i was trying to take all neccessary precautions with supports the area so the axle wouldnt pop but it did!!! the littlest pull popped it out i think being that its not meeting up with the strut where the 3/4 bolts and nuts are.....what are my steps now?...i already completed the rear left and right and now im on the front left (drivers side) can some one please point me in the right direction here? im installing eibach sportline springs

 

no clues yet guys.....this sux so much i wish this on no one....been trying to spin it and push it back in but no dice.... Do i have to cut open that boot? or am i going to have to buy a 32 mm socket and dissasemble the whole setup?

 

#1 DO NOT PANIC, IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! YOU CAN DO IT!
I know it is tight in there, but.....
The transmission end of the axle is now sitting inside the axle boot, so with one hand slightly lift up the shaft while with the other push in and rotate hub up to 120 degrees. Why 120? Because it is a three prong joint inside. Do not use hammers or hard force to push it in because you can damage 3 bearings that are at the end of each prong of the joint.
Do this with car in 1st gear or reverse on manual, or park if it is auto.
Be patient! If you have a friend supporting the shaft you can use both hands to slowly turn the hub and apply pressure to pop it back in.
Patience is the key!
Once it pops back in, you will notice that popping out of the shaft moved the small end of the booth (closest to transmission) out of it's grove on the shaft. You need to pull it back in the grove. If you do not, joint might cut the boot from the inside and eventually split the booth!'
Lubricate the shaft from the booth to the grove with grease, WD-40 or even engine oil! With thick gloves on (not rubber gloves, but construction or "Mechanix" bury your fingers just behind the clamp and pull toward the groove (toward yourself). It is hard, but it can be done. Reason I am advising heavy gloves is so you do not make a cut on the booth with your nails! Even a smallest scar can cause premature tear of the booth. I know you will be tempted, but do not use use any kind of pliers and a rag to do it! Pliers are sharp and will find a way to damage the booth! Murphy's law!

I popped it out myself when I was changing my springs! Fortunately years of working as mechanic as a teenager and replacing ton of axle booths paid off! Beside my Fit I also changed springs on Tool's Fit. On his with use of straps axle never popped out!

Tip for the prevention: instead of jack stands or jacks supporting the hub, use rubber cargo straps with metal hooks at each end! Run it in between studs on the hub and sub frame. The amount of stretch strap gives you is enough to swing the damper out without popping axle out! On left side turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, on the right side all the way to the right. It will give you more clearance to slide damper out of the hub support sideways without having to move hub too far out and pop the axle out!
Also, cover the rubber booth just below the damper with a thick rag or plastic! Some of you might get caught by the weight of the damper and spring assembly due to arm fatigue from getting to that point. Damper can easily slide down and cut the booth before you can even blink! It happens even to most experienced mechanics. It takes just a small attention span lapse to occur! That good deal on spring price can get very expensive if you tear the booth and have to replace it!
Good luck! Be patient and you can do it no problem!

Ivan

 

Cut/remove clamp from the large side of the booth right by the transmission! Pop the booth off of it to expose the joint (rubber gloves on!), slide the joint inside the hub, pop the booth back on the hub and replace clamp with a new one!
They are maybe $3 at the local car parts store. Take your old one to the store and match them on the spot for the size!

This is the last case scenario, but I still think that you can pop it back in with some patience and friend elevating and lining up the axle shaft with the hub on the tranny!

Ivan

 

Just helping out here-
ciburri's "booth" = boot. No disrespect to ciburri- he didn't grow up here, and his English is better than my Croatian.

 

None taken Dave! Thanks for correcting me! There is only so much spell checker can do for me!
Did I tell you a funny story when a the best looking and most popular girl asked me for a "gum" in my first semester in High School in US? I handed her an eraser! The entire class including a professor went!!! Hey I got a last laugh! I got a relationship out of it to every man's envy!

In Croatia, we call an eraser a "gum" and chewing gum is a "chewing gum" or a "bubble gum"translated directly!

 

And to tie everything together, there are "gumboots", the name for rubber boots in South Africa. Pure rubber is known as "gum rubber", and high quality drafting erasers (gum erasers) are made of gum rubber.

 

I'd heard something similar, but the european kid went to the front of the class and asked the teacher for a rubber. (eraser)

 

Great post ciburri ! You get a rep from me! +1

I love any how to or help post that starts with "DON'T PANIC"
and it wasnt even sarcastic

Very helpful post buddy...
.... hope it works out!

 

Oh, man I did not know that made it into public, too!
Just kidding Jeff! Not that I was not tempted! There was this seriously good looking young professor, recent grad from U.... (+- a dot, to confuse things some more!) at the time. I will stop right here!

