Hi guys. First, thanks for all the info on replacing CV joints, it has been very helpful. I wanted to add my adventure in replacing mine.

There is one thing that can radically change your CV joint replacement experience: stuck parts. For me it was 1) the lower balljoint and 2) the outer CV shaft.

1) The balljoint would not come loose, no matter how much pounding I did on it. I suspect this can often be the case on older cars. So a pickle fork was the only option, and even then, prepare to pound the heck out of it for several minutes. But that will destroy the balljoint boot, so you'll need a new balljoint, about $30.

Then, to get the balljoint back in, you really need to take the hub completely off, which means undoing the upper balljoint, as well as the balljoint at the steering linkage (plus the bolt in the fork, which comes out easily, thank goodness). Fortunately, a few hits on the sockets of these smaller balljoints did pop them out. With all this off the car, it will give you proper access to pound the new balljoint into its socket, and it's a very tight fit.

2) The biggest hurdle, however, was the CV shaft. Usually, it's supposed to slide out of the hub, with maybe a few taps to loosen it. Mine was stuck in the hub, and took lots of pounding to get it to back out, inch by inch. That's hard on the wheel bearing, so had to replace it ($30). The wheel bearing is a pressed in part, so had to take the hub and my new bearing to the machine shop for them to press the old bearing out, and the new one in ($25). I also had them sandblast the inside of the hub, where the splines of the CV shaft go in. Even so, the new CV shaft (nor the old one--I tested it too) did not want to go in.

So to fix that problem, I had to file between the splines of my new CV shaft, to make them a little thinner. Then I greased it up real good, and it went in a little further, but was still very tight. So after getting the shaft positioned properly on the hub, I carefully dropped the whole thing, wheel studs to the ground, onto a piece of cardboard on my garage floor. The weight of the CV shaft helped drive it in, but I had to drop it several times before the shaft came thru the other side, and I could start the retaining nut. But filing the splines is what enabled this to work, before doing that, it just wouldn't go in.

So if you're working on an older car, mine was a 93 Civic, you may run into these sorts of issues. There may have been other ways to do it, but that was my solution.

My advice? On older cars, suspension parts and CV joints can be a pain in the butt, because older parts can get real stuck over time. The process is not complicated, but a stuck shaft or a balljoint can be a real headache, and you'll end up replacing more things than you originally intended to. Had I to do it over again, I would have let a shop deal with it.

Just my (very greasy) $.02