I'm making this thread because my TSX is showing signs of shaking while accelerating around the 60mph mark. The recommended fix is to buy a new OEM axle and switch out the old with the new. The common location, from what all I have read, is the passenger side axle should be repaired first, as that seems to be the common source of the shaking.

Here is another thread about this issue...
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tsx-problems-fixes-128/shaking-vibration-only-when-accelerating-781497/
The intermediate shaft bearing could also be a concern, I have no sign of a leak in that area however, but after the repair if vibrations remain I will look into this.

I will be performing this repair in the near future and have been scouring the internet for any sort of tutorial.

Here is the best Video I have located so far...
Rebuilding CV Joints part one www .youtube.com/watch?v=LsytyVzokBg
Rebuilding CV Joints part two www .youtube.com/watch?v=KOma2BMhrzc

Heel Toe offers the necessary parts.
Inner Axle joint and boot kit - I think they might have a DIY video in the works.

DIY-Acurazine Guide! for axle replacement.
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tsx-2004-2008-124/diy-axle-replacement-675797/

Supposedly a technician can do this in 30 minutes.
Seems like a doable repair. Once I get all my hardware I'll document my experience with this.

 

Diagram of the Axle system
The part to replace is the Right, the cylinder cup on the end of the shaft (right middle of diagram).
# 2, part #7
http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...4sea01_b21.png

 

Good luck!

 

Will be very interested in how this turns out. I have the same issue. Except I also get it at around 20-30 mph now. It pretty much shakes during all accelerations below 60 mph.

 

How many miles do you have on the joints?

Why not verify the part is bad before replacing? $150 plus your time is a lot to invest just to hope that it fixes your problem. BTW, a whole new axle costs less than the kit mentioned here.

 

I would recommend this balljoint separator.

http://www.toolsource.com/12616-univ...-p-114387.html

Yeah this thing is pricey but I have tried others and they are junk. I bought one off of ebay and all of the grease in the boot came out. This thing is adjustable and works every time without damaging the boot and removing any grease. I borrow mine from my uncle but highly recommend it to anyone.

And repairing these things is not worth it. The amount of grease you are going to have on you isn't worth the $50 you will save over getting a new one.

And please do not go aftermarket. I've learned the hard way having to go through this 3 times on my mom's Accord. The first one wouldn't go into the transmission housing from Advance Auto and the second one from NAPA, went it and had just enough play that it seized in the hub and almost damaged the splines. I tried saving 66% of the cost from the Honda one and ended having to get it. The OEM one went in the first time no problem.

Take your time and review all of the material ahead of time and you should have no problem getting these in. Make sure you have someone to help you hold the hub while you remove and replace the axle so there is no stress on the upper control arm.

 

An OEM axle is $375, and aftermarket axles do not fix the problem, so the route SeaJay has chosen is indeed the most economical.

 

Thank you all for the feedback. I should be ordering the parts soon.

npolite:
do you think that tool is necessary if I will be changing the boot in the process?
Any required tools I just plan on renting from AutoZone. Any tool that just might make things easier I may skip on to try to keep things simple, despite needing a little more work.

As for the grease I got throw away towels all set with some orange cleaner for my hands.

Redpoint:
I have 121k miles on the axles. The shaking has happened within the last 12k miles. I've recently had an alignment and balance to the tires, which are less than 1 year old. I will be having another balance soon as well.

I enjoy projects like these so I'm not afraid of a little time and mess. If I find I can't actually do something I will stop, put it back together, and either buy a new part or have a pro do it.

 

I've had problems with using the cheap balljoint seperators. If you don't care about damaging the Tie rod boot or the lower balljoint go for it. You don't need to buy the one I mentioned but just in comparison the one that Honda recommends is over $200.

 

Found another video which actually shows the inner joint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...psh13WQ#t=556s

CV boot video
www .youtube.com/watch?v=-S-ofMoWsr0

 

So actually after watching ^ video, since that cup is the issue, would replacing just the cup be a solution?
OEM acura has that cup as ~$89.00.

Or is it still a good idea to replace the inner joint with new parts? I guess those bearings could be worn which is causing the cup to incur damage?