Snap Fit, thanks for the points. I appreciate it.
Just trying to prevent others from making the same mistake I did. It has been a long time since I worked on cars for living, but some good tips and tricks are just to valuable not to share.
I keep my mouth shut on subjects I might know something, but are not my expertise. On those I am all ears, or in here, eyes!

Espo79 and I ended up talking over the phone. He choose the last resort option. It worked, he just needs to "button it up" with a new clamp.

Ivan

 

Alright to update everyone on my install.........Well first off i want to say a major THANKS to ciburri!!!!! this guy is an absolute life saver man.....from the quick response to putting his number out there and actually walking me through the right steps ON THE PHONE!! all i can say is THANK YOU. If not for this guy i would be in the dark still right now staring at the wheel hub lolol and wondering whose gonna drive me to work tommorrow!!!

So after extensive work on getting the axle back in i had to eventually pull the boot back and slip in the three bearings. i took ciburris advice and went and got a clamp and clamped the boot back on too..proceeded to the passenger side and knew what to expect so did what i had to do. ( ciburri mentioned turing the steering wheel all the way to the right to do the passenger side and this helped relieve tension and i was able to get the strut off without making the same mistake and popping the axle out)
So now the car is lowered and looks and feels great...looks really nice i have to measure and make sure im even on all sides..Is it possible to be uneven for the first couple of days till they settle? pics but its too late to do all that now....
Also want to mention that i got my eibach sportlines from tirerack.com i ordered these on monday at about 4-5pm and they arrived today at 11:30 am. $205 w shipping and the guy Dallas (ext. 267) even sent me a bunch of eibach stickers to go with it...highly recommended

 

oh yeah once i upload the pics i suggest we get an overall write up diy combining the other Spring install threads with ciburris advice from this thread for future fit freaks....

 

You are very welcome man, glad it worked out!

Yes, it will take a day or two for things to settle down. I even had some clunking noise going over speed bumps (rapid unloading and loading of rear springs) with my Eibach Pro's for couple of days.
I agree with going Tire Rack way if you are going with Eibach's! I did it too!
Most affordable price, fastest service, UPS tracking number, no tax = winner ! You just can't go wrong.

 

Fantastic to hear!
congrats!

 

step one is obviously jacking up the car and removing the tire. I started on the rear driver side tire:


here is a shot from the back(above).
This is the 14mm bolt you have to unscrew to slip the shock off. After unscrewing i had to pop it out. In the pic below you can see how i used a jack for support which helped me get it out...

This is what it looks like once popped off and stock spring is taken out. (below)Just apply some elbow grease to push down and pull out the assembly.


always look at the difference it makes it even more worth the money!!!

make sure you put the rubber pieces on the new spring and put them back in the way you took them out.


put the bolt back in and tighten!!!


shes beautiful mang




Now take a break and hope that when you do the front you dont go into a panic and start making new threads like the one that this thread is titled hahahah!!!

Not too many pics here but to give you the jist of it:::


thats it hahahah no really im not gonna go into detail as its all in the skunk2 diy . Im mainly posting this so someone can combine all the diy lowering into one thread with all a bunch of pics and instructions from all ...Hope this helps!!!!!!!!oh yeah ciburri rules hahahahah

 

MODERATORS

Suggestion: please make this thread a sticky. It might prevent ciburri from having to refer the next 20 or 50 people to the same good solution to a growing problem.

Thank you.

 

Thank you guys so much for the help. The write up was great! I replaced the springs again on my girlfriends fit yesterday and had a HUGE holdup. I was doing the drivers side and the axle fell apart. I tried and tried and tried to slip it back in but I had to cut the boot clamp off. I have to get a better clamp now because the ones from advanced auto parts are super hard to get on due there being no room to move your hands around in the small hole.

When I replaced the spring the first time the only problem I had was that the axles both fell out of the transmission. I tired to prevent the same thing from happening this time. Never expected the axle to fall apart.

And the new SKUNK2s are Great. Had Megan racing on there before and they were terrible! All the paint had fallen off and they were just rust. Never buying anything from them again.

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP GUYS!

 

this happened to my friends fit today.. been working on it for like an hour and a half.. we got it in twice, but then when trying to put the strut back on it came off again.. me and him are both really pissed off by now and about ready to give up.. i don't know if something else is wrong now or what.. we took the boot off and fixed the bearings, then put it back on. now we keep trying to get it on.. it will sort of "pop" in, and the hub gets harder to spin, but we can never get it in all the way..

any other pointers because this is getting really old and we are getting really pissed off. we are taking a break now and going at it again in like 20 mins

 

I hate to bring up an old thread but I found this very informative. Does anyone have a how to with pictures for doing the front springs? A step by step for how to change the front springs without popping out the axle would be awesome.

 

Finally got around to making this thread a sticky.