HOW TO REMOVE AND REINSTALL AXLES:
If you notice a lot of slop in your steering (think low speed slalom), or if your CV boots are ripped, or if you hear clicking on cornering, or if you’re getting a shuddering vibration upon acceleration, it’s a good bet your axle inner joints are bad. Here’s what you have to do to fix it.
Tools you will need:
Ball peen hammer
Rubber mallet
Phillips screwdriver
Flat-head screwdriver
Rachet (3/8” drive)
12mm and 17mm sockets (3/8”)
17mm wrench
Long-handled ½” ratchet (Craftsman 18” works great)
32mm ½” socket
Needle nose pliers (preferably two pair)
Pickle fork set
Pry bar set
Jack
Jack stands
Lug wrench
C-clamp
Jaw puller set
Liquid wrench
Anti-seize lubricant
Recommended replacement items:
Boots, retainer clips, cotter pins, spindle nuts, caliper bolts, and axles
STEP 1:
If you have center caps on your wheels, remove them. NOTE: If you have a set of “junk” wheels/tires, I highly recommend mounting these for the duration of this procedure. Put your car in park/gear and put the e-brake on. Make sure the car is not jacked up. With the center cap removed you will see the spindle nut holding the axle on the knuckle. The spindle nut will have one spot indented. With the ball peen hammer, use the flat-head screwdriver to knock the indent out of the spindle nut. (This indentation is to prevent the spindle nut from coming loose.) Now take your 32mm socket and long-handled ½” drive and put it on the spindle nut. Make sure it’s seated well. Put the handle parallel to the ground and stand on it. You’ll have to apply a lot of pressure to break the nut loose. It is when you’re trying to break the spindle nut loose that you will invariably scratch up your wheels with the ratchet handle. This is why I recommend using steelies. Once the spindle nut is loose, remove the ratchet and socket. Do not remove the spindle nut yet; just leave it loose on the axle.
STEP 2:
Loosen your lug nuts. Jack up your car. (If you jack up the whole front end by jacking under the crossmember, make sure you perform STEP 1 above on both front wheels before proceeding with STEP 2, assuming you are replacing both axles.) Put the jack stands under the car and lower the car onto them. Remove the wheel.
STEP 3:
Using the 12mm socket and 3/8” ratchet, remove the two bolts holding the caliper to the caliper bracket. Be sure to inspect the 12mm bolts for wear and stress on the threads (I’ve found that these bolts are easily damaged due to over tightening as well as stress from the caliper itself). When you remove the caliper, take care so that the brake pads do not fall to the ground—keep a hand ready to catch them. Let the caliper hang out of your way, remove the brake pads and set them aside. Take care to not let anything get on the pads themselves. Switch to the 17mm socket and remove the caliper bracket and set that aside as well. Now remove the spindle nut from the axle. Finally, using the Phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the rotor to the knuckle. Remove the rotor, taking care to not get any grease (or anything else) on the braking surface. (As long as you have the rotor off, now’s a good time to inspect them to see if they need to be turned; better yet, upgrade your breaks and break pads! Also, Acura recommends that your front calipers be inspected/rebuilt every 7500 miles [15,000 miles for the rear calipers]. Now’s a good time to have this done as well.)
STEP 4:
There are two castle nut/cotter pin combos, one on the lower ball joint, and one holding the tie rod end. (Make note of the rubber boots above each castle nut. You’ll be coming back to those in STEP 5.) Using the needle nose pliers, make the ends of the cotter pins as straight as possible and pull the cotter pins out. I like to use two pliers, one on either side of the cotter pin, to pull/push them out. If you’re careful enough you won’t break them and therefore they can probably be reused, assuming you don’t break one on reassembly, but I recommend having replacements on hand just in case. Using the 17mm socket, remove the two castle nuts. Now grab the 17mm wrench and remove the bolt from the bottom of the suspension fork.
STEP 5:
Select a pickle fork whose tines are just wide enough to fit under each boot (mentioned in STEP 4). Set the fork under either side of the tie rod end boot, and using the rubber mallet, start pounding the pickle fork to separate it. Once loosened, swing the tie rod end out of your way. Now do the same thing to the lower ball joint boot. You’ll have to push down on the control arm while lifting up on the knuckle to get it out. Do not be surprised if you rip the boots. That’s why you bought replacements.
STEP 6:
If your axles have never been replaced, this could be the hardest part of the job. You now have to try and get the axle out of the knuckle. Liquid breaker comes in really handy here. Spray it around where the axle splines go through the knuckle. Let it soak for a bit. Now take the rubber mallet and hammer on the end of the axle while pulling the knuckle towards you. If you make no progress, try using the jaw pullers. My axles had been on for 10 years and they were a bitch to get off. (TIP: If you’re lucky enough to own air tools, take the air tool and, without a bit on the end, hold the air tool to the end of the axle spline and pull the trigger. The vibration from the air tool can do a lot to help loosen the axle from the knuckle! DO NOT PUT THE AIR TOOL AGAINST THE THREADS OR YOU WILL IRREPARABLY DAMAGE THEM.) If you’re going to completely replace these axles with either remanufactured axles or racing axles, feel free to do what I had to finally do: Use the ball peen hammer and smash the end of the axle to break it loose from the knuckle. (DO NOT USE THE BALL PEEN HAMMER METHOD IF YOU’RE GOING TO REBUILD THESE AXLES AND REINSTALL THEM, AS THE BALL PEEN HAMMER WILL MUSHROOM THE AXLE END AND CRUSH THE THREADS, THEREBY MAKING THEM USELESS! Remember, axles are balanced. If you damage the spline ends, they CAN be shaved and re-tapped, but you’ve now affected the balance of the axle because the spline threads have been shortened. If you were suffering from vibration before you just made it a lot worse.) Another note: Take great care not to damage the ABS ring around the outer edge of the outer joint. If you’re going to be reusing this axle and you damage the ABS ring, your ABS will no longer work. This is NOT a place for a pry bar, so don’t even think about it. Once the axle is loose, push the axle through the knuckle until the axle is free. Swing the knuckle out of your way.
