Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's awesome! Congrats! We do the time & effort vs cost comparison as well. I fell more comfortable with home repair, so do most of that stuff myself. Without having a garage, I don't like working on the cars. Our Toyota is easy to fix, but the Nissan is ridiculous. I fell like they intentionally make everything hard on they car.

Yeah, I WISH I had a garage. I have to work on it the driveway.

Next house is definitely going to have a garage. Not just because it's easier, but I feel like my neighbors are judging me while I'm working. I mean, I COULD afford to pay the $1,800, but I just didn't WANT to.

12:46. Buying a house with a big garage was life-changing. I hated working in parking lots, and our old HOA would not let me work in our townhouse community's lot.

I now have a massive 2.5 car garage with 18 foot high ceilings. I'm considering installing a lift.

^^^ BALLER!!!! ^^^^

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you torque all of the bolts to spec, or just figure tight works? You said basic hand tools, you do know some stuff needs to be done to a certain pressure right?

The torque specs are all available online and in enthusiast forums. I use a Snap On adjustable torque wrench, but honestly, I don't think it's super critical. I've been working on stuff a long time, and I've found that torque specs on most bolts in the 12-14 mm range are all about 22-28 ft/lbs. the axle nut is like 177 ft/lbs. big difference! And it has to be staked, too.

12:46. What do you mean staked? I'm OCD about using torque specs, and about properly replacing bolts that are one-time use (like axle bolts). The threads deform when properly torqued and shouldn't be reused.

The hardest ones for me is when I have to use crows feet and perform torque calculations to convert listed specs.

The axle nut has a thin "ring" around it, on the side that faces out from the drive hub. There is a groove machined into the stub shaft that splines through the drive hub. The ring on the axle nut needs to be dimpled (staked) with a 1/8" flat chisel to keep the nut from loosening on the threads. You basically dent the ring on the nut to keep it from turning.


I used to be OCD about torque specs until I started noticing all the specs seemed to be the same for similar bolt sizes. Then I relaxed a bit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hope you kept it spotless (no dirt in there) and got all boots back on with no tears, clamps not too tight (can tear a new boot over time),,etc.

And IME OEM boots tend to be higher quality than some aftermarkets, don't want a tear and your CZv grease spewing everywhere.

No, I didn't do just the boots, I pulled the shafts out completely and replaced them completely. My old CV's were trashed. New boots weren't gonna cut it

So you replaced the whole thing as an assembly, with CV joints, CV boots, and the axles, right? Did you use remanufactured OE axles? I've heard a lot of nightmares about using chinese axles. Last time I did this, I wound up using new CV joints and boots, but reusing the axle. It added time and was super messy (my boots had ripped so there was grease everywhere.



If anyone is clamping boots, I recommend getting a boot clamp tool that has a built in torque limiter (to keep from over tightening the clamps).

All that said, I know people that have just used zip ties without issue.

In my case, the joint had not run dry, so I considered reusing my CV joints and just repacking them, but you can get quality European CV joints from brands like Meyle for pretty cheap these days.

I used axles from RockAuto. I think they're Timken. They were billed as "heavy duty", and were about 3mm larger diameter shafts then the OEM shafts. They were new manufacture, not rebuilds.


Car is a Subaru Crosstrek. 105,000 miles. I'm a little pissed the cv's are gone already, but judging by the talk on the web forums it's a common thing. Speculation is the higher ride height of the car compared to the Inprezza (which it's based on) is causing the axle joints to run at steeper angles and wear out faster. The boots never cracked and the axles never lost any lube, they just wore out and started clicking in turns while under load.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hold onto old cars for this reason Op..so much easier to fix and maintain. Dh can do brakes, oil, bulbs, filters, etc, but on the newer cars half of that stuff is linked to electronic sensors or impossible to get to.

12:46. Agree. My wife's Audi Q5 needs a VAG cable and Rosstech program to retract the rear parking brakes. Older cars you can do that manually.

My next car will be new, but a nice car with as few bells and whistles as possible. More stuff to break. I'll probably order it without a sunroof.

My DH has actually been researching this because he's so frustrated with the computer systems on our VW. It seems that Japanese cars are easy to work on. German cars are not because their mechanics unions are very strong there and they don't want people fixing their own cars. We're looking into a Honda or a Toyota. DH's Mazda is easy to work on too.

I like all the bells and whistles and getting a car without those doesn't mean it still won't need engine work, brake work, spark plugs, etc.

Anonymous wrote:pickle fork to pop the axle from the trany?
did you have to drain the tranny?
ball joint remover tool or sledge on the knuckle?
what car?

No, didn't need to. Just did the quick "push-pull" maneuver and they popped right out. Was expecting a huge fight to get them out but it was easy

Anonymous wrote:Did you have all the tools? Did you need to buy any new tools?

Very awesome of you to do this yourself. It's a great feeling!

Just a 32 mm 1/2 socket for the axle nut. Had everything else

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH did this too on my car. My car was really difficult to change the CV boot though, but I have a German car with a computer system that everyone whines about.

We save a ton on brakes and brake pads by doing them ourselves too.

Yeah, I save about $600 every time I do brakes. That ends up being twice a year, at least, because we have four vehicles in our family. I've probably saved in state tutuon for a couple semesters at UMCP just in brakes, lol.

