Yo everybody. First post here, so I'll try to keep it brief and useful.

I'm doing my buddy's clutch on his 92 accord, which I think has a bad Rear main seal too. I downloaded a copy of the Factory Service Manual, and have been using the walkthroughs by Behan and 98vtec.
I ran into 2 problems so far that I couldn't get around today:

1) Couldn't find a 35mm socket for the wheel hub nuts. I measured with 2 different things, and it's 35, not 36 or 32. Do I absolutely have to remove the axles from the hubs, or can I just pull off more of the suspension and leave the axles in place? Do the axles get in the way of the transmission when you go to separate it?

2) I got the passenger's side ball joint off no problem, but since I couldn't get the driver's wheel hub nut off, I tried to pull the ball joint. No dice with the pitman arm puller or the BFH method. Now I need new ball joint castle nuts, which 2 local shops told me they don't have.
The problem is that the bolt for the ball joint isn't flat on the bottom (it wasn't before I used the BFH), so the pitman arm puller keps slipping off.
What am I supposed to use to get the ball joint apart? I know it's not strictly necessary, but still ball joints are always a PITA to get off.

And finally, I didn't think ahead and loosen the wheel hub nuts, so I'll have to put the wheels back on, put the damper fork half back together, and get the wheels on the ground - or maybe having somebody mash on the brakes (def. not the clutch) would work?

Right now, it's time for a shower and some of these

PS I'm used to old RWD volvos (740 turbo woot woot heh), but I've done my friend's clutch on his saturn, so I know the general procedure.
Also, is it really necessary to pull the speed sensor and replace the o-ring like the FSM says? I pulled it, but it seemed kinda weird to pull it.

Cheers

 

1) It's definitely a 36mm axle socket. If you have the ex or se it's best to take off the axle nut while the wheels are still on the car you can access straight through the wheel and this will allow the car to stay more still even while someone else is holding the brakes.

2) the pitman tie-rod OR pitman ball joint remover will do the job. I'm not sure what problems you're having.

Put the brakes back on and have a second person press the brakes with the car on which will hold the wheels in place(having the car on is better than with the car off as the brake booster with the car on will do a better job of helping out of the brakes holding still). This is the best way to do it but if you don't have another person normally you can do it with the wheels on the car however if the axle nut hasn't been off in a while it will be hard to take off the axle nut the first time. You will need a cheater bar to put over the ratchet or you should use a breaker bar instead of a ratchet.

 

Well, solved my own problems finally.

I snapped THREE half-inch drive wrenches including a 50+ year old breaker bar, a brand new breaker bar, and a torque wrench I shouldn't have been using as a breaker bar.

So I said forget the wheel hub nuts. I pulled the top ball joint, bottom ball joint, and tie rod end out, all using the BFH method.

As for the puller slipping off, I took a file and ground the angled surface of the end of the nut into a flat spot and the pitman arm puller worked in like 10 seconds.

The problem with the driver's side ball joint is that the end of the bolt was like / and I needed it to be like | so the puller wouldn't slip off. I took a bastard file to it (that's the name of the file, I'm not swearing) and flattened it out.

 

Does the "Moly grease" the FSM calls for mean 3% moly fortified grease, or does it mean the special 60% moly Paste that honda makes?

 

I used the moly 60 paste on the input shaft and standard grease. No problems with reassembly.