Creaks and Vibration
 

Started getting the popping noise when going from reverse to first and taking off again- this happened around 65k... Started getting vibrations around 80k, right after I swapped in a 4.57R diff- suspected the prop shaft might be out of balance, tried rotating and had no effect. Have 90k on it now.

Switched the right and the left sides of the inner driveshaft joints last night, smooth as butta now- it really is like having a new car. Replaced that duck poo they have in there with some semi-synthetic high temp grease- couldn't believe how runny the stock stuff was. Also put some grease on the splines and threads of the outside joints and torqued to 220ftlb.

HowTo - For some good pictures and more info, see: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=241367

Terms Used
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...2a01_b2030.gif

Axle Nut - 14
Inner Joint / Flange - Nuts / Bolts - 13 / 15
Steel band - 8
Cup - 5 (larger part)

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...3s2a01_b29.gif

Lower control arm - 12
Lower ball joint - 3
Castle nut - 28
Cotter pin - 34
ABS Sensor bolt - 32

Step 1: Pop the centercaps off your rear wheels, put the car in gear, and lock the ebrake. You'll see the axle nut, and you'll also notice that part of the nut is crushed into a groove in the axle itself to prevent it from backing off. You'll need to use a screw driver or chisel of some kind and hammer to bend the nut back to round. Grab a breaker bar or impact gun and a 36mm socket and remove the nut.

Step 2: Slide the floor jack under your differential and jack on the bottom part of the diff where the drain plug is located. Do not jack against the fins on the diff case. Put a jackstand on either side of the car on the rear jack points. Lower the jack and slide it back out. Remove the rear wheels from the car. 19mm.

Step 3: Find your lower ball joint nut (it's a castle nut with a cotter pin through it) remove the cotter pin and remove the nut. (19mm IIRC) You'll now put the puller on the ball joint (depending on which puller you got) and crank down on it (the puller) until the ball joint breaks loose. It WILL make a loud bang AND scare the shit out of you. As a precaution I'd reccomend threading the castle nut onto the ball joint to prevent it from popping really violently. Do this on both sides.

Step 4: Remove the bolt holding the ABS sensor in the spindle. 12mm? Remove ABS sensor from spindle.

Step 5: Remove bolts that hold inner joints to the diff flanges. (6 per side) They are 14mm. If you have a helper that can step on the brakes while you break the bolts loose it helps.

Step 6: Remove both axles. Mark one of the axles itself, and the "cup" itself on the same driveshaft. (I.e. I marked the driver side axle and cup with a D)

Step 7: Use a pair of pliers or vice grips to release the steel bands that hold the cv bot on. (The big ones only, you don't need to remove the smaller ones) Pull the joint apart and prepare for duck shit! Ideally you'll have some newspaper layed out already so as not to make a mess everywhere. Scoop out all the grease you can from both the boot and the "cup". Repack with synthetic or semi-synthetic grease that's made for high temperatures and more specifically cv or constant velocity joints. Switch the two cups so the one without a marking is with the marked shaft and vice versa. Pull boot back onto cup and use pliers or vice grips to reset the steel bands.

Step 8: Put a little bit of grease on the splines of the (outside) joints and some antisieze on the threads. Put the completed shafts back in the car. THEY ARE DIFFERENT LENGTHS, driver side (US) is the shorter of the two.

Step 9: Tighten the inner joint to diff flange nuts to 61ftlbs.

Step 10: Reseat lower ball joints in lower control arms and impact together... (I beleive torque to 50 something ftlbs? Insert cotter pin and bend the ends of the pin so it won't back out)

Step 11: Reinstall ABS sensors and sensor bolt. Torque to gutentight. I wouldn't go more than 20ftlbs

Step 12: Reinstall the rear wheels (19mm), jack car back up, remove jackstands, set it down. Thread the axle nuts back on by hand, hammer down with impact and then torque to 220ftlbs. Torque the rear wheels to 85ftlbs. Hammer the center caps back on and go enjoy the smooth ride.

First attempt at a how to, so go easy on me.

Yeah I really need to do that. I'm gettin the same vibrations and the popping noise right before i go to first after backing up anf a lil squeaking. I've just been lazy but I will get it dont this weekend especially after hearing another success story about how well it worked. Thks fo sharing.

congrats on the smooth as butta feeling again. I have the same problem it is so annoying. Did you do it yourself? Or did you have a mechanic do it for you. I dont know if it will be over my head or not. Any info you can give me would be great. If a mechanic did it how much did he charge

Did it myself, don't trust anyone else to touch the car unless absolutely necessary. (Alignment, for example)

I'd say it's a medium on the DIY scale... The worst part is finding the tool to pop the lower ball joints out of the lower control arms, everything else is really straight forward. Autozone does not rent the tool required (at least in my part of California) we were able to use a two jaw puller with good success.

Honda Puller looks like:
http://www.eskimo.com/~mikeg/S2000/t...mad_rabbit.jpg

I used:
http://imagehost.vendio.com/preview/...co/TRU2710.jpg

If you didn't install the diff yourself, then you're probably not ready for this. If you did, then it's not much more involved. Pop the axle nuts (behind the center cap of your wheels) loose while the car is on the ground with the wheels still on.

where in cali are you?

oh yeah billman said that you can use the same boots and straps is that true did you reuse those parts, and just ad new grease

I'm in Redding, CA-- you? The boots and straps are completely reusable. I cleaned out the grease from the boots / bearings / joints and packed in new grease.

Im in San Diego how far away is that from you

yeah I just looked it up your way away from me :cry:

Im doing this job soon.. Swap item #5 incase anyone was wondering http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/j...REAR+DRIVESHAFT