I'm currently doing an engine swap on my 2013 Honda fit sport automatic. I have run well out of patience here and I must be missing something. I was able to remove the drivers side axle in roughly 5 minutes. " So you have a rough idea of my mechanical skill" the passenger side axle will not separate from the intermediate shaft. Am I missing some hidden procedure other then pry it out? I spent over an hour with a friend, several prybars, mallets, locking pliers, and many many obscenities lmao please help

 

We needed a slide hammer to release the driver side shady in my brother's girlfriends Focus. Rent it from most auto parts places.

 

For pulling it with a slide hammer damage it underneath the boots? I used to own a slide hammer but sold it about a year ago. I've never used a slide hammer to pull an axle. I talked to a mechanic this morning he said I should pull the intermediate shaft with the drive shaft. Hopefully the intermediate shaft will separate from the transmission . If not I fear I'm going to be very low on options

 

This video will help. It's a b*tch to find stuff in it by pausing, but it'll provide visual.
on my terrible, never finished clutch removal thread.

To get the axels out I just had to pry in the right spot. Which I failed to do, and wound up pulling the bearing outta one, driving 1.5hours to summit to pick up redline's cv2 axel bearing grease, getting a ticket for running a stop sign at 50mph, to come home to wipe off all the grease with half a roll of shop towels.. screw it, might as well do the other one too.

After reassembly I did find where to pry.. and was mad I didn't pay closer attention to the video. But I've long forgotten where that was due to following frustrations. I will also say that there's a bolt on the transmission that's horrible to get off. It's on the back, engine side of the transmission in a super obnoxious, near impossible to see spot. uh.. ripped an ABS wire and cracked a sensor when the tranny rolled off my legs.. just a mess. Hope yer job is going better.

 

I know exactly the bolt you're talkin about and that is why I am pulling the engine and transmission together. That is the only bolt we cannot see or feel but we know it's there from the donor engine. Honda really screwed people over who try and work on their cars by themselves. My 92 Civic I would have had that motor out in hours ,it's been days. I ran the ABS sensors through the inner fender Wells because I could not get them off of the hubs.

 

​​​​​​Yeah I just.. forgot to unhook one side of the ABS. I had a neighbor helpin and got distracted.
As for that bolt, there was a way. Had to take off a tiny heat shield thats shaped kinda like a cup holder.. Then I used 24 inches of extension and a wobble on my big cobalt impact I was not professional. Had to hold it in the wheel well.
​​​
I love this car, but my experience was maddening. But I do love this car.

 

Oh I love the car as well. I've owned mine for three years and put 55000 miles on it. Has never missed a beat until the engine just up and died. not quite sure if I will go through this effort again if it blows a second time though. I can't imagine reliving this experience for this car.

 

okay so it turns out you can actually get to that bolt but I still couldn't separate the engine and transmission and had to pull them together. I found out you can rent a tool at AutoZone called an axle popper that is supposed to help you remove drive shafts from transmissions. It was like two giant tuning forks one was flat and one was set up like a pickle fork. They did not help at all so I ended up pulling the intermediate shaft with the drive shaft.

 

Did'ja watch that clutch removal video? Not insinuating you're an amateur by any means, it's just that the guy in there shows *everything* to get the tranny off and out the vehicle. It's a total boar.. but it's worth it! Can see where he pries and with what.

 

945 seconds in. The video for zenit is for a manual transmission vehicle. My Honda fit is an automatic so my wife can drive it too " trust me I wanted the 5 speed" . The axles are not the same in the manual transmission cars as in the automatic ones. Trust me if they were anything like that they would have been out in minutes. On the passenger side it is not a direct drive shaft, it is an intermediate shaft that leads to a brace on the rear side of the automatic transmission. Inside of this brace the intermediate shaft couples to the drive shaft. this is the only place you can physically pry for the intermediate shaft is just a round rod going into the transmission. so my axle popper tools were worthless because even outside of the car I cannot separate the intermediate shaft from the drive shaft. I am very grateful for the video though any help in this endeavor is greatly appreciated.

 

I had to pull my on a 2011 Sport to replace the wheel bearing which was fine before replacing it by the way. Mine came right out without a problem. No pry bar was required. Getting the shaft back in was more of a challenge. It didn't seem to want to line up but I prevailed in the end. Why is yours stuck? I didn't check but you may live up north in the rust belt. That may explain everything! Best of luck Clay

 

The car is from Pennsylvania but I can't really see any rust on it. I actually had to disassemble it because we pulled so hard we pulled the little bearings off of the drive shaft. She came out in one piece and went back in and one piece. No real corrosion and call the plastic covers were still in place. I really wish the engine I just installedwas as clean as the one I took out.

 

The 2011 must be different than your model. Mine came right out without a problem. Glad to hear you're on top of it. Best of luck. Clay