We installed new front axles on the 91 Eclipse a couple weeks ago due to worn CV joints. It was a fairly easy install and we got some good quality axles for the installation. Hope you like the article.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/installs/axles/

I would like some information on the removal and subsequent reinstallation of the carrier bearing for the drivers side front axle.
1: after i pull the drivers side axle, how do I remove the bearing? It will probably become obvious once i get the axle out, but I want to make sure I know what the exact procedure is going to be...
How do you know if the bearing is good/bad?
Where can I get a replacement bearing? Probably a dealership only thing, eh?

You state in the article that the carrier bearing bolts to the frame? I was under the impression that the bearing bolts to the engine block, (through the A/C compressor mounting bracket)


Thanks for your help!

-Eric McCabe

i looked under my car the other day to find a torn boot on the passenger side. must have happened at the mt hamilton run. Good driving btw...

how much did the axles cost?

I bought a Raxle for the front drivers side and it ran me about $166 shipped. I am in the process right now of replacing the drivers side axle, what a pita. Do yourself a favor if you haven't removed the rotor in a long time checkout the vfaq on rotor removal using the bolt trick, i'm a retard and didn't and my rotor never came off until I used the bolt trick, had to torque the hell out of it but it works, I ended up ruining the rotor with the hammer though but that's okay because I wanted powerslots anyway(PT tuning $80 or so each). Also spray the caliper bracket mounting bolts the night before at least and use PB blaster if you have it in your area instead of WD-40. I ended up breaking the bolt off inside the caliper bracket and tried to drill it out and ended up destroying the threads ($60-dealer part). My axle nut was so corroded it wasn't coming off so I just chisled the damn thing off. After that ordeal was over I figured eh no sweat we'll just tap the axle out of the hub and wa-lah. Wa-lah my ass, don't do what I did and pound the hell out of it with a hammer, it didn't come loose with a hammer, so I went to autozone rented a 3-jaw universal 5-ton puller (free rental tool) and wedged a board between the wheel studs, my buddy stood on the board while I torqued it. After using ever profane verb in the english language and a few boots to the wheel it broke loose, done, right? Course not, I used the puller to push the axle end through the hub, only problem was by pounding on the axle end with a hammer I flattened the end and it also flattened out the inner splines of the hub. So now I have the axle end stuck in the hub and the hub is also ruined, I have to order a new hub (rumored to be around $130). Now I am trying to figure out how to get the axle end out of the hub because I need the steering knuckle surrrounding the hub. Also the carrier bearing to block bolts, if you can't get em within the first 5 minutes take off the down pipe, or if your inner cv boot is ripped pull it out from the car and see if that gives you room (im going to try that I will post if it works). The problem is you can work at weird angles to get the wrench on the nut but it's hard to get torque on it and you'll end up with a bloody right arm because of the heatshield tearing into your arm from the down pipe.

Long story short:
1: Spray the axle nuts, downpipe bolts, and calper mounts night before.
2: Rotors stuck use the vfaq bolt trick.
3: DO NOT USE A HAMMER on the axle ends, rent puller and spray `em.
4: If the bearing bolts won't come off easy remove the pipe.

These are just things to look out for, don't be a moron like me and do it right, hopefully this will save someone a lot of grief and money. PM me or post if I can be of any help.

-studs

Good article, now if there were only alot more like it...

I just removed the halfshaft and drivers axel per one of those shitty Hane's Manuals. The book says take the halfshaft into the dealership to be removed. Ignore it. Just LIGHTLY and EVENLY tap the halfshaft housing towards the halfshaft NOT the drivers axel. I used a 16 oz. ball peen with a little electical tape around the end. Hope this helps anyone that is having trouble getting the driver side axels loose. Hope this saves you all some money and some hours of your time.

Brian
LCpl USMC
90 Talon TSi

I went in to have an axle replaced this week. $710.10 later I got my car back. First time in the guys 40 years of working on imports, domestics, you name it, he saw an axle LITERALLY rust to the spindle and hub. They tired pressing it out with a 30 ton press and heated it up til it glowed red. NOTHING. ALWAYS a good idea to replace them and get them checked. He said that this has happened over a course of about 1-2 and 1/2 years. I would recommend making sure that you check to see the the axle will come out. Otherwise its SPENDY.

I also had MAJOR problems doing this job. The driver's side Axle bolt was seized on the axle. I jacked the car up, removed the wheel and removed the cotter pin. I then put the wheel back on and tightened, lowered the car. With the socket going through the center hole of the wheel, I tried to loosen the bolt(with the weight of the car on the wheel in order for the wheel not to spin) It wouldn't move. I had about 4 feet of leverage and I was literally JUMPING on the breaker bar to no avail. In fact I broke TWO 1/2" breaker bars by doing this. I gave up, the only way it is coming off is with oxy-acetylene.

