a quick CV joint question

[johnwc723]

well it looks like a CV joint replacement is in order now, wow everything on my car just seems to be messing up, now lets say i just wanna repalce everything that could really go wrong (both driveshafts) to get rid of the click this is what i would want right?...

Drive Shaft / Axle
For vehicle: 1989 HONDA ACCORD LXI L4 2.0 Liter FI (change)

Cardone 604000
CV Half-Shaft Assembly: Reman.; (Front; Right); (Front; Right; w/A.T.); (Front; Right; w/M.T.)
Lifetime Limited Warranty Find in a store Ships in 1 day
Weight: 19 lbs. $59.99
$45.00 core

Cardone 604006
CV Half-Shaft Assembly: Reman.; Front; Left; w/M.T.
Lifetime Limited Warranty Find in a store Ships in 1 day
Weight: 18.5 lbs. $76.99
$60.00 core

(also are those good prices? i think i can get em for that in the store and then i wouldnt have to send the core out somewhere)
as always thanks guys

[nswst8]

Unless you can get them for less than half online or better its not worth the hassle if one goes out on you. this way you can just take it back to the store you got it from. Especially if plan on keeping it for a while and I would also recommend changing out the shaft seals at the transaxle get the dealer OEM I have had no luck with the after market seals.
Hope this helps
Phil

[ahbeyra]

i just did my cv joints(slight nightmare), and i payed 93 dollars for both shafts total. so, those prices seem a little high. but if you dont run into any hellishly rusted bolts(or you get two new bands and take apart the inboard joint) then it should take less than an hour to do. good luck.

-Kelley

[k-roy]

Thats about what I paid at Advance about a year and a half ago. SO far they have worked out just fine.

[johnwc723]

raw, well hey ahbeyra did you get those online tho? also when you guys say shaft seals what exactly are those? eek sorry for my ignorance

[ahbeyra]

i got them from a parts store in town.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

The shaft seals are the rubber seals installed where the shafts go into the transmission. If they are worn, they can cause oil leaks. Hope this helps.

[johnwc723]

okay ill see if i can find some of those too, well at any rate ill see if there is any signs of leaking arrg im scared im gonna mess something up but i guess i have been that way before any car project, it will prolly get messed up more driving on it anyways!

[86LXItooFAST4me]

i have found them for 45 before, all and all fair price i say

[nswst8]

CV shaft replacement is straight foward. The only reason I would recommend the seal replacement is for the age of our vehicles and since you are there and given the price of the seals $12 at most and the fact that it will only take an extra 20 minutes of work CHANGE THEM.
Phil

[cvergi01]

I replaced mine this weekend and the biggest problem that I ran into is getting the boots out of the suspension fork. I just pulled off the boots, but I would find out the correct way to do it becuase that was a horses ass of a task. Also, the spindle nut is a $16 32mm socket

[Slavic]

...the spindle nut is a $16 32mm socket

You can rent the 32mm socket for free at AutoZone as well many other tools. I think NAPA does the same . You buy it then take it back for a refund when you're done. I kept the tools for over 2 months, I'm embarrassed to say, and it was not a problem.

I ended up paying a local PepBoys mechanic a few bucks to crack loose the spindle nuts with an impact wrench cause they were too tight to loosen with what I had and then took it from there.

[RobbyKlotz]

I need to replace mine also, I think I'll just take it to my mechanic

[nswst8]

When I was a younger person my thinking was what can I do to save money so that I can put the saved money to performance mods. And drive axles are a money saver. axles are $200+ and thats if you have a specialty shop trying to put other people out business.
Yeah the easiest way is impact, but when I go to the junk yards I carry a 3/4 breaker bar with a few choice sockets 32mm or 1 1/4 will fit the axle nut.
get someone to apply the brakes and you break loose the axle nut with your body weight. I usually step on the breaker bar.
Hope this helps.
Phil

[Slavic]

get someone to apply the brakes and you break loose the axle nut with your body weight. I usually step on the breaker bar.

That would have probably worked and is sound advice. They rent breaker bars too.

What I had was a torque wrench, which is a $100 piece so I didn't want to risk breaking it and it didn't occur to me at the time to rent a breaker bar.

You could just use a breaker bar at the lot, tighten the nut back to spec, which CAN be loosened up by the torque wrench. Return the breaker bar right away and drive off to do the rest of teh work.

CVs are pretty easy to do. I wish I looked into it before I had mine done by a mechanic. Ball joints can be a bit more work and can be frustrating.

The only tricky part is if the ball joint starts spinning when re assembling preventing you to tighten the nut. There was a thread on that where the solutions offered included hammering using a press to get the ball joint pressed in just enough to be able to screw the nut back without it spinning. Guess lowering the car with the nut just partially threaded on might work too. I just use the press.

I never attempted to change just the CV. I worked on ball joints at the same time. Do you still have to break loose both the upper and lower ball joints with a tie rod end puller to get the CV out?

The tools I think you'd need are 32mm socket, breaker bar, torque wrench, tie rod end puller (for ball joints, three jaw won't work), ball joint press and you might find a ball joint separator fork and/or a pry bar useful to get the CVs out.

If you don't need to touch the ball joints the list gets shorter.

Another thing I suggest you look into is life time warranty. Discount Auto Parts gives lifetime warranty on CVs and they are like $60-70 or so. AutoZone gave me life time warranty on rear upper ball joints and they were only a buck or two more expensive than the competition. Ask around it might be worth to pay a bit more up front.

[johnwc723]

hmm i think all you have convinced you that i should be able to do the half-shafts! i still havent checked out the condition of the bolts on the lower control arm etc tho (im gonna check that before i go hard into it as i knwo that they can be a HUGE problem) maybe i shall do the tool rental (really i thought rental costs some money *wink*)

also its wierd because the bolt covers on my front wheels are already off, when one puts a new clutch in (which i know was done) do they have to remove both of the driveshaft bolts (Im wondering if my car has already had its driveshafts replaced at 145k!)

[el-es-dee]

My axles are only 37$ per side (Dunno why considering they are diffrent sizes) but that's whole sale and you can't get those prices unless you work at an auto place (or know some one that does)

Either way, to get that fucking 32mm nut off, I was jumping on a breaker bar. (I weight 200 lbs and I coulgn't break it lose) I had to have one of my REALY strong frinds some and do it, and even then, him jumping on it and trying to pry it lose was a bitch.

[Vanilla Sky]

all i can say is that when doing this kind of work, impact tools are your friend... i just changed my CV axle out, and now i get to take it BACK out to replace my transmission...