HOW-TO: SRT4 Axle Replacement - Passengers Side

[NIVO88T]

From www.srtgurl.com

Ok, so you either broke an axle or just want to replace them because you have boat loads of money and ran out of things to mod on your car.

These are some tools you will need:

· 21mm socket (1/2" ratchet preferred)
· 1/2" ratchet (impact gun if you have one)
· 1/2" breaker bar
· 21mm wrench
· 12mm socket
· 1 1/4" socket (impact socket preferred)
· short 1/2" extension
· needle nose pliers (or Screw driver for cotter pin)
· Adjustable wrench
· Hammer (or Puller 1026)
· Brass punch

fig. 1 - fig. 2 - fig. 3 - fig. 4 - fig. 5
from left to right


fig. 6 - fig. 7 - fig. 8 - fig. 9 - fig. 10
from left to right


fig. 11 - fig. 12 - fig. 13 - fig. 14 - fig. 15
from left to right
(pics continued on post #2)

1. Break the lug nuts loose on front wheels (19mm socket).

2. Jack car up and use jack stands, Take wheels off (or lift if one is available fig.1).

3. Take note of the cotter pin (fig.2). You will need to take that out! Flatten the flared out ends with the adjustable wrench or equivalent (fig.3). Remove cotter pin with a screw driver or needle nose pliers (fig.4).

4. Remove the Nut retainer (fig.5)

5. Remove Retainer washer(fig.6)

6. Remove Nut (fig.8), this part is tricky if you do not have an air gun. it is torque down very tightly. You may want to put the wheel back on and take the center cap off to access the nut. This will give you some leverage to break the nut loose using the weight of the car. On (fig.9) you can see the tools I used, if one didn't work then I used the other.

7. Take nut off (fig.10)

8. Remove washer under nut (fig.11).

9. Remove the Caliper, it has 2 bolts. Both are 12mm (fig.12).

10. Make sure to hang the caliper correctly as not to tear or bend the lines (fig.13).

11. Now move on to removing the strut bolts, they use a 21mm sized nut and the head of the bolt is of the same size (fig.14) there are 2 bolts per side per side.

12. Just give the bolt a hit with the hammer until it pops out the other side (fig.15).

13. Now, Pry the steering knuckle and strut housing apart. It's not too hard to do with a large wrench (fig.16).

14. Now is on to the fun stuff. You can hit the end of the old axle with a Rubber/Dead blow Hammer (rubber mallet recommended or Puller 1026) to loosen it. Keep on hitting it until it pushes back (fig.17 & 18).

15. Now that the axle spline end is free, pull the steering knuckle/hub assembly out and towards the cabin of the car. This should give you enough room to pull out the axle end towards the front of the brake disc (fig.19 & 20).

16. The inner side is easy, Take inner CV joint out. If you encounter a problem Strike the areas marked (X) with a Hammer and brass punch, Or you may also use a pry bar to get in between the end of the shaft where it meets with the intermediate shaft. Pull out (fig.21 - picture is taken from bottom of vehicle)

17. Now the Axle is out (fig.22), take note that this is the passenger side axle.

18. Align the new axle into its new home (fig.23 & 24). Align the axle shaft end into the steering knuckle/hub and slide into it (fig.24 & 25).

19. Place Nut washer on (fig.26). Screw the nut back on (fig.27),First put in the nut retainer washer on, then Place the nut retainer on the nut taking notice the holes on the axle shaft end, align the opening on the nut retainer with the holes on the axle (fig.28).

20. Slide the cotter pin into the hole and tap it in with a hammer or punch (fig.29).

21. Flare out the cotter pin ends with the needle nose pliers as shown in (fig.30).

Please take notice that all these figures show the passengers side axle being done. The drivers side is similar but you must empty out the transmission fluid (ATF+4). The Tranny fluid drain is an Allen plug. The plug is on the bottom of the transmission and has to be taken out with a 7mm Allen wrench. Once drained taking the axle out is the same as the passenger’s side.

Drain fluid if the car is on a lift, If you are doing the job on your drive way and jack up the drivers side high enough the transmission fluid will not leak out.


Notes and Tips by forum members:
To aid in removing the axel nut u can have someon step on the brakes, also u must torque down the axel nut to spec, if u not u can have wheel bearing failure.
------------
Also, I would never recommend hitting the axle with a hammer u can damage the threads, use a block of wood to deaden the blow or a rubber mallet/dead blow hammer.
------------
take the lower ball joint loose instead of the strut bolts....this way you don't have to get an alignment afterward.
Then pry down on the lower control arm may take a hammer to break the ball joint loose from the knuckle
this should help you guys doing it at your house.

