After a couple of years now of participating on this site, I figured I should at least document a process I've worked on.
There wasn't a direct guide (with pics) relating to the 5AT TL, so I had to use a combination of individual posts, the service manual, and youtube videos to complete this. I am certainly a visual learner, so I took as many detailed photos as I could. The following is just my experience, so if anybody sees any room for corrections, additions, or improvements, please let me know. Mods, forgive me if I did not follow certain submission guidelines.
This is a guide to replace both the drivers and passenger side front axles (not including the half-shaft).
A) Tools and parts required - New axles. I got both sides from Rockauto. Brand APWI Part # HO369 and H0370 found here: drivers and passengers to my door for $119 total.
- Pair of cotter pins. You can buy an assorted box at any auto parts store for a few dollars.
- 17mm socket and/or 17mm wrench - I had two wrenches and one socket for this job, though you could get away doing this with a single 17mm tool.
- 36mm socket (I conveniently had a 1 7/16" socket and I didn't want to buy a new metric one just for this job...the 1 7/16" fit and worked perfectly fine for removing the axle nut)
- Ball joint removal tool or 1" thick breaker bar, driver, extension...anything solid and wide enough to fit into the LCA/ball joint gap to separate it.
- Punch set
- Crow or pry bar
- Needle-nosed pliers
- Sledge hammer
- Rubber mallet
- PB blaster
- Brake parts cleaner
- Safety glasses
- 2 jackstands
- Floor jack
- Acura TL tire iron or 19mm socket for lugnuts
Optional tools and parts:
- Torque wrench
- Additional small floor jack
- Flathead screwdriver
- Replacement LCA bushings, replacement ball joints
- Bungee cord or ~1ft tall toolbox to support wheel hub
- Regular hammer
B) The process
1. Jack up the car and remove the wheel center cap
Begin by breaking loose (but not removing) the lugnuts on the drivers front wheel.
Jack up car in whatever preferred method to remove drivers side front wheel.
Remove the drivers side front wheel. Use force to poke out the center cap, then re-install wheel + lug nuts. Jack the car back down.
2. Break loose the axle nut
Now, the axle nut is visible.
I broke 2 flatheads and one punch attempting to punch out the depression onto the lock. As it turns out, you can simply break this bolt loose like any other bolt. The depression did not affect my ability to break loose and remove either axle nut with the socket, so I personally would not mess around with it.
Use your 36mm or 1 7/16" socket to break loose the axle nut. Having a breaker bar that you're able to stand on helps here.
3. Jack the car back up, and remove the suspension fork bolt and nut
Jack the car back up. I used the floor jack under the engine, and two jackstands under each front door. Remove the wheel again.
Look behind the brake rotor, and locate the suspension fork. Use your 17mm tool here. I personally had two 17mm wrenches (one to hold the stationary bolt, one to remove the nut) at this point.
Crack and remove the 17mm nut on the rear side.
The bolt is now exposed. Use a punch and a rubber mallet to punch it out. This may take some force.
With the nut and bolt removed, the suspension fork should be free.
4. Remove the castle nut and cotter pin from the ball joint.
Removing my corroded cotter pins held me up significantly. I doused them in pb blaster and used needle-nosed pliers to remove them, after much frustration. Straighten the pin as much as you can, and be sure to stay straight when pulling it out. The castle nut also uses a 17mm. Fortunately, since I replaced my drivers side axle just a few weeks ago with a temporary ebay one, the new cotter pin was easy to remove this time.
5. Remove the ball joint from the LCA.
This was the most difficult part of the operation for me. 210k miles and 16 Ohio winters did not make this separation easy. I'll explain my strategy for removing this as best as I can.
NOTE: The flat joint separator/fork tool did nothing besides ruin my boot sleeve and expose the grease on the joint. I do not recommend.
Additionally, the other generic ball joint separator tool i got from advanced auto parts
did not expand wide enough to fit into the Acura LCA area, and for this reason, I do not recommend using this tool either, unless you can find a larger version.
Sometimes, you are able to pop this out simply by banging the crap out of the LCA with a sledgehammer. I hope most of you find success in simply jarring the LCA in the area below, and you can skip to step 6.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for me.
Observe the picture below. In order to separate the ball joint from the LCA, we need to have a thick metal bar, a breaker, a crowbar, or pretty much anything that will fit into the circled red area below. I fortunately have a 22" sliding T-bar from a tractor socket set I was able to use and fit into the area circled.
So here below, we are applying the upward force with another small floor jack. This gives us clearance to insert the t-bar into the space between the LCA and the hub.
Then, from the side, you're going to whack the bar you've inserted with a sledgehammer- to provide that downward force on the LCA. This may take some serious effort.
After a beating, the ball joint pops free. (The boot damage is from the first time I did this job...)
6. Removing the axle.
At this point, it is necessary to move the wheel assembly out and back towards the drivers door. If the axle shaft does not simply fall out of the wheel hub, use a rubber mallet to hit it back into the hub.
I propped the entire assembly up on my toolbox, ensuring not to put all of the weight on the ball joint or the brake shield.
Now, you need to get underneath the car. It is necessary to remove the transmission splash guard. I did not document this process, as it's a couple bolts and a couple clips that need to be removed. It's the same guard you remove when you are changing the transmission fluid.
Once removed, you will be able to look up at the axle where the joint connects into the differential. Use a flat head screwdriver (or other prying tool of your choice) to apply force to the inboard joint of the axle. Be sure to only pry at the outer lip, if you get too deep towards the center of the shaft, you can damage the seal. When prying, use your other arm to pull the axle shaft straight outwards. It takes a second to get the hang of, but it's relatively easy to pop out.
And it's out. Here is the opening in the diff where you will plug the new axle into. Note the slightly damaged seal :facepalm:
Old axle. I wasn't very gentle knowing that I was trashing it, as you can see by the deformed boot where I yanked it out.
Spray the new axle threads with brake parts cleaner to remove any debris.
Plug the new axle in by pushing it straight as possible into the differential. It will require some adjustments and some force, but you will feel it once it slides in and sets. It is much easier to line the axle up straight by inserting the axle shaft back in between the suspension fork.
7. Reassembly
Replace the wheel hub back over the outer axle thread, and seat the ball joint back into the LCA.
Once seated, whack the LCA back over top of the ball joint.
Once the ball joint is snug, re-tighten the castle nut to between 58-65 ft/lbs, leaving the cotter pin hole visible. Insert the cotter pin and bend both ends around the castle nut.
Replace the suspension fork bolt. Use a rubber mallet to get the bolt back in. Hand tighten the nut a few turns, but do not torque down yet. If you tighten to spec, that bushing can become deformed once the wheel and weight of the car are sat back down on the ground.
Replace the wheel and lugnuts. Remove jacks and lower the car.
Tighten the axle nut to 181 ft/lbs. If you don't have a torque wrench, I stood on my bar until it wouldn't move (I weigh 160....that's how it works...right? lol)?
Use a punch to deform the nut into the groove like so.
And lastly, now that we've applied weight to the suspension fork without deforming the bushing, tighten this down now to 47 ft/lbs.
You're done! Take her for a test drive.
These axles are equally smooth under hard acceleration as they are cruising at 80mph. They're great so far.
Mods, I will add the couple passenger side pics tomorrow...I'm tired right now lol.
