I know, the title is corny, but honestly here's the low down.

A buddy of mine has a 1996 Honda Civic Ex or Dx (which ever is the base model with NO options), and needs me to replace his passanger side axle and CV joint since he couldn't turn a wrench to get his dick out of a vice if he had too.

PROBLEM: I work on Domestic RWD cars exclusively, and have never, not even once, in 10+ years of working on cars, done a FWD axle replacement. The car is a 5 spd, no ABS.

What am I looking at here? Will I be messing with the ball joint(s), idler arm, or pitman arm? What should I have prepared in advance? My very UNeducated assumption is that I will be taking the wheel bearing out as well - what size is the main nut?

I have done a search for information on this - some guys say that the lower B/J needs to come out, some say the idler arm, and some mention neither. The main W/B nut sizes seem to vary from 32-34mm, but I can't logically beleive that an established company like Honda would vary nut sizes 3 times in 1 model year, so what's the actually size?

Once again - thank you, and feel free to flame away on a domestic V8 guy asking such a seemingly stupid question, I'm sure.

 

hmmm. i think mine will come right on out with a little tug. and yeah the suspension is the only thing holding it in there. I don't think you have to worry about the bearings, but then again I only helped a guy do this once a long time ago.
So really I'm just trying to keep this thread alive..,

 

https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...d.php?t=139802

 

If you have a 1/2" impact wrench with a 32mm socket, a long pry bar, and 3 hands... then with practice, you can do an axle change in less than 20 minutes. 25 minutes tops if you were only born with 2 hands.

Just don't go banging on the end of the lower ball joint's stud with a hammer or you may have to replace it. If you do, there's a DIY for that on my civic page. Hell, 95% of what you're doing is in my signature below, but there's a **** ton of other stuff on that page, too.

 

Service manual will do you a lot of good in times like these .

 

Absolutely! Unfortunately, my experience with service manuals have been hit and miss.

Any repair that I need to do, that I need to consult a manual on, tends to refer to some odd-ball tool that nobody has ever heard of being refered to by that quoted name. (Ohh, tool J 32b for instance - which I had no idea was a factory GM door alignment tool.)

Guys, I really appreciate it - it looks like this should be a pretty straight forward thing. Crank off the hub bear, drop the lower ball joint, pull out the axle, and see what misc. suspension bracket'ery is in the way of yanking it fully out. Things like this might even make me a Honda owner one day... well, Acura maybe

 

I repeat do not do this....im talking from experience. Its sucks when you replaced both axles and everything is back on except the lower ball joint nuts and the DAMN thing wont screw on due to a hammer and a very fustrated DIY''er trying to remove the lower ball joint from teh lower control arm. Take your time when doing this step..it will be a lot easier and cheaper for you. $50+ each for a lower ball joint from Honda. GOOD LUCK

 

I got my LBJ from VASCO for $17 ea. Auto Zone had them in another city for $22 when I did mine. Vasco is only in VA.

 

Why not buy a $10 ball joint puller, and save the balljoint to begin with?

 

I was thinking about this more last night, and I think since the upper ball joint will be bolt in place, that I'm just going to use a small jack inbetween the control arms and begin pumping them apart to remove the ball joint. That way, I won't risk damaging the LBJ, and it seems the the UBJ should remain seated.....

...then again, maybe just use a pickel fork and get it done with.

By the way, the $10 ball joint puller you are refering too, does it look like a dampener puller by chance?