Hi,
I have to change the drive shaft on a 2002 Civic EX. Comes with the 1.7L engine and automatic transmission. The shaft to be changed is the one on the passenger side. Is there anything tricky to do that? Just loosen the control arms, suspension, take the brake away and pull it out of the tranny?? I also have to change the wheel bearing, Im aware of that this one needs to be pressed out and in to the hub. Do you know a place were you get a new hub with a new bearing in it already? I can only find the ones for the rear since this ones cant be pressed anyway.

Thanks for your help.

 

I have used a Pitman tool to separate the ball joint (free rental at O'Reilly or AutoZone). Though recommended in the service manual, you usually don't need to drain the transmission fluid. Just place a pan under the transmission when the axle is removed to catch the dripping fluid.

 

RonJ,
your the man, thanks so much thats exactly what I needed.
Well that much more then I needed but extremely helpful!!

Biker

 

Just as a little recap, I finally got to change the drive shaft and wheel bearing on my girls 2002 civic. Thanks to RonJ it went all pretty smooth.
The first real issue was the lower ball joint. I went to Murrays to get the ball joint puller Honda recommends in there manual. Well I got a whole front end tool kit from them as a loaner. However it was really hard to get that joint breaking loose. I did put a nut on the end of the joint as explained in the manual but with all the force I had to put on I damaged the whole thread by bending the nut. So I had to install a new ball joint as well. The pitman tool works much better if you know were to place it. I know now! LOL Pressing the hub out of the knuckle was a challenge too and ended with a big bang as the inner race broke loose as it's supposed to. Pressing the new bearing in was pretty simple but you have to make sure your holding against it in the right spot!! Guess how I know... I bought a new bearing......go figure.
Putting everything back together was not a problem but getting the new drive shaft in the tranny case was not as easy as it sounded. took me a while to get the snap ring were it belongs.
Rather then that it went all well and the ugly noise is gone Its running great now.
Thanks again RonJ for your help!

Greetings Tomi