Front hub removal

[Alun450]

I'm removing front suspension and was wondering if I can seperate hub from wishbones leaving ball joints intact. Looking at wishbones I'm thinking I can undo it at the top and bottom and just remove hub with ball joints still attached. I'll have disconnected trackrod ends with splitter but I'm hoping I can leave hubs alone. Is this possible
Thanks Alun

[WinstonWolf]

Should be, if you've got to undo the bottom shock mount it's a tt, best done in the vice...

[Alun450]

Winstonwolf, Bottom shock mount? Vice? I'm not getting you, I've got new GGP's and think they should come off quite easily, do you mean the hub nut holding wheel bearing 250 lbs pressure. I'm not replacing wheel bearings just wishbones and both upper and lower ball joints are pretty new so don't want to damage them.

[brett84]

what are your drop links like Alun? Have you got uprated ones or standard?

[Alun450]

My drop links looked original and rather tired, I'm going for standard ones Brett,,,,,, why mate?

[brett84]

just wondered if you were going to change over while doing the shocks mate. I went for some rose jointed ones after reading loads of peoples experience with them, all giving good feedback. Haven't been back on the road yet to see though

[WinstonWolf]

Alun450 said:

Winstonwolf, Bottom shock mount? Vice? I'm not getting you, I've got new GGP's and think they should come off quite easily, do you mean the hub nut holding wheel bearing 250 lbs pressure. I'm not replacing wheel bearings just wishbones and both upper and lower ball joints are pretty new so don't want to damage them.

The lower shock mount, all will become clear when you do it

If the GGP's have integral bushes it might not be so bad but aligning the shock, bolts and bushes on Protechs is a real arse. It's 12 spanner turns per revolution of the nut and it's usually rusty and secured with a nylock from memory.

[Alun450]

I'm going to be doing a few jobs before putting it back together Brett so let me know how it feels. The Civic ones are cheap enough to replace now and then and I'm after a nice cushioned ride, it really bugs me when the whole car shudders over bumps. I've got high rate springs and its excellent on track but can't stand it on the road so I'm getting some standard rate springs for road use.
To be honest I'm still in two minds, I'm starting to think if my shocks are softer I might need to get the anti roll bars harder, what I don't want is to much body roll so I might go for harder rubbers and maybe the better links. I might even try both to see if I can discern any real difference!

[WinstonWolf]

Oh yeah, forgot to say, you'll need to accurately preserve your camber settings, but you probably know this anyway

[Alun450]

I'm going to replace top wishbones so I'll make a mark on the originals and line new ones up as best I can. Same with toe then take it to have a geo set up.
Winston that's sounds bad, I'm paranoid now lol. Its the first thing I'llook at in the morning.

[WinstonWolf]

Plenty of penetrating oil in advance and a Dremmel brass brush on the exposed threads if you've got one. It takes an inordinate amount of time for one bolt as you have to keep moving your spanner. Anyway, now you have heard how bad it is it'll probably go smoothly

[Alun450]

I'm just remembering what it was like getting the old shocks off now, o/s was a right bd, ( lower bolt) !!!!
When I put the new shocks on I sprayed the bolt ends with White grease so I'm just hoping it'll pull apart ok, famous last words!
I reckon if I pull the car apart every few years I can keep all the bolts in a workable state. Things I've freed in the past now take a few moments to undo, very satisfying.