Torque specs:

· Hub Nut - 180ft. lbs/244 N.m
· Caliper guide pin bolts - 26ft. lbs./35 N.m
· Trans drain plug - 17ft. lbs./23 N.m
· Strut bolts (nuts must face front of vehicle) - 40ft. lbs./53 N.m plus another 90º turn after torque is met.

[NIVO88T]

(Continued.......)

fig. 16 - fig. 17 - fig. 18 - fig. 19 - fig. 20
from left to right


fig. 21 - fig. 22 - fig. 23 - fig. 24 - fig. 25
from left to right


fig. 26 - fig. 27 - fig. 28 - fig. 29 - fig. 30
from left to right

[NIVO88T]

it's not too hard at all...

[shmirgin44]

you, sir are AWESOME! *Bookmarked* for when I get my DSS axles this spring!

How long do you think it would take for a very mechanically inclined individual who has never done this before?

[NIVO88T]

Quote: Originally Posted by shmirgin44

you, sir are AWESOME! *Bookmarked* for when I get my DSS axles this spring!

How long do you think it would take for a very mechanically inclined individual who has never done this before?

possibly 2 hours given that you most likely won't have access to a lift or air tools.

Passengers side is easy replacement, the drivers side is a little more since you have to drain a bit of the trans fluid If you don't jack the drivers side up enough (ATF+4 - 2.4-2.6 quarts).

in total there are 4 bolts and 1 nut to take off per side! You can take the ball joint off also to make it even easier but requires spliting the balljoint connection.

[NIVO88T]

Broken CV Joint

[smoger]

Nivo, would you mind if I post this on another website, with proper credit of course?

[Pit Viper]

NIVO, glad someone did this. I probably should have, since I've had my axles out at least 5 times in the past 3 months.
Maybe I should do a clutch swap how-to....

[Jeremy Smolik]

what a coincidence, just did all this on my neighbor's 91 crx for a clutch swap. all you reading this thread worried about it, dont be intimidated. with a how to this detailed, it should be cake. if you've done springs or coilovers, this is just a few more steps. hardest part is breaking that hub nut loose. its worth it to go get a compressor and impact wrench.

[The-Violator]

Damn this couldn't have been better timed.. My car just started to do "the wobble". Only question I have for you NIVO(or anyone that KNOWS), is how do I know which side to replace if there's no obviouse visual damage(like yours).. I really think it's the pass. side, but how am I to know for sure??

[MKITGO2]

Excellent write Up!

Smolik said it too.. this becomes much less intimidating now. Mine is already done, but now I know I can handle this if the need arises.

I assume you would also need an alignment after this?

MK

[xmdfmk7x]

Would be shitty if I found out that I got weaker axles when people that paid the same price for the same car got better axles than me.

Anyone have the final verdict on what axles the November '03 built cars have? Someone mentioned the new axles hit the factory in 2004.

I guess I'll find out when I hit the track with slicks and see if I break an axle or not.

[glhs837]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jeremy Smolik

hardest part is breaking that hub nut loose. its worth it to go get a compressor and impact wrench.

You ALL pay close attention to what the man says here. During my working carreer many times I torqued a certain kind of fastener (P-3 wing weapons pylon) at shoulder height horizontally to 200 ftlbs with a torque wrench maybe 16-18 inches long.

So I'm not

But the one fastener I met who convinced me to buy a compressor was the dam hub nut on the GLHS. I had, no fooling, four feet of pipe on my 1/2 inch wrench, which I then put my whole 160lbs on Do the math, that sucker was TIIIIGHT!!!! All I did was compress the strut, after my first attempt, which twisted a 1/2 inch mild steel rod like a pretzel.

If your not gonna get a impact (not sure of the electrics, I went straight air) take it someplace, your not serious enough

[Mopar Thunder God]

I know the manual on the hub nut says to torque it to 180 ft lbs. That sure seems excessive to me. Anyone else think so to?

[04bluesmithjuice]

No the 180 ft.lbs is not excessive. I just swapped out the stock 04's for the DSS stage 3, and it took about 2 hours. Would have taken less if we didn't have to run to checker to get a 36mm socket for the new hub bolt DSS supplys. THere is also no need to remove the caliper to swap axels, we just removed the control arm bolt and pryed the two apart, then the rotor assembly just swung out of the way and we were able to pull the axels out.

Also, if you jack the car up high enough on the drivers side, there is no need to drain the tranny fluid. I had to because we didn't have a jack to go up high enough, but even with drainage, the swap was easy for a n00b. I also had the help of the famous Chris Barnett, so that made things easier.

Brian