 

I don't believe that anyone is convinced that the problem is limited to just the socket. You're better off replacing the whole thing (cup and bearings).

 

That is my thinking as well. The socket and bearings look like they come as a set anyways.
Currently waiting to hear back from a parts dealer to check pricing.
The kit that Heel Toe offers looks great but I might be able to do it for $20-30 less from OEM online parts dealer.

I may still go with HT but that extra cash savings means I might be able to eat lunch while I work

 

I am about to do the same repair to my 2005 TSX 6MT so I'm very interested to see how it works out for you SeaJay. Also, regarding the ball joint tool, I've seen this technique in various videos that seems fairly foolproof and very simple.


Any reason not to just try this method?

 

I have seen this video too. You are welcome to try it as it does look stupid simple. I'd try this method over the "hit it with a large hammer" method.

The other way is to use a Pickle Fork and wedge it in there and beat on the fork with a hammer. This can damage the boot though.

What I will be doing is using the Ball Joint Separator tool. Autozone has a kit you can rent that has 2 or 3 kinds which should work.
I have an impact wrench I will be using but if you do not have one the method in the video is worth a shot.

The one thing to consider though, as the #1 problem of DIY is what if something goes wrong? I have read posts of people damaging parts, so if you can't get it to separate with a couple of kicks I'd stop and try a different method.

Parts are on their way so I hope to be able to do this soon. I have a 6 hour trip coming up that I hope to have this done before so I can enjoy smooth driving

 

So I have been reading into this issue quite a bit.
Out of curiosity what type of grease is in the HeelToe kit? (if you see this )

Of course any grease is better than no grease, but there are quite a few discussions about the use of Moly grease, to use and not to use, etc.
Seems that this issue is brought up fairly consistently between 80k-120k miles on the axles. It makes me wonder if there is simply not enough grease in the joint from the Dealer.

I expect to do the repair this Tuesday and to have my DIY up that night or the next day. Should be fun (and a tad messy).

 

Ask Marcus, at Heeltoe, I am sure he'll tell you what grease it is. When looking at the product, there is a tab labeled "Email a Question".

 

No need, my kit came in and it comes with a bottle of yellow grease
I believe it is a teflon grease.

So you can either buy the kit from HeelToe or grab the parts from a distributor. No additional parts were needed when I bought the boot kit and inner joint.

 

So how did the repair go?

 

Finally ordered and received my replacement inner CV joint kits from OEMACURAPARTS.com earlier this week. Total was $238.64 with 2-day shipping for both the left and right inner cv joint sets, and two boots sets. I also threw in a couple of extra set rings for $1.75 each just in case I had any trouble, lost one, etc. Also, they had a coupon code for 50% off shipping which saved me about $14.00. Both sets came with the yellow bottle of grease SeaJay mentioned above.

I planned to replace the passenger side yesterday, but I was defeated by an axle nut that was way over-torqued by the dealership when they worked on that axle a couple of years ago. I actually snapped the head off of my breaker bar trying to get it off, so I just swung by my local repair shop this morning and had them zip both sides off with an impact gun. Took the guy a solid minute of pounding on it with the impact gun to break the passenger side nut loose so I didn't feel so bad about my failure after seeing that. I gave them $10 for the trouble, and plan to complete the rest of the job tomorrow.

I should also mention I plan to replace the tranny fluid while I'm under the car, and I picked up 3 quarts of manual fluid from my local Acura shop from $12 each. Not a great price, but no worse than the various other fluids people recommend using such as the GM syncromesh. I've never had any issues with my tranny, so I didn't see a reason to not just stick with the Acura OEM stuff for now. I'll update with any issues after the fact and I'll try and snap some photos and provide an update next week once I'm finished, but I can't wait to experience smooth acceleration once again.

 

Hey Guys!

Let me just start by saying that this has been an interesting DIY.
The Joint replacement was a complete success.

BUT! There were some casualties. I successfully pulverized the glass on my phone, which had all the pictures I had taken. So while I wait for the new phone to come in so I can retrieve my pictures I'll just give everyone a quick run-down on how it went...