STEP 7:
SHIFT THE CAR INTO NEUTRAL. Grab a pry bar. If you’re on the driver’s side, find where the axle inner joint mates with the half shaft. If you’re on the passenger side, find where the axle inner joint mates to the tranny. Make note of the amount of gap between the inner joint and the tranny (or half shaft). (Eyeballing this gap now before you pry out the axles will help you know on reinstallation when they are fully seated.) Stick the pry bar in here and break the joint out. Now remove the axle completely by sliding the outer joint through the fork.
If you didn’t have any problems with any of these steps, believe it or not, the process up to this point should have taken about 30 minutes. If you’re having the boots done on these axles, or if you’re having the inner and/or outer joints rebuilt, take them somewhere or do it yourself. If you’re installing a “new” set of remanufactured axles, or if you’re installing racing axles, now it’s time to install the axles.
INSTALLING AXLES:
NOTE: There is a difference between the driver’s and passenger’s side axles. Put them side by side and compare the stems coming off the inner boots. One of the stems only has grooves halfway; this is the passenger side axle. The other has grooves going all the way to the inner joint; this is the driver’s side axle. Also, the axles that you removed from your car may have a large rubber vibration damper on the axle shaft. Don’t be surprised if your replacement axles DO NOT have this damper.
STEP 1:
Taking care to not damage the ABS ring, insert the outer joint of the new axle through the fork. Line up the grooves on the stem from the inner joint, slowly insert into the tranny (or half shaft if you’re on the driver’s side), and slide the axle in until you meet resistance. Grasping around the inner joint only—don’t grasp the boot!–using both hands, jam the axle the rest of the way in. This can take a lot of effort, especially on the tranny side. Again, make sure the car is in neutral.
STEP 2:
With the inner joint seated, now it’s time for the outer joint to be inserted into the knuckle. Coat the grooves on the outer joint stem with a light coating of anti-seize lubricant. (By doing this you are ensured an easier removal if you ever have to swap out your axles again.) Lining up the grooves on the stem with the knuckle, slide the stem through all the way, again taking care to not damage the ABS ring on the outer joint.
STEP 3:
Replace any boots on the tie rod ends or lower ball joints that you may have torn. Lift up on the knuckle and push down on the control arm to reseat the knuckle onto the arm. This takes a good amount of effort and it helps if you have someone to help you. Now reinsert the tie rod end as well. Using the 17mm socket and 17mm wrench, reinsert the bolt through the bottom of the fork and tighten down the nut. Again using the 17mm socket, screw on the castle nuts to the tie rod end and the lower ball joint. Care should be taken with the castle nuts so that they are nice and tight, but also so that there is a clean hole between the parapets in the castle nut for the cotter pins to slide through. Reinsert the cotter pins (the smaller of the two cotter pins goes on the tie rod end), bend one part of the pin around the nut, bend the other under the nut.
STEP 4:
Taking care again to not get any grease on the rotor, place it back on the knuckle. Using the Phillips screwdriver, set the rotor onto the knuckle with the two screws. Now take the new spindle nut and HAND TIGHTEN ONLY. Take the caliper bracket and, using the 17mm socket, bolt it back into place. Put the brake pads back into position (make sure they don’t fall out). You may or may not have to use a C-clamp to compress the caliper to get it repositioned. Once in place, and before you insert the 12mm bolts, take a look at where the bolts go through the caliper and onto the caliper bracket. On the caliper bracket where the caliper bolts attach there are two rubber accordian-looking boots with a female socket for the caliper bolt. Make sure that the flat side of each of these is mated properly to the caliper. If misaligned, you stand a very good chance of stripping and/or breaking the 12mm caliper bolts. If everything is lined up properly, tighten down the 12mm bolts but DO NOT OVER-TORQUE or you will snap these bolts.
STEP 5:
Leaving the center cap off, put the wheel back on (again, use junk wheels for this). Tighten down the lug nuts as best you can, then jack up the car, remove the jack stands, and lower the car all the way. Remove the jack. Finish tightening the lug nuts. PUT THE CAR INTO GEAR. Using the ½” ratchet and 32mm socket, finish hand tightening the spindle nut. Position the ratchet so it’s parallel to the floor and stand on it to tighten the spindle nut all the way. Remove ratchet and socket. Find the indentation on the spindle, and using the flat-head screwdriver and ball peen hammer, indent the spindle nut to prevent it from backing out. Pop on your center caps (or remove the junk wheel and put your good ones on). Congrats! If you didn’t have any problems with any of these steps, reinstallation of one side should take about 30 minutes. Now, take the car for a test drive. If you still have vibration at low speeds, your inner boots on your remanned axles are crap and you have to swap them out again. Otherwise, you should hopefully have a much better handling car and no vibrations.
