i believe it is my axle-shaft, located between the inner and outer cv joints on the front passenger side of my 4DR DX

i need to tighten it or possibly replace it, and i'm clueless. any help would be appreciated -- i'm not very technical, but i can follow directions

my wheel wobbles as a result and when i go over a bump on that side, i can hear the wheel assembly knock. how can i adjust this?

 

I can't see your wheel wobbling being caused by the half shaft unless it was bent.

Assuming that it is not - The first things that should be checked - wheel bearing, ball joints and struts. The easiest way to do this is take it somewhere for an "estimate". Let them do the troubleshooting. Then purchase a manual and do the work yourself or post on here what they told you is bad and we can try talking you through the procedure on replacing the bad parts.

Another thing and very unlikely thing to check would be the mount that the upper strut bolts to. This is very doubtful but possible. But it does cause a knocking sound. This however can be checked real easily. With the car sitting still - turn the steering wheel all the way from the left stop to the right a couple of times and listen for your knock. If you don't hear the knock you can pretty much rule out the upper mounts.

 

WHAT YEAR IS TEH CIVIC N QUESTION???

 

sounds like a bad ball joint upper/or lower. Jack the whell up. If the wheel feels lose (but your lug nuts are tight along with the large brass nut approx 1 1/8 in) then its prob a ball joint. While you are wiggling the wheel look at your upper and lower ball joint to determine which one is bad.

The lower ball joint is in the large nuckle that your strut bolts on to. It has a nut on the bottom of the nuckle. Lossen that nut, then put a jack under up the bottom of the bolt. With some pressure ont the ball jopint (that bolt) smack the out side with a hammer untill the ball joint is freeed up. Ball joints are typicaly the same size as what they go into (a pressure fit) so even if to take that nut all the way off they will not come out without doing what I said previously, or by heating up the outside to expand the metal. Use the jack and hammer method. The parts are prob app 30.00

The upper ball joint is just nuts and bolts. Make sure you gett new bushings with the ball joint. It will prob come as a whole A-arm *** with the ball joint inside already.

 

wow, you must hate doing these if you just muscle them off every time. just go to your local auto parts store and get a ball joint separator (AKA "pickle fork") if there are 2 sizes, get the smaller one. then you stick that in between the ball joint and the arm it is mounted to, and you hit it with a hammer. you have to hit it pretty hard, but be careful, when i was doing my swap i hit my hand 3 times doing this. the second time i broke something. the third time hurt like hell. oh yeah, then later i dropped a starter on it. its been like 3-4 weeks and its still swollen, maybe i shoulda went to the doctor. oh well.

 

Really its not that hard to do it with a jack and hammer. Once you get to the point were you are ready to remove the ball joint it only takes a min or two to get it out,. The pickle fork is a sure way to go though, your right.
One good thing about the jack and hammer method is that you don't hurt the rubber parts of what you are taking out.

 

ha! believe it or not, i was reading this post thinking -- hey, this sounds a lot like my problem -- and i finally looked to see who posted it! -- duh, it was me

anyway, since this isn't my daily driver, the knocking noice wasn't a priority. i've finally gotten around to doing it myself.

i took it to firestone for a $10 oil change and had them check the noise. THEY also said it was the upper control arm and ball joint. so i replaced it myself -- very easy with btw.

guess what? nothing. still hearing the knocking noise. i can't believe no one else on this forum has experienced this! i also don't see why it's hard to believe that the drive axle shaft is loose. i can move it in (toward the inner cv) and out (toward the outer cv), and that's where the noise is coming from.

now that i'm back in the garage, i'll let you know what i come up with.

 

i know i havent been here in a while, but damn buddy, when did that hapen?