Because I totally screwed the process up

The joint itself really is very simple, and kind of of a neat piece of hardware.
Because the joint itself is being replaced removing the grease is pretty easy. The bearings all slide in pretty easily once you have rotated the cup piece around to where they all just slide in.Tools:
36mm 1/2 inch socket
24" 1/2 inch breaker bar
Boot kit - 44017-S3X-000
Inner Joint Kit - 44310-SDA-A60
17mm socket + wrench
pliers
jack stands + lift
C-Clip remover tool
Plastic/rubber hammer ([URL="http://www.sears.com/craftsman-12-oz-plastic-tip-hammer/p-00938292000P"link[/URL])
1/2 socket set (to use with the breaker bar)
3/4 socket set (for regular socket use)
Torque Wrench - I had a 150 pound adjustable one. (like this Wrench - Model: 1503MFRMHSS Drive Size: 1/2")
Cotter Pin
Assortment of other sockets, a vice, cleaning products


Now I didn't list an impact wrench, which would make life simpler, because mine stopped working, very sad.
Also I did rent a joint separator from Auto Zone, which turned out to be a joint press, which totally didn't work at all to get that lower joint out.

 

Using the biggest one I could, through a little trial and error, by propping the body of the wrench I got the lower ball joint to free itself. You can use the hammer method but I had a sleeping baby so wringing steel was not good for my health

Now here is where I made my mistake. Now you want to fully separate the ball joint and rest it gently beside where it sits normally.
I didn't do this so when I removed the fork nut I had all sorts of issues getting the axle out, realigning the fork, and getting all the bolts in. So don't do what I did and fully separate the joint BEFORE you do anything with the fork.

In the videos it shows people hammering on the axle to free it. I was lucky and mine easily pushed in with my finger, silky smooth.
If you do need to free it put the nut back on until it is flush with the end of the axle and then beat on the nut. You get a new one in the kit. This will help prevent you from putting force directly on the axle causing the metal to expand slightly, keeping its shape. Again I didn't need to do this as mine pressed in very easily.

To take out the axle I got underneath the car and placed a wrench on the joint and hammered the other end with my plastic hammer to push the joint free. I didn't care about marking the joint a little as I was fully replacing it. You could use anything though. Came free easily and quickly, no damage to the c-clip. I didn't use too much effort with the hammer.

Once the axle was free it makes life easier to prop it in a vice. Then use some wire cutters to take off the band and now you can either do what I did and dump the contents and grease into a bag, or cut the boot, and wipe everything down before taking it off.

 

So here is what everyone wants to know, and I have a picture of it, when I get my new phone.

There was about a 1/2" long by 2-3 mm wide series of scratches inside the joint.
In addition there was some marks along the rim of the joint which looked like someone had taken a grinder to. No idea if that was there originally or not.

I'll post that picture soon.

As far as difficulty goes, I rate it as moderate. The actual joint replacement on the Axle is very simple and easy to do.

What makes this DIY a moderate level of difficulty is removing the Axle and when things go wrong. It took some muscle, patience, and time for me to get everything back in.

Why I screwed up.
When I popped the lower ball joint I did not unseat it before pulling the screw on the fork. The lower section then did not drop low enough to get the fork out of the way and I could not unseat the ball joint.
So then I had to take off more stuff then you would normally need to do to clear everything and pull the fork, to finally have enough clearance to get the axle out. Getting everything back in took a lot of time to line the screws back up... time and muscle. Since I only had a very limited number of tools it made things very difficult. If you are not patient and mechanically minded it would be a point to throw in the towel and call a pro out, or someone with experience with suspension.
I was just very stubborn and had a lot of time to work with it.

Now I am VERY GLAD that I did this. No more vibration, and I really enjoyed the experience. There is some nifty hardware in our cars you don't normally get to see.

Here is the video I took notes from about puting the joint together.
http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=-S-ofMoWsr0

I hope to have this pictures up soon, and I'll need to take some more as I was only able to get half of the process before my phone took a hard fall.

Good luck, this is doable DIY and despite time it is still cheaper to do then buying a whole new axle!

