Civic Front Axle
 

My brother's 99 Civic Si needs a new RF axle. The outer CV boot is split and he drove it for a while without repairing it. The joint is now worn. I bought a new axle, but have not installed it yet. I have never had to replace one before.

I have a Haynes manual for a 92-95 Civic, and I believe the front suspension should be of the same design.

Has anyone had to replace the front axle of a Civic before? If so, were there any issues besides trying not to destroy the seal on the transmission?

Does it require a spring compressor since the lower control arm must be disconnected?

What size of socket is required to break the hub nut loose?

Can one person (moderately competent) handle the job?


Thanks.

I have done older (80's) civics as well as a few other makes.

You should be able to get a loan a tool socket from a chain auto parts store (autozone etc.)- basically you pay for it and then they give you the money back when you return it. Just match up their pile of sockets with the big nut that is in the box with the new axle.

The transmission seal isn't too hard to protect, just swing the front spindle way out, get the splines of the axle centered in the transmission hole and slowly swing the whole assembly toward the transmission.

To my knowledge, you will not need a spring compressor- you will jack the car up so that the spring moves against it's stops and then jack some more- then disconnect the control arm.

Be sure you have a long breaker bar to loosen the large axle nut. Take off the hub cap and loosen the nut while the weight of the car is still on the tire (this is the first step to the whole proceedure). You will likely need a hammer and chisel to bend out the nut locking tab before you loosen it.

I can't loosen the axle nut while the weight of the car is on the tire; the wheel will be in the way of the axle nut. I will need to put a pry bar between the wheel lugs to hold it while I crack the nut loose.

I have never seen a wheel like that (maybe your wheel has a center cap that will just pop out).

But your idea should work- the pry bar will need to be strong and be careful that you don't bend the studs.

Aftermarket 17'' Wheels.
:)

Do yourself a big favor and swap to your OEM steelies (if you have them) before trying to break the axle nut loose. I'm assuming you don't have air (impact) tools and are trying to use a breaker bar.

I took out the axles on my 92 VX in 2006. I'm not sure if the axles had ever been removed before but it was a real b**** to get those axle nuts off. I needed a five foot breaker bar and I needed to jump on the end of it to loosen each one. You'll probably bend your wheel studs at the least and maybe f*** up the wheel bearing too if you do it the way you're thinking of doing it.

You may have difficulty putting the axle back into the differential. If so you will need to rotate the differential a little so the end will slide in. Hopefully it won't happen to you but it did to me.

Thanks a lot guys

Maybe you could just put the spare tire on for the loosening step.

I just changed the axle on a 97 accord a couple weeks ago.
I took of the lower ball joint and pulled the knuckle away. Just make sure you tap the new one back into the trans all the way with a rubber mallet. They have a snap ring on the end that needs to pop into place. I put mine all back together and tried it and all the fluid leaked out. It turned out that it was not all the way in even though it looked good.

Now that's using your noodle. Good one, Erik!

Some diffs fall apart with no axles in, so you have to put a keeper in there to make sure nothing falls out of line if the car gets a knock. Basically a clean bit of broomhandle or something. However, if you pull one straight out, and put the new one stright in, you shouldn't really need to do that, only if you're expecting to do other stuff while the axle is out.

Maybe, though I've seen spares slip (spin) on the pavement when trying that, so maybe not. Just make sure you're pushing down on the extension bar, increasing traction.

Never heard of a Honda or Acura doing that. The worst I've heard is an axle getting stuck in the transmission due to a poorly machined aftermarket LSD or an overly loose/spring-y retaining clip.

The only real difficulty I had (92 Accord, FWIW) was getting the @#$%$% axle nuts off. If you're using a breaker bar, get a 1" setup. A 3/4" bar can and will shear and break. (Trust me, I know! I wound up buying a compressor and gun - 5 seconds of buzz and and they were off!) If you know someone with an air gun, have them 'crack' the nut for you. You can then hand tighten with your breaker bar and drive home to do the work.

While you're in there, you might want to change the drive shaft seal(s). They're easy to pop out with a seal pulling tool. Pressing them in evenly is a bit trickier, but is also easy with the right equipment. Don't try to 'chase' it around with a small hammer - you need to press evenly, or it will just bind up. I found a short piece of electrical conduit fixture (essentially a short bit of pipe) at the hardware store that nicely fits over the metal outer ring of the seal. Light hammer taps seated the seal perfectly.

Yeah some of those OBX LSDs are meant to have slightly oval splined axle holes, so you need to clock the axle for best fit...

I read that it was an issue of not machining a taper on the edge of the splines in each pinion. As it is supposed to do, the circlip on the axle would compress on the way in and pop open once fully inserted to keep the axle from slipping out. OBX mistakenly omitted the taper on the inside end of the splines so there was no way to re-compress the circlip and remove the axle.

Yeah, that would probably more apply to hondas. The oval hole is what get's 'em stuck in non-circlip apps, when they're forced in, or not even sitting in very well but with the axles sprung against them, then as the diff gets hot and expands, they seat themselves rather solidly.

DONE! I swapped the axle on Friday night. The only issues I ran into were:

1. The Haynes manual stated that you should remove the front stabilizer bar from the lower control arm. Unfortunately, you can't do this and re-use the ball joints, so I just removed the lower ball joint from the hub to the lower control arm. That did the trick so I could get the axle out.

2. When I tried to pull the axle out of the tranny, it first broke apart at the inner CV joint. Then, I had to pry the axle out of the tranny.

3. I still hate changing the transmission fluid on Hondas. The filler neck is a B!@#$ to get to, even with a fluid pump.

Thanks for your help, everybody!

That's normal. The inner CV joint is constructed as a cylindrical cup with 3 grooves cut into it's interior wall. A ball bearing rides in each groove, with the center race of each bearing riding on a 3-pointed spider. The drive shaft runs through the center of the spider. That means if you pull on the shaft while the cup is still anchored to the transmission, the spider and bearings will pull out of the grooves. All you have to do is use an appropriate pry-tool to unseat the inner joint from the transmission (unseating the circlip really) before pulling on the shaft. Even the factory service manual says to do it that way, but gives dimensions for a pry tool... I assume to minimize the potential for damaging the oil seal.

A few years back, the auto parts stores around here started selling these tube/valve attachments that screw onto oil bottles. You take the cap off your trans fluid bottle, thread this thing on in it's place and close the valve. With the valve closed you can't spill fluid, so you can work the bottle in wherever it needs to be for the hose to reach the fill hole on the side of the trans. Once positioned, you open the valve and squeeze the bottle to pump fluid into the trans.

I second that suggestion- that's exactly what I use to fill my Honda tranny.

I had one of those, too. The only problem is that when the bottle is nearly empty, it tends to siphon fluid back out of the tranny.

On the other hand, the fluid pump cannot get the last 1/4 quart of tranny fluid out of the container.

So what I did is attach the valve to the fluid bottle and held it upside down. I attached the other end of the valve to the pump. When the bottle was nearly empty, I poked a hole in the bottom for air so it wouldn't siphon the fluid back out of the tranny.

I have a length of heater hose that I stick into the filler hole and put a syphon into the other end. A little slow but always works.

BTW, those still have a removable center cap. All wheels do. If they didn't, they'd never be able to mount and balance them. :thumbup: