First noticed a small vibration last November.

Sensation was similar to tyres losing traction on a greasy road. The problem never got any worse since and I had been planning on getting them swapped over when I got round to fitting new suspension/HS spacers.

However, this morning I was out and about enjoying the weather - no change in the minor vibrations. Got home, regreased the front offside caliper sliders and washed the car. Set off for a jaunt and as soon as I gave it some real beans the car started to shake quite violently. Eased off the accelerator and the vibration subsided. Reapplied gas and there it was again.

Felt like driving over small cobbles.

Been trawling through the search feature and found a couple of articles detailing the swap over, but I think this may be out of my league. I've more enthusiasm than skill and the extent of my tools is a 90% complete halfords socket set.

Having rotated the rear wheels whilst in first gear and neutral, both at the wheels and via the half shafts, there is no play there.

However, my drive shaft has play at the gearbox end. Maybe a couple of mil. If I jiggle the drive shaft or wheels rotationally, there is a little clunking.

Is this the cause of my shakes?

Is the drive shaft gone? Or can I tighten it somehow? Seems to be Alan key bolts here.

Please advise.

Thanks.

 

I think lots of people with that condition needed their axles swapped or replaced. Your driveshaft is fine, don't mess with it. When you do the axles re-torque the axle nuts to 220 ft lbs and all should be good. If you can't do the work have a auto repair shop do it for you.

 

Should I have the whole axles swapped J, or just the buckets?

What would be the time factor on this at a good Honda specialist? Just thinking of costs

Thanks.

 

cheapest way is to swap the buckets like you see on the DIY posts on this site, no benefit in buying new parts. If you go to a dealer they will try to sell you new axles but swapping the cups is a better way to go. I'd say find a good repair shop in your area that has a good reputation working on Hondas , go in there and ask them to swap the cups with new grease. Give them the new torque spec on the axle nuts at 220 ft lbs, in case they try to refer to an older shop manual which may list it incorrectly at 180 ft lbs. Don't know about costs in your region but it should be under $300, figuring 3 hours labour cost and a bit of grease and bands.

 

Thanks J

 

Stopped my vibration immediately when I swapped my CV buckets. I did it myself having never done it before by just following the DIY found here. If you have doubts about your ability to do it, then see about having them done for you but I would encourage anyone with tools and skills to try it for themselves. Cheap and (relatively) easy fix.

 

can you just swap the whole axle from left to right or vice versa or is only the cv bucket that is able to be swapped?

 

^No, the axles are different lengths.

Don't bother trying to avoid removing the cups; it's easy, and the CV grease should really be changed. By the time you're getting bad vibrations, the pitting will be enough that the grease is several shades darker than normal from all the metal bits.

 

Remove axles, stand them both straight up (tie them somehow) undo band clamps with pliers (they lock and unlock super easy) and lift the buckets straight up.

This keeps the 3 bearings from falling off.

I can do the swap, once the axles are out, in about 1.5 minutes.

 

Or if you don’t have a ball joint remover, impact gun for the axel nuts etc and limited working space like me, just loosen up the diff mounts and pry (with a breaker bar) the axels apart from each side of the diff, you will have just enough room to clear the diff flange guide post ...if you loosen the diff enough from its mounts, then swap the cups and pack with grease where the axels hang, just be careful with the bearings as Billman said, especially since they will be hanging down, its a bit of a pita, but it works as an alternative if you don't have all the tools or space.