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Hello and this is my first post to the group. I am a semi-retired prosthetist with too much time on my hands. Anyway, I’ve decided to tackle a few problems with my 2006 Honda Accord EX V6 3.0 (6 speed manual transmission). The vehicle has 366,000 miles on it. My latest project is replacing the driver’s side CV axle. Outer boot was damaged and the car sounded like a stuck pig going down the road most of the time. I followed Eric’s video guide without any major issues until I hit this snag. My axle will not release from the transaxle. I’ve tried prying and prying and prying, using a variety of pry-bars without any luck. There is not much room to work there and I’ve rotated the axle several times with subsequent prying. As a side note, it seems that my Honda is more like an Acura under the hood than other Honda Accords. The clutch slave cylinder was the same as a 2005 Acura TL and from what I can tell by looking at pictures, the engine compartment layout seems almost identical to the TL. Any suggestions for getting the axle released will be appreciated. Thank you.
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Is there perhaps a snap ring where it splines in the transmission
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Yes, there is a snap ring at the end of the spline. I google’d the topic again with some other key words and found several youtube videos about making or buying a pulling tool. I see that a slide hammer tool is available but I don’t see that tool sliding in behind the axle on my car. First there is little room to work and second it looks like it is tapered. If I were able to force that tool into the available “slot”, I think the axle would break loose without pulling, due to the taper of the tool. The other issue is that it appears that the slide tool has a force line that would actually tend to wedge the axle. That may not be a big issue, but in my mind a center line force should be used for such an event. That said, the home made tools that a couple of people have used look interesting. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. In particular the welded muffler clamp looks like a cool idea. I think I will merge a couple of the videos and weld two struts using this idea and use a slide hammer. My axle is shot, so taking the boot off and exposing the metal for such an operation is not a problem. In the meantime, if there are other ideas, I’d sure like to hear about them. Thanks again.
I’ve gone for two prybars, one on each side, and a framing hammer in the past. Add a little frustration, anger and a few hours time and the axle eventually comes out.
These jobs always make me wonder if I should ever work on cars again…Thanks again for the replies. After doing some more research, I discovered that this is evidently a somewhat common problem and more than one video demonstrates homemade axle pullers. I was going to go down the muffler clamp road, bought the 2 1/2″ clamp and then decided to give the vice-grip method a try (from the youtube). Fortunately, it worked. For what it is worth, I purchased the Harbor Freight 2# puller kit and tweaked some parts for its use. The thread on the HF puller screw is M10 x 1.5. I started by slightly turning down (sanding) the knurling on the 10″, or so, vice-grip, then unscrewed the adjuster bolt it from the tool. I drilled a clearance hole for the threaded vice-grip bolt in the center of a 1/2″ water pipe cap and assembled that back together with the cap slid over the bolt. I could still turn the vice grip easy enough with the threads or the end of the bolt head (which was now hidden inside the water pipe cap). Then I attached a 10″, or so, length of 1/2″ water pipe and proceeded to add nipples and reducers to get to the M10 x 1.5 slide puller thread. I was able to cross-tap the last american size thread nipple adapter with an M10 x 1.5 tap and then screwed the slide puller onto the rig. I clamped the vice-grips onto the axle hub after the boot was removed and slide-hammered the axle hub out. After moving the vice-grip to the 3rd position on the hub, the hub came out. I did have to use some heavy knocks to get it out, but once it released, it came out easily. I’m not sure what the part I’m called the hub really is, but I hope you get the picture. My axle spline was stuck in the transmission (trans-axle); hence this problem. Not counting my trip to Harbor Freight, and Lowes, this adapter took me about 45 minutes to make. The total cost was about $30.00, not counting the vice-grips which I already had, but I feel it was well worth the money. Once attached to the axle hub, it took less than 5 minutes to get it released. Also, the Vice-Grip (brand name) did not come loose during the operation and nothing was used to keep it from popping open as the slide-hammer was used. I’ve attached a couple of photos for what it might be worth to someone. Thanks again for this forum and many cool videos that Eric and others make available on the internet.
FWIW the trick to getting them out is not just applying constant direct prying force. A pop is needed to get the snap ring to let go… when you have a pry bar on it you need to jiggle it with quick, jarring, forceful pressure on and off. If it won’t go, do a slight turn and try again… have yet to see one where I could not remove it with a pry bar… one you’ve got the technique down, they can still be a pain, but should never take more than a minute to remove one..
Kal
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