Hello, My brother has a 90 Acura Legend, that theCV joint is noisy, so I bought a rebult axle, and he will be here to replace it next week. How much of a job is to replace the axle, and can I do it without that weird looking ball joint remover tool? thanks throttlejunkee
Burleigh wrote in news:oMadnW7Wwu8hcQDZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@uci.net:
Not too bad. Pop balljoint, knock axle out of the hub with a nylon/rawhide/lead mallet, pry it out of the tranny housing. Use new stake- nut when replacing.
Drain tranny fluid first!
Nope. You must remove the balljoint, otherwise you can't swing the steering knuckle out of the way. The proper balljoint tool is the best way to pop the balljoint.
It sounds like you haven't quite geared up to the job...
It is a medium level DIY job. There are two universally challenging parts of the job and one that can be a beast if you live in an area where the roads are salted.
Expect to wrestle with the axle nut. An impact gun makes quick work of it, but it can also be done with a regular socket and a cheater bar. My favorite way of doing that is to put the cheater bar on a floor jack and have somebody hold the brake on while I jack the bar up.
The ball joint can make you cry if you don't have the separator tool. DON'T use a pickle fork - it will almost certainly destroy the grease boot on the ball joint. Other techniques have been described here a few months ago and various times, but the tool is the soothing way to do it. I paid something like $50 US for one but others have found adequate looking tools for under $20 US on-line. In fact, mine looks just like the $16 one (on sale) shown at
Mike
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