Front shaft/knuckle

4430 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by dillrod357, Apr 2, 2007

dillrod357

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2007

Does anyone know how hard it is to change the front axles. If you are sitting on my bike, it is the one on the left. It came out of the middle housing. I have never attempted any kind of work like this on my bike before. Is it fairly easy or should I take it to the mechanic. Also, should I go back with the Honda shafts. I was told by the honda shop that the 1/2 shaft will be $192 and the inboard knuckle will be $138. Plus labor. They said it will take like 2 hours. How does this sound?

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Sparkey

· #2 · Mar 31, 2007

QUOTE ("dillrod357")

Does anyone know how hard it is to change the front axles. If you are sitting on my bike, it is the one on the left. It came out of the middle housing. I have never attempted any kind of work like this on my bike before. Is it fairly easy or should I take it to the mechanic. Also, should I go back with the Honda shafts. I was told by the honda shop that the 1/2 shaft will be $192 and the inboard knuckle will be $138. Plus labor. They said it will take like 2 hours. How does this sound?

The Job itself is not too difficult if you have some basic tools and a little mechanical aptitude. I suggest getting a manual of some kind, or at least looking at some photo's. Pay attention to how the shaft comes apart. Also have some rags handy as this is a messy job. Keeping things as clean as possible is a big plus. be careful not to damage any threads on the axel or ball joints. They are soft iron and easy to mess up.

the joints usually have snap rings that hold things together.
Even if you have not done it before you should be able to do it in 2 hours or less if you have every thing you need before you start.

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justinwilliamskx

· #3 · Mar 31, 2007

when you say middel housing do you mean the diff
also this is a fairly easy job to do it but if you do have any questions feel free to ask what happened to you axle that you need a whole new one

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mudlord

· #4 · Mar 31, 2007

This is a fairly easy task, but getting the A Arm separated from the knuckle takes some finesse. This is by far the toughest part to changing out the axles. As far as the axle goes, I would have the Honda mechanic complete the axle assembly, and then you can simply slide the new axle into the diff and knuckle.

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dillrod357

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 31, 2007

justinwilliamskx

well about 4 months ago, I had put a 2" lift kit on my bike, front and back. At the exact same time, I went with new tires, from stock 25" tires to 27" Swamp lites. All of a sudden, after a few months of having the lift and tires on, the handle bar would jerk violently, at any speed. I took it into the shop and the mechanic said my cv joints were probably shot. After a day or two, he called me back and said there was a little wear on the shaft, but he said if you take the lift kit off of the front, it will probably be alright. So he took it off and sur enough it didn't jerk anymore. Now yesterday I was mud ridin, and I hit a bad hole, and boom... shaft comes out of the differential and no more 4 wheel drive.

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mudlord

· #6 · Mar 31, 2007

QUOTE ("dillrod357":280e7kdy)

justinwilliamskx

well about 4 months ago, I had put a 2" lift kit on my bike, front and back. At the exact same time, I went with new tires, from stock 25" tires to 27" Swamp lites. All of a sudden, after a few months of having the lift and tires on, the handle bar would jerk violently, at any speed. I took it into the shop and the mechanic said my cv joints were probably shot. After a day or two, he called me back and said there was a little wear on the shaft, but he said if you take the lift kit off of the front, it will probably be alright. So he took it off and sur enough it didn't jerk anymore. Now yesterday I was mud ridin, and I hit a bad hole, and boom... shaft comes out of the differential and no more 4 wheel drive.

I was riding one day and my 4wd stopped working, loaded her up on the trailer, took her home and washed it up, and then I noticed that the axle had pulled out of the diff. Basically all i did was make sure the splines were clean and greased and then pushed it back into the diff. Then I changed the diff oil just for safe measure and sure enough the diff was full of mud and muck. I have since installed a DGL and have not encountered this problem anymore.

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justinwilliamskx

· #7 · Mar 31, 2007

if it only pulled out you might not have to replace it just clean and reinstal
i know what you mean by the violent jerking hasd the same thing happend when i busted my cv joint till it entierly came apart and then it would ridelike normal except no 4wd i broke it with my 25s and a lift since then i rebuilt the joint wiht a gorilla hevy duty rebuild and ave had no problems wiht the 28s and the lift

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dillrod357

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 2, 2007

I stopped by a different Honda shop on Saturday, their mechanic said it was definetely messed up. He recommended going with the Gorilla axles. I noticed on their website, the price isn't much different, about $30.00 difference. If I change to Gorilla axles instead of factory, do I need to change both of them at the same time? What kind of special tools do you need to do this? Does anyone know of a website that I can get them cheaper?

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