boot with a pickle fork

 

Just whack the side of the LCA with a hammer (where the ball joint is) and it should come apart. I rarely end up using a pickle fork.

 

i only use a pickle fork when working on a car with shot lower ball joints. make sure to separate the ball joint BEFORE you take the lower bolt out of the shock fork though! its a lot easier.

 

^^^What he said. You're over thinking it, really. If you have changed your ball joints, this should be a breeze for you. The shocks won't be under pressure because you HAVE to jack the car up, get it? Once you start doing it, you're gonna kick yourself for confusing yourself so much over something so simple. You got it man

 

thats how i do it too, just make sure you dont hit that thread, else you will need a new ball joint

 

i take off crown nut, shock fork bolt, axle nut, brake line. smack the spindle thing and the camber arm pops out, pull it down and pull the axle out. just did it to my integra. less than 30 mins. easier that taking the lower ball joint out.

 

No, the spring will decompress all of the way once you take weight off of it.



Jack under the rotor until the suspension is compressed all of the way then wedge the breaker bar between the knuckle and lca as tight as possible. Release the jack quickly and it should pop right out, if not just jump on the top of the rotor real quick.

 

honestly, just get under your car and do it. Posting on here endlessly will not help you figure this out. Its so simple to do. The hardest part will be to remove your axle nut if its been on there for a long time. Make sure when reassembling you put a jack under your lower control arm or right on the castle nut of the ball joint and jack up the suspension to compress it to ride height before torquing any bolts that pass through rubber bushings. This will prevent you from binding the bushings and causing them to fail prematurely.

I do this for all upper/lower control arms and sway bar links. Its how Honda does it in the shop so dont screw it up at home