I did the other side(passenger), the nut was easier, but getting the axle out of the spindle was a different story. I wrecked a puller trying to get it out. So I had to break the outer CV joint to get the spindle off of the car(tie rod, ball joint), and then i took it to a machine shop. Due to the odd shape, it was a pain setting it up on a press but they finally were able to press it out(after bending a piece of the press). It was BAD. Anyways, the only other problem was getting the shaft out of the transmission. A flathead screwdriver wouldn't work for me so i had to use a pry bar, I ended up buying 3 different pry bars for this, because they were either too big or too flexible. Anyways, it's all together now and it sounds great.

Bottom line....have oxy-acetylene ready and willing. Also have a machine shop nearby. Mine pressed it out for 30 bucks CDN. Get a perfect sized pry bar and remove the guard plate.

FOLLOW UP:
I did the driver's side CV joint recently. It was a bit of a hassle, but not bad, once I know what I was up against. I had to use a Oxy-acet torch to get the axle nut off, but it was VERY easy to do. Getting the bearing/carrier bolts off was a different story. First REMOVE the downpipe...i have a stock exhaust and it was even in the way. It's 3 bolts, do it. Second, it really helps to have a 14mm wrench that is about 18 inches long, hard to come by, so we made one(welding). But it's not mandatory. Once we had that off, it was really easy to get the shaft out of the tranny....just give it a pull, obviously, the driving end has to be loose, so what I had to do was remove the spindle from the car, then just pull the whole thing out. Give it a yank, and it should come. Different machine shop this time, they pressed the REALLY REALLY RUSTED axle out of the spindle for five bucks....they had about 15 tons on it and still had to use torches.

Getting the shafts separated was pretty easy. We just took a ball joint separator(tuning fork) and bent it so it was really wide, then we just wedged it between the two shafts and POP goes the shaft. Simple, done.

Overall a lot less painful than the first, mind you I had the right tools...hope this helps someone

Just thought I might share yet another axle friendly experience.. HELL no!!! I was taking my passenger side axle /hub off , first the damn axle is rusted into the hub, so I bashed the shit out of it, and IT DIDNT MOVE, after breaking like 4 screw drivers, I finally got it out...Now moving on to removing my hub from my knuckle; WOW. I had no idea how insanely hard this was to remove. i ended up breaking it by smashing the #### out of it with the hammer, so now, an easy routine knuckle replacement... gone bad. And to think, the driver side came out like butter... sigh

Just finished this fun little job for the first time per Chilton, Haynes and every internet resource I could find. Messy and physically demanding but not mechanically difficult. Some suggestions, CHECKLIST: Basic tools, metric sockets, ratchets (1/2 & 3/8) heavy breaker bar (this is a must) screwdrivers, etc... Specific tools: liquid wrench, gear puller, mallet, small crowbar (very helpful for getting axles out of the tranny) 38mm axle socket, ball-joint removal tool (tuning fork). Remove your downpipe before going after the carrier bearing bracket, this will save time and frustration. (Believe it!) Unbolting the caliper and tying the hub out of the way allows for easier re-installation of the axles. (it only takes 2 minutes) Mark the seating depth of the carrier bearing and make sure to re-install to that depth. (This makes re-bolting the bracket so much easier, as you don't end up being off by 2mm and have to dissasemble the whole damn thing again) Hope this helps future axle installers.

I had to search when removing my passenger side of my 90. I found i wasn't the only person to have problems with having an axle sieze inside of the hub. the driver side is pretty easy. Just like Chris explained in his how-to. I actually was pulling the whole suspension, but as far as the carrier bearing, on my 1st gen it is held in by 2 14mm bolts that are under the down pipe (luckly my hands were small and i could get in there and unbolt them) when you buy a new or rebuilt axle you'll have to remove the shaft that goes into the tranny with the bearing on it. after spraying some PB Blast in, you can tap it using a hammer and punch (i think i tapped along the inner bearing race, so it wouldn't hurt anything) inspect the bearing for play to see if it needs to be replaced. My passenger side was siezed, i read people saying, no that can't happen, but it can. My goal was to get the axle out, from a 5lb sledge, to a torch, to a heavy duty puller, do an aceltaline torch with puller and hammer, it was safe to say it wasn't going anywhere. So a trip to my local junk yard and for $50, i picked up a new spindle, hub assembly and axle (to use as a core for my new ones) I cleaned, painted, swapped everything and put some antiseize on everything. If i ever run into a problem, i'm going to make sure whatever i need to take off, will come off.

