Parts/Tools
New or Remanufactured Drive Axle
Socket Wrenches and sockets
Torque Wrench
Flat-head screwdriver
Pickle Fork (optional)
Pry Bar
32mm Spindle Nut Socket
Large Gear Puller

Instructions

Why does an axle break?
The axles in a front wheel drive car not only have to power the wheels but they also have to be able to flex since cars steer with the front wheels also. For this to work axles have things called Constant Velocity (CV) Joints which allow it to bend but still transfer power. And to keep these joints constantly lubricated and protected they are kepted inside rubber housings called Constant Velocity (CV) Boots. The boots are made of rubber and are filled with grease so they they can bend and hold the grease inside to lube the joints. Unfortunatly rubber doesn't hold up that well for long and sometimes these boots break down or are torn thus all the grease inside is lost and the joints are exposed to the elements. Water and snow and dirt gets inside the boots and rusts up the joints and will eventually cause the joints so seize so the axel can't move at all.

Replacing the axle
There are about two ways to approach this. In short one being removing the ball joint and separating the Knuckle from the LCA. That is well and good but I have learned that ball joints are very easily broken and won't always come apart without breaking, so I chose to stay away from them. The other choice is to unbolt the LCA, this takes a little more work but it's more risk free and easier if you ask me.

Now lets get started. First off all with the wheels still on and the car on the ground you will need to take a screwdriver and a rubber hammer and bang the screwdriver into the notch on the axle and pry up to unbend the spindle nut. Once that is off you will need a 32mm spindle nut socket and I use an 18'' breaker bar with a square alumnium bar as an extention (more leverage=easier) to remove the spindle nut, it helps if you have someone stand on the brakes while you do this (so the car doesn't roll). Once that is off you can take off the lug nuts and jack up the car and support it with jackstands and take off the wheel.

The next step is to remove the parts of the suspension to free the LCA. You do this by removing the bolts from the Strut Fork, one pinch bolt on the top and one nut and bolt on the bottom that attaches it to the LCA. Next you can remove the one bolt that holds the LCA to the chassis. Then the linkage that attaches the anti-sway bar to the LCA. Next the 2 bolts that hold the radius rod to the LCA. With all that off the knuckle should be free to maneuver around.

The next part is the step I had the most trouble with. The axle usually doesn't want to come out of the knuckle without a lot of trouble. I banged on it with a hammer and then tried pushing on it from behind and nothing worked. Then I was informed a large gear puller would work wonders. So I went to Sears and got a gear puller. With the brake rotor removed I then affixed the puller to the hub with the spike on the axle. I used my aluminum extention and grounded it by sticking it in the hole of the jackstand and then through the puller and between the wheel studs so they wouldn't rotate. A few cranks of the spike with my socket wrench and the axle popped right out.

Here is my technique I used to get out the axel, the metal bar helps keep the gear puller from spinning while you spin the spike...

Once the axle is free you can rotate the knuckle and pull the axle out of the knuckle. The next step is quite easy. You need to remove the axle from the transmission. Now for this to work smoothly you need to have either the car jacked up equal on both sides or only jacked up on the side you are removing the axle. All this is because the transmission is filled with fluid and popping out the axle makes a nice hole for the fluid to come out. Now if the car is even or up more on the axle's side you will have no problem, just don't have the axle side lower, but that shouldn't even happen since you need to jack up the car to get at all this stuff anyway, but just a warning. To remove the axle I used a Pickle Fork aka Ball Joint Separator aka Pitman Arm Separator. It's a tool that looks like a pitch fork with no middle spike. I just shoved it between the spot between the tranny and the axle and pulled outward and it popped out with no effort. Literally just one drop of fluid is all you will see. You can now go around to the wheel well and lift the axle straight out to remove it. Here is a picture of the tranny without an axle, as you can see there isn't fluid or anything pouring all over it.

The obvious next step is installation of the axle. Just stick it in as straight as you can and when its lined up jam it in as hard as you can. I could only get it in part way so I made it straight and banged the end with a rubber hammer and it clicked into place fine. Now twist the axle and fit it into the knuckle. You can then hand tighten the spindle nut onto it to make sure it doesn't come out. You can then do the reverse of the removal you did to all those suspension parts to get them back in, it's very simple. Make sure to use a manual for the Torque Specs and a Torque Wrench to tighten them all down. Make sure you don't forget anything.

With all that in place you will need to put the wheel on and lower the car, then use the Torque Wrench to torque down the spindle nut to 134ft-lbs. You will have to jack the car back up and then take off the wheel again. Then use a hammer and pry bar to smash down the nut where the notch is on the axle. Now you can put on the wheel and lower the car. Always torque the lug nuts to 80ft-lbs.

Here's how the Helms Manual says you can do it. They are wrong about the spindle nut though, it is 32mm, not 36mm...

Notes
I got the axle at the local auto parts store. Makes sure not to throw away your axle as many stores give you about 50% of your money back for a core charge when you bring the old one back.

All this could be done in under 2 hours as long as there are no problems but if you do it like I said and use the right tools it's no big deal.

*I got both axles out in about 45 minutes while doing my engine swap and I never took off the radius rods, so that is one less step you have to do, but if you can't shimmy them out than you can take out the radius rods.