A side note. Before when I braked I got a lot of vibration. I thought this due to warped rotors which I am planning on replacing.
After I made the repair I have almost zero brake shudder now.
I believe the two, vibration with acceleration and braking, to be related somehow. I got vibration with braking before accelerating, so this might be a sign that the joint has damage. Just my thoughts.

 

Great recap SeaJay. I'll add my two cents/lessons learned as well having completed the replacement of both passenger and driver side joints this weekend. Felt amazing driving to work today without any vibration and knowing I did it for hundreds if not thousand less than the dealer would have charged. I should also point out that I did my passenger side first, and the car felt much better but I still could sense a small shudder/vibration on my test drive. Once I completed the drivers side, it was completely smooth which tells me that both sides had a problem, with the passenger side being more prevalent. I mention this because some others have suggested that only the passenger side causes this issue, but in my case this was not accurate.

1. In case you're debating this, save yourself a ton of time and frustration and get a pair of C-clip pliers. I figured I'd make due without purchasing another new tool, and immediately regretted that decision. Probably added 45 minutes to the overall process screwing around removing and installing those clips without the right tool.

2. To remove the ball joint, I utilized the technique in the video I posted earlier in this thread and it worked perfectly the first time on both sides so I highly recommend trying it. I actually used the round handle of my Husky 1/2" breaker bar which fit perfectly in the gap once I jacked the wheel up. I simply released the jack quickly and it popped off no problem. I recommend using a jack stand if you have an extra one to support the hub assembly while you're working so you can maneuver it up or down if needed to get the axle out.

3. Removing the passenger side axle from the half-shaft was fairly easy, but the drivers side was much more difficult than I expected to separate from the transmission. There is very little room to work, and I was nervous about damaging the tranny housing by prying on it too hard. (I have a Manual so slightly different setup than the AT) Ultimately, the technique that proved successful was inserting the largest flathead screwdriver I had into the small gap between the joint and the tranny, and using a pair of large channel locks for leverage to twist the handle of my screwdriver which successfully separated the joint. Maybe a better pry bar would have solved the problem, but I spent a solid half hour on this part of the job alone before finally getting the joint off. Also, be careful because much more tranny fluid poured out when the joint finally separated than I expected and made a bit of a mess.

4. Re-assembly was very easy, but the one bonehead mistake I made on the first axle was not sliding the CV boot back onto the driveshaft before re-inserting the bearing assembly back onto the shaft and installing the c-clip. Because the assembly must be installed on the drive-shaft with a decent amount of force, its a challenge to get back off without just pounding on and damaging it. SO REMEMBER TO INSTALL THE CV BOOT FIRST!!

5. If you're replacement kit comes with the oem cv boot bands, they are slightly different than some others and require a special banding tool which I picked up on Amazon for like 12 bucks. I would recommend ordering an extra band because it can be slight tricky to get it really nice and tight the first time, and you really only have one shot once you bend the band over itself. This video shows what you need to do fairly well. Also, the oem bands did not have the side tabs to fold over as shown in this video which worried me at first, but the band holds just fine once you tighten, bend it over itself, then hammer it down flush.

6. It is recommended that you do not tighten the wishbone fork until the car is back on the ground to avoid stressing the bushing, but it's a huge pain to access the nut and bolt with the wheel on the car, and the car on the ground. I instead used my jack to raise the hub assembly up with the wheel off, and tightened it up that way. Unless you have access to a real lift, I would recommend this technique to save some time and frustration.

7. Replacing the tranny fluid was very simple and worth doing while underneath the car. I utilized the technique shared by others of purchasing some clear plastic tubing, attaching it to a funnel, and feeding it down from the engine bay into the fluid check hole/fill hole. A small warning is that because of the way I had my car jacked up and supported on a slight angle, when I removed the upper fill/check bolt, quite a bit of tranny fluid poured out on me which I wasn't expecting. I leveled my car before re-filling and it took just over 2 quarts of fluid which was perfect. My fluid was very dirty so very glad I took the time while I was under the car, and overall I felt it was an easier job than doing an oil change on the TSX given the terrible placement of the oil filter.

