I have a 2001 Honda Prelude SE and I'm trying to pull my front drive shafts out so I can remove the engine. I was wondering if it is possible to remove the axles without having to touch the lower control arm ball joints? Or is that impossible and I must remove the lower control arm ball joints?

 

Try the upper arm ball joints and tie rod ends.

Why do you not wanna undo the lower?

 

Actually the easiest way to pull the shafts while doing as little work is to actually pull the lower ball joint after removing the brake line bolts and you can just gently and quickly pop out the shafts from the tranny using a decent size pry bar and then just lift the knuckle out of the lower ball joint and turn/slide it away from the front of the car with the axle nut and axle still attached. I like to put the lower ball joint castle nut back on so that the threads don't get damaged during knuckle movement.

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-qua...tor-99849.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/tie-rod...ller-1752.html

Either of those tools will work to remove the lower ball joint, and any ball joint for that matter.

 

Princess Auto, picked up a tie rod tool that works great on our upper and lower ball joints ... it was $15. so much time saved.

 

remove the lower ball joint and be done with it. Its actually 30x harder to remove it without taking the lower ball joint out