devildust

Long extension and a breaker bar will do the trick, and extra pair of hands helps too. I just did this only to realize one of my axles was already replaced at one point and the hubs and roller bearings are different sizes, so I was not able to swap left to right. Just went to autozone and had them order me duralasts with lifetime warranty. $55 per side after core return, not too bad. This is def doable without taking axles out but you will need to remove the top two 17mm bolts on the upper A arm. I did not use an impact gun, and in the end did end up taking the axles out. WD-40 helped to get those rusty bolts out.

s2guru

i'm a little confused. so all you have to do empty the old grease from the inner cup and put new grease? or take the whole cv out and swap from left to right ?

so i will making a order from Honda.

The parts i need?

New axle nut ( if i remove the whole axle )
new boots claps ( optional )
grease.

devildust

You need grease because a lot of it comes out when you take the inner cv out. You need to put the right cv on the left side and left on right. You will notice right away the grease on the driver side will be a much darker color, diver side cv wears much quicker.

You should be able to re-use the boot clamps.
So you will need a 14mm socket and a 17mm socket, long extension, possibly a beaker bar, a hammer(inner cv can seize to the diff), needle nose pliers for the boot clamps. all that is needed if not taking axles off, if you are you will need some more tools.

s2guru

thank you sir for the clarification.

MalcolmKydd

I am from the uk, when you are talking about this, is it the inner cv joints that you are swapping? So i dont need to replace the cv joints? Thanks in advance.

madenot

Ok so I have the clunk sound coming from the rear and I already tried to torque the rear axle nut, clunk still there. I lifted the car and found out the axles moves up and down and left to right, both ways making a clunk sound. I plan on doing this swap as soon as my grease comes in. Do you think it's just the cv joints or are the axles bad? Also my drive shaft clicks when I spin it. Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks

Kmelthratter

HELP!

Completed the CV bucket swap. Left was pitted pretty good, right side was noticeable but not bad. Now my gear engagement clunking is much more pronounced, to the point where I don't want to drive the car, and I can feel it while shifting as well. It feels like slack in the drivetrain and it is slowing down my shifting. It is different from the axle click due to the axle nut.

My differential mounts need replacing, and I used the diff as a jack point, is it possible the flexing pushed them over the edge? My axle nuts are at 220ft/lb, and the creaking (sounds like wood stressing with a pop) came back and I plan on doing that as well, would that also cause the clunk (sounds more like a heavy metal knock from switching directions)?

Kmelthratter

I have a lead, the front right diff mount is torn and flexes quite a bit just from pushing the car back and forth by hand while in gear. Will be replacing the mounts in the next few days. -Kyle

porgy

Folks: I have an '04 with only 65K miles on it which developed this vibration upon acceleration a couple of months back and after reading the posts starting back in '04 it certainly sounds like the pitted CV joint issue. I'm not as mechanically inclined as most of you and asked my dealership to check it out while I had my S2K in for a brake job a couple of weeks ago. They said they had 2 different guys drive it around according to their diagnosis both rear axles needed replacing at a total cost (parts and labor) of $2,000. Are they most likely tryin' to rob me when it could really be the CV joint swap (or even replacemnt) trick or is it possible that their diagnosis is correct?

Thanks a heap.

Kmelthratter

Swap the buckets! My car with 130k miles feels brand new after replacing 3 of 4 differential mounts and doing a simple bucket swap. The swap cost was $10 for grease and that is it. There is no reason you should replace the axles at this point, but don't wait for it to get worse either.


On a side note for everyone else: I developed a loud clunk after first completing this. Today I figured out that one of the bearings fell off and went inside the CV bucket during the reinstall and I was rushing too much, although I think I did check for it. It caused noticeable slack in the drive-train with a loud clunk when loading up the drivetrain, which I blamed on roasted diff mounts for 50 miles before fixing. Today I fixed the issue and there is no noticeable internal damage, but the CV joint was able to flex quite a lot just by hand when I before I put the joint back together a second time. It now drives like it is brand new though!