i was replacing a bottom ball joint boot and the axle accidently popped out of the transmission while trying to slip the ball joint stud out of the lower control arm. Scared as crap now. How the hell do i pop it back in? Do I have to take the whole nuckle apart?

I can't even put this back together to roll it out of the garage onto a tow truck to take to the dealer.

By the way, all I did was remove the pin and bolt for the lower ball joint and remove the bolt from the lower control arm and fork. maybe that is why the axle popped out.

 

I would think the best thing to do would be to remove the spindle nut holding the axle to the knuckle and put the axle back in the transmission. Not sure how hard it would be to remove that nut without an impact gun though. Is it too difficult to put it back in while it's still attached to everything?

 

well, i recruited by wife to push down on the lower control arm while i tried to pop it back in. i realized though that if it was truely out of the transmission that the spindle should be able to spin freely ... which it did not, so I'm not sure what that pop sound exactly was. So I managed to get the ball joint bolt back into the lower control arm and put it all back together.

BUT ... i can see the grove on the axle where the inner cv boot is suppose to sit and some greese just past that grove. Obviously something moved, i tried to pull that boot back over the grove but the damn thing wont move. I drove it around the block with nothing noticable. I hope it's okay like that, we'll see what happens at 70mph.

 

whoa! be careful. The axle should be able to pop right back in once it's out

 

Not sure what that pop sound was. Obviously the axle never popped out. Just not sure how the inner cv boot slipped off of the groove.

 

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. I know mine has popped out several times, from working on the car.. But never had an issue so far.. I Just rotate it until it slides back in. Not sure if it is "normal" for this to happen, but apparently I am not the only one. I checked ericthecar guy and in this video, there is a little clip at the end of this axle he is working on, that keeps the axle in place. So, I am not sure why mine came out so easily but this video is not a TL. So there may be a difference between the TL and an older Accord.. Mine seems to be "spring loaded".. but the one in this video, it looks like it sort of snaps in place.. So i do not know why mine is like that. Probably normal for the TL.. I definitely do not need a pry bar on my TL to pull out the axle like @6.38. @7:13 little clip holding it in..

 

I forgot this was the 2nd gen section. oh well.. oops.

 

The retaining clip should hold the axle in place, unless it's missing or really worn out. You should need a pry bar to remove it - it's not hard to remove or replace, but it shouldn't just fall out.

 

Mine just fell out and pretty sure that is normal. I just fit it back in its threaded slots and just tied it up to prevent it from falling back out until I was finished working.