Wow, sorry for the DIWhy. It seems to me that the order in which thing should have been done weren't followed. Which then makes things ten times harder. I felt that way when I replaced my front right wheel bearing. At first, I had delusions of grandeur. I was going to replace both front wheel bearings. But, did get the right front wheel bearing replaced. Took me quite a bit longer than I expected. And many times I had just thought of buying a new knuckle (and everything else) and replacing the whole thing. Rust welded together made the work near impossible. The wife nagging me didn't help my mood. But somehow I managed. I got lucky.

Looking at the pictures, I do not see how you got enough torque to release the brake caliper or to get the rotor off. Is the lower ball joint still attached? Do you have extra jacks? Maybe push the whole thing up a little so you can re-attach the hub to the strut? Or just take the whole knuckle out and put it in a press to push the CV axle out of the hub? If you bring it to a garage they should have a press?

Note: The hub has splines which the CV axle uses to turn the wheel. The easier way is to replace it but that is also the more expensive way. I wish you good luck.

 

Thanks. Rust welding makes everything tough. I still have to remove the caliper, rotor, and lower ball joint. The pictures are as it currently is, I wanted to get some opinions before attempting anything else. I tried to reattach it to the strut but the cv axle does not budge (I can bring the hub up halfway only) because of how it seems to have slipped out. bringing it to a garage seems like a good idea. I just hope all the forces here dont damage the splines.

 

I would start with disconnecting the abs sensor wire upstream, not at the hub as it will brake due to the rust.
You may have to pull and twist to get it to pop back together. Wedge a long screwdriver in tour wheel studs to turn the axle slightly.
May first thought was to man up and push it back together using straps, a jack, and pry bar.
When back together you need to beat, without damaging, the end of the shaft to dislodge it from the hub.

 

ugh. That looks painful.

Anyway, you’re probably done by now.

I probably would have done what rustybumper suggested. That is, get the CV joint popped back in and the knuckle back into the strut before trying to get the axle loose. Can’t imagine trying to get the ball joint apart with everything flopping around like that.

I’ve got a torn cv boot too. New axle is in my garage waiting for me to stop procrastinating. This thread is a good reminder to make sure the axle is loose before taking other things apart. I’ll probably separate the lower ball joint since I’m not doing the struts.

 

ugh. That looks painful.

I have replaced a cv axle. One on the driver's side and one on the passenger's side. But, not CRV. But, basically very similar. And it is important to do thing in the proper order. Taking the knuckle off the strut and having it flop around like that makes it difficult to remove the caliper. Nothing to hold the knuckle solid while trying to break the bolts out. So, it appears as if one just looked at stuff and thought this looks like a good thing to remove. Just makes things so much more difficult. This is where good Youtube videos help a lot.

So, enough about the proper order. What does one do to get this project back on track? If one can not put the knuckle back on the strut then maybe removing the axle off the transmission will allow the knuckle to move back in towards the strut? If not then the ball joint and outer tie rod end needs to be removed to get the knuckle out. Once out it can be put on a bench vise.

 

I always remove the lower arm from the lower ball joint, don't loosen those strut bolts less you wish to get an alignment. And to get the shaft out I use a powerful air hammer, and when reinstalling the new one either lots of grease on the spline or anti seize, never put them together dry. I had a bad one one time I tried big hammer even removed it and tried a 20 ton press, nothing would move it.
A friend used his air hammer and it came right out.

 

I managed to get the knuckle popped back in place and to the strut. Put the transmission in neutral and rotated the hub until it “clicked” physically. Then 10 mins of elbow grease got it back. credits to YouTube.

Going to get a rotary hammer tomorrow. If that doesn’t work it’s axle out with the knuckle.

when reinstalling the new one either lots of grease on the spline or anti seize

Do you grease on the spline to the hub or spline into the transmission/intermediate drive shaft?

The other question is, could the axle already have been compromised (although this disassembly likely did it no favors) because the boot has been torn for a while? Some clicks while turning and accelerating.

 

Clicking noises coming from a CV joint indicates a lack of lubrication. The clicking sound is metal rubbing / crunching agains metal inside the joint.

If I were doing this, I would replace the axle / CV joint. Here is a video showing how to do this, albeit on an Odyssey.

Here is another video doing the same job.

 

As per Avisitor, NO GREASE INTO THE TRANSMISSION. I coat the internal splines at the wheel, and the external splines that fit into the hub at the wheel. I use a small tooth brush size wire brush on the internal splines to clean as well as possible and also if reusing the CV shaft ones too, BEFORE applying the grease.

 

How about the splines that go into the intermediate drive shaft (on the passenger side)? I am planning to grease those.