When i replaced my drivers side axles after the accident i was able to tap the axle right out of the carrier and slide the new one on until it locked into place. Is this normal. BTW the car has had an vibration the whole time i have owned this.

So far its been a 2 day project. I think these axels were originals with 135,000 miles one them. Got the passenger side on last night. No way im getting the core money back on these guys. So mangled! I hope my car doesnt end up in the junkyard. These CVs are redicules!

Just did this install tonight. I got my axle from Advanced Auto Parts. $160 for both front axles after core charge is recouped. I notice a lot of people are having trouble with the large axle nut. If possible, get a decent air compressor (33 Gallon is fine) and it will come off that much easier. Plus, you can the use the air comtrpssor for many other things so it isn't just bought for this job. If you don't have a compressor, I recommend liberal use of PB Blaster and let it sit for an hour or so.

Anyway, my install went easily, oher than having the axle come out in 2 pieces along with an hour of cleanup from the torn boot. Just did the drivers side since the passenger side was fine. I'm sure I'll replace it sooner or later, but the less work the better. Anyway, instead of how the FAQ states removing it, I disconnected the hub from the shock. Just 2 17mm bolts holding that on and 2 10mm bolts for the brake lines. Let the control arm fall, pull the axle out of the hub and replace. To reinstall, use a jack to jack up the control arm and reassemble. Nice and easy.

Also, for AWD and removing the axle from the carrier, if you have vice you are set. Just lock it down and hit the axle out... downwards of course. If you lack a vice, like me, place the carrier on a ledge with the axle hanging over. Hold the carrier down with your foot, get a prybar/screwdriver and mallet and wack the axle off with a couple good shots. To insert the new axle in the carrier, you can either tap it in the same way you tapped it out or you can do the gravity drop method. Have a a couple rags over a small block of wood on the ground. Place the axle in the carrier and then, carrier first, drop the assembly, while holding it, onto the block and rags, letting gravity and the force of the shock press the axle in. Ghetto I know, but works like a charm.

wow, alot of you had trouble with removing the axle nuts.. i used a 1/2 inch torque wrench and removed them myself.. they came off fairly easy.. only on one axle nut did i have to stand on the torque wrench..

my friend said he had 4 people and a long pipe to remove an axle nut on a civic..

a 1/2" torque wrench? Or breaker bar? You shouldn't use a torque wrench for REMOVING fasteners.

Additionally, I live in Calgary, AB, Canada, where the winters are rough, and the salt is applied liberally!!! That'll rust a lot more than in fresno, California!

1/2 torque wrench for the axle nuts.. to take the nut off the wheel hub

I don't know if we're getting our terminology crossed or what?
A torque wrench tells you how much torque in lb/ft you are putting on a fastener.
A breaker bar is basically a long ratchet without the ratchet action.
An Impact wrench is an air driven device that runs on an air compressor. It's the notorious sound from the pits in NASCAR...fllooooom, flooooom

i know what your talking about

they used a torque wrench.. to break the nut thats screwed on the axle.. where the wheel hub is..

they slipped a pipe over it to break the seal and unscrew the nut..


with me, i just used a 1/2 torque wrench and it came off a lot easier.. i did it myself ....they needed 4 people... or i'm as strong as 4 people..

I had a go at the passenger side axle and couldn't get the control arm and the steering knuckle apart. The shop manual says you need a special tool. I can get the whole repair done at a shop for $200, and I am tempted!

Also the point about the torque wrench is that you should not use it as a breaker bar (it wont be accurate anymore)

Rally1:
I'm assuming you're talking about the lower ball joint? If so, any parts store sells the "special" tool, which just looks like a big tuning fork. It's basically a wedge that you hammer on once or twice and it pops it out really nicely. Nothing all that "special" about it at all. No tool needed to put it back together or anything so don't be scared of that.
As far as the $200, does that include the price of the axle? $200 bucks isn't bad to drop it off and pick it up again. Although, some people dont have the big problems like we ran into. If your car isn't bad for rust, you may have clear sailing and get away with buying just the axle, the "tuning fork($15) and some tranny fluid.
Good luck to you!

PS. Forgive me if you know what tool I'm talking about, just like to be thorough.

I'll check the manual again, but it didn't look like the regular puller I have seen before.

$200 would be parts and labor, but like you said, they are not going to know any of the "tricks". Perhaps i'll have another go at it tonight.

this is the tool i need

I was warned a pickle fork can cause damage.