Overall I completely agree with SeaJay that this is a moderate difficulty job but I underestimated the overall time it would take me, which was ultimately about 6 hours including prep and clean-up, with the mistakes I mentioned above accounted for at least an extra hour. Very satisfying though, and clearly fixed the problem so I'm thrilled with the result.

 

MY phone just got here!!! well more like I was able to retrieve my pictures , but I hope all this info (albeit a bit cluttered) helps folks with this repair.
I'm also really surprised that this isn't a repair Acura is willing to do as a trained technician could probably do this fairly quickly.

Ok here is the joint with the damage. You can see the large scratch in the side.

 

Thanks guys for all the info. I just bought myself an 05 TSX and noticed the vibration so I will be changing the CV joints soon!

 

I just got back from an oil change and the dealer noticed my inner passenger side cv boot is torn, cost: $279 but after reading the estimate it says they only are replacing the boot and bands!

I have had the vibration for years and it seems like the best fix to try is the HeelToe reccomended fix...

 

I thought the new OEM axles from Honda were like 500 buck a piece. Anyone has the price for these?

SeaJay, did you end up replacing the inner CV with the kit from Heeltoe? did you do it only on the right?

 

The kit from HeelToe and the part from the Delray Acura OEM Parts store I think are the same thing.

They both come with the joint, bearings, grease, c-clips, boot, and metal ties. All comes in one box.
I only chose the OEM store because it was cheaper. It is a small difference in price, so if you feel more comfortable buying from HeelToe go for it.

I replaced so far only the Inner Passenger (right) CV Joint.

Those metal strap ties are annoying as heck. The ones I got were just a solid band you bend over a clip. Had to pull that sucker super super tight.

If you can save the original band, I'd try that, it looks like it is easier to re-install to get the right tightness.

 

I am in the process of replacing my passenger axle and I can't seem to remove it from the differential case, I'm using Seajay's method (a wrench and hammer it out) but it doesn't want to move. Is there a trick to it? I've tried to just pull it but I guess I'm just not strong enough. Can I use PB blaster to hopefully loosen it a bit? Help please, my car is still in jack stands.

 

The problem may be a fouled snap ring. I had this happen one time on Acura TL and required lots of force to remove the axle end from differential. I had good results w/ a pry bar positioned on the axle shell and 3-lb hammer to hit end of pry bar. It's not used as a prying action but direct driving action. No way but more force to shear the snap ring, if it's fouled.

Sometimes rotating axle to a new position for prying or impact will help removal.

good luck

 

Thanks for the response, I will try again tomorrow. I just couldn't get enough leverage to give it a good whack wiith a regular hammer. How about my PB blaster idea? I know it helped quite a bit with loosening all the bolts I've removed so far.

 

You can spray PB Blaster, but it can't get to the interfering parts to provide lubrication. The axle male end is inside the differential and snap ring is near the end. Probably 4-5 inches from the interface where you are applying force.

There is also a special tool that fits behind the joint to allow a slap hammer to be used to apply impacts. Check briansmobile1 videos on youtube for some tips.

good luck

 

Axle replaced!!!!

I ended up using my jack handle and hammer and after 2 good whacks, that sucker finally broke loose. I put everything back and drove it around for a bit, and everything seems to be ok, however, the boot farthest away from the tire seems to have been deformed. Can't quite explain it, but it looks when I was putting the axle back, I may have squeezed it by mistake. I didn't notice it until I had already put everything in and did a short test drive. Is there a way to put the boot back in place? Will this cause an issue down the road if I leave it as is?

 

Hi guys, bringing this thread back.. I've been getting the shake/vibration on 65+mph since a year ago, and finally decide to tackle this problem. Maybe some of you guys have moved on to other cars but I still have my 06 TSX and still love this car to this day. So I've been doing research and found that the parts for the inner joint has increased over the years as Heeltoe said and he has a solution for us which are the Fastline inner joints. Did you guys have any experience with the Fastline inner joints?

I am looking at out OEM axles and they cost around $500+ each. BUT they also have the same part numbers with the RM at the end meaning Remanufactured. I am debating on if I should just get the OEM Reman vs doing the whole inner cv joint for $100 more. Seems like swapping out the axles will be easier , my only concern is if the OEM Reman use OEM parts to remanufacture them.