So I'm in the process of dropping my engine through the bottom. I was originally going to unbolt the compression arm and the control arm (I think thats what those 2 arms are called) and swing it out of the way to move the axles out of the hub. However, when I went to get that recall on my car, they welded the end of the bolt on the short black control arm therefore making it impossible for me to remove that. So instead i took off the nuts that connects the control arm and compression arm to the hub area. But I can't seem to separate that whole hub assembly from the arms. I hope you can understand what I'm tryin to say here. Thanks in advance

why not just take it out from the top?

Well, dropping it down and pulling it from the top doesnt really have anything to do with the problem here. But I kinda figured since I have access to a lift and everything and it seems like its just a straight down drop i'd just drop the engine and raise the car. My problem with the control arms has to deal with gettin the axles out so i can take the engine and transmission out together

Originally posted by frank1320
Well, dropping it down and pulling it from the top doesnt really have anything to do with the problem here. But I kinda figured since I have access to a lift and everything and it seems like its just a straight down drop i'd just drop the engine and raise the car. My problem with the control arms has to deal with gettin the axles out so i can take the engine and transmission out together

still take it out from the top, or buy a cut off wheel and cut the welds that they made....why the fuck would they do that anyhow is behond me

Well on alldata it says to pull it out from the top. On some other mechanics program it says to drop it down the bottom. Is there a way I can do this without cutting those welds? I mean can't I just remove the control arms from the hub assembly and swing it out so I can pull the axles out? I can't seem to separate them though. It's like the tie rod ball joint but I can't use the jack method of separating them like you can with the tie rod

I used to work in the garage at a dodge dealership, and the only time I ever saw the technicians drop one out the bottom was on a couple intrepids... BUT when they did they would drop the entire front end, axles, tranny, struts the whole front sub frame... don't know if that helps or not, just my experience

well I've taken mine out both ways on my eclipse. I think from the top is so much easier, if you have a lift its definately easier. Hell if you take the head off and as much misc stuff as you can, you dont need a lift to pull it out of the top. And to let you know, when I put my engine/tranny/axels back in. I didnt have to take anything off suspension wise. It was a pain in the ass, but it is possible. if you really want to do it from the bottom, I would go to autozone and rent a "pickle fork" its a balljoint seperater. It is like a big fork w/ two prongs. hammer the two prongs between what you want seperated and either use some muscle or put a pipe on the end to increase the torque on it, and step on the end... it will pop right off. But it would be so much easier man to take it out from the top. And if you have to take the control arm off, why not just take the other side off and that will give you enough play space to remove both of them. g'luck

Find CORBIN'S website. I'd link you to it, but I can't access it from work. He's got a write up for changing CV axles with pictures. If you can't find it, maybe this picture will help from when I was pulling the engine for the first time back in 2003 or whatever.

Well I was tryin to go by Corbin's writeup for axles. But the 2 bolts that connect the compression arm to the chassis is really stuck on. I used tons of pb blaster and an impact wrench and it wouldnt come off. Any ideas on that? The impact wrench was on full blast and the bolt wouldn't even budge. I managed to get 1 bolt out of each side but the other 2 bolts are really stuck. I used a perfectly fitting socket and I think even the bolt is starting to strip.

Originally posted by frank1320
Well I was tryin to go by Corbin's writeup for axles. But the 2 bolts that connect the compression arm to the chassis is really stuck on. I used tons of pb blaster and an impact wrench and it wouldnt come off. Any ideas on that? The impact wrench was on full blast and the bolt wouldn't even budge. I managed to get 1 bolt out of each side but the other 2 bolts are really stuck. I used a perfectly fitting socket and I think even the bolt is starting to strip.

Try working the impact wrench on the bolts, by tightening, then loosening, back and forth in that manner. Sometimes that can work the bolts loose. Usually when i find a stubborn bolt that doesnt break loose with an impact, i get out the oxy/act torch and heat up the bolt really hot. Then the impact busts it loose. You just dont want to force it, because you can break off the bolt, esp if you use a breaker bar.

you can try the old jack trick, but do it slowly.... make sure the socket is on the bolt firmly, no movement at all, the more points on the bolt the better. then jack the actual wrench up to loosen it, this is how I got my exhaust bolts off, worked like a charm... just took a while

Alright, thanks guys. I'll try out those little tricks the next time I get a chance to work on the car