Electric air inpact wrench does wonders..bought one two years ago at a garage sale..works wonders where other methods dont work..
Was only $25.00 at the garage sale...

WheelBrokerAng

 

Failed miserably today attempting to replace the rotors and pads on my 97 Accord. It was just one obstacle after another.

The axle nut is on there tight! Can't get to it with the wheel on since the wheel cover is secured with the lug nuts. I loosened the axle nut finally with a 5 ft long 1" pipe inserted over the handle of a 1/2" drive breaker bar while my wife applied the brakes.

Then the ball joints didn't separate easily. I had to use a fork type separator, which tore the boot on tie rod/steering knuckle ball joint.

Finally got all the ball joints apart and axle/CV joint off the knuckle, loosened the four hub assembly bolts and the hub/rotor would not come off. At that point it was late and I said forget it and put everything back together. I am going to pay someone else to do this job. I have never had to work this hard to try to change rotors; it was so simple on my 2004 Odyssey.

 

The setup is terrible on the 90-97 rotors.

 

thats for sure i finally got off and replaced thanks for all the helps guys. but after finishing the job drove the car for a week and have to take it all apart again my axel boot broke the other day fun fun gonna replace everything on both sides done #@*^ing with this stuff everything new is gonna be great cant wait now if only it wasnt freezing outside stupid winters

 

6-Speed:
You could have taken the lugs nuts and hub cap off and reinstalled the wheel alone. Pickle forks always destroy the boots and should only be used if you are going to replace the components you are using it on. When you are trying to break loose the component put the nut back on it and hit area that surrounds the ball stud of the component. Doing the tie rods or ball joints you hit the steering knuckle and hard. To finish your rotor job you need to take the steering knuckle to the machine shop with your replacement rotors, wheel bearing and some have a seal that goes with the bearings. They use a press to do the job.

 

Thanks for the advice Chris. The axle nut was the easiest obstacle to overcome ... using a 5 ft pipe on the end of a breaker bar. I wacked those ball joints at the fittings pretty hard with a sledge hammer - perhaps not hard enough though ... was afraid to break something. Tried pressing out with a 2 arm puller ... tried to hammer it out with a punch ... finally tried the pickle fork which worked but destroyed the boots. The Haynes book implied you could just remove the four bolts from behind the steering knuckle and the hub/rotor assy would just drop out ... that didn't happen. That's when I called it quits. Picking up a new tie rod end for $47, new castle nut and rubber boot for the lower ball joint, then I'm taking it to my favorite shop.

 

When should the wheel bearings be replaced on the 97 Accords? I have over 120K miles and debating whether it's a good idea to replace them.

 

When they begin to make noise.... don't fix it if they ain't broken.

 

I have a 99 Accord and can NOT get the rotor off. I took the 2 phillips screws out but didn NOT take the axle nut off. On a 99 do I need to take that freaking axle nut off?
thanks

 

Don't need to take off the axle nut. The rotor is probably stuck with corrosion.

Soak PBBlaster or Kroil or something like that around the outside of the round projection that goes into the wheel's center bore. And alongside the wheel studs.

Then look for 2 threaded holes & find a couple bolts to match (M6?). Grease them up good & put them into those hole to use a jacking-screws to drive the rotor off.

You're taking off #17 & leaving #3 behind.