12:46. Brakes are where all the money savings are found. That and simple engine work like MAF sensors, belts, thermostats, alternators, etc.

I don't even bother to change my own oil anymore, but I always do my brakes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's awesome! Congrats! We do the time & effort vs cost comparison as well. I fell more comfortable with home repair, so do most of that stuff myself. Without having a garage, I don't like working on the cars. Our Toyota is easy to fix, but the Nissan is ridiculous. I fell like they intentionally make everything hard on they car.

Yeah, I WISH I had a garage. I have to work on it the driveway.

Next house is definitely going to have a garage. Not just because it's easier, but I feel like my neighbors are judging me while I'm working. I mean, I COULD afford to pay the $1,800, but I just didn't WANT to.

12:46. Buying a house with a big garage was life-changing. I hated working in parking lots, and our old HOA would not let me work in our townhouse community's lot.

I now have a massive 2.5 car garage with 18 foot high ceilings. I'm considering installing a lift.

Anonymous wrote:We hold onto old cars for this reason Op..so much easier to fix and maintain. Dh can do brakes, oil, bulbs, filters, etc, but on the newer cars half of that stuff is linked to electronic sensors or impossible to get to.

12:46. Agree. My wife's Audi Q5 needs a VAG cable and Rosstech program to retract the rear parking brakes. Older cars you can do that manually.

My next car will be new, but a nice car with as few bells and whistles as possible. More stuff to break. I'll probably order it without a sunroof.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hold onto old cars for this reason Op..so much easier to fix and maintain. Dh can do brakes, oil, bulbs, filters, etc, but on the newer cars half of that stuff is linked to electronic sensors or impossible to get to.

The thing that most frustrated me last night was dealing with rusty/stuck bolts! I kept thinking "arrrgh, if this was a newer car, all this stuff would be SO much easier to take off!"... yeah, that was the hardest part. It's a 2013 car, and it gets driven in the winter, so there's quite a few sticky bolts that needed yelling at to come loose.

Poster above...ha, ha!
Dh "rates" the car work based on how many swear words he ends up muttering to himself.
I just stand by with the cold beer in hand for him

12:46. I hate the "dirtiest" jobs the most, because you'll be covered in grease for a week, your clothes are trashed, and it takes forever to clean your tools and work area. Plus my kids can easily track grease into the house. I dislike working on fuel lines and getting hit in the face with gasoline (have that happen once and you'll learn to wear a face shield, even when properly draining the lines).

I'm always nervous doing really intricate engine work where I can easily ruin an aluminum block, or can easily drop a small bolt somewhere it will ruin the whole car. You're also often operating in tight spaces.

Suspension work is generally the worst for stuck parts, as they get exposed to the element the most. Here in the DC area, we get to deal with salt exposure, which is not as much of a problem inland. The BMW I do most of my work on is 16 years old, so a lot of original parts are very corroded. It still runs great, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you male or female, OP?

Also, are you aware of the problems with low quality car parts from China?

I do my own brakes. I know how to do more, but the tools and time required make it challenging. Being a woman, I lack the upper body strength to loosen and lift some things. It’s frustrating.

OP here

I'm a guy. Sexual dimorphism definitely helps with grip strength, yeah. But if it's any consolation, you could probably run me into the ground. At 6' and 205lbs, I'm plenty strong, but I hate hate hate jogging.


Yeah, ChiCom replacement parts are a crapshoot. Some are fine, some are absolute junk. I try to get well known parts from NAPA or other reputable manufacturers, but even they source from China sometimes. OEM parts are even Chinese sometimes.


That's awesome that you do your own brakes! You're probably the only woman you know who does that I'd bet!

12:46. I order most of my stuff online, but around here, Olympus Auto parts has a good selection and most of the desk clerks are pretty friendly.

NP. We've actually gone straight to the dealership for parts for my VW. The dealership parts are better quality and not that much more expensive than the knock off parts, plus they're normally in stock.

12:46, yeah, sometimes the prices are competitive, sometimes not. I can never tell rhyme nor reason. A lot of times Olympus will carry the OE (original equipment) part, which is usually made by companies like Meyle, Lemfoerder, Febi, Bosch, etc. Sometimes they actually have an upgrade over the original design (a good example is E46 BMW control arms, which were underspecc'd). You always have more options online, but have to plan ahead.

I try to only buy from known European manufacturers (even if they produce some parts in Asia).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you male or female, OP?

Also, are you aware of the problems with low quality car parts from China?

I do my own brakes. I know how to do more, but the tools and time required make it challenging. Being a woman, I lack the upper body strength to loosen and lift some things. It’s frustrating.

OP here

I'm a guy. Sexual dimorphism definitely helps with grip strength, yeah. But if it's any consolation, you could probably run me into the ground. At 6' and 205lbs, I'm plenty strong, but I hate hate hate jogging.


Yeah, ChiCom replacement parts are a crapshoot. Some are fine, some are absolute junk. I try to get well known parts from NAPA or other reputable manufacturers, but even they source from China sometimes. OEM parts are even Chinese sometimes.


That's awesome that you do your own brakes! You're probably the only woman you know who does that I'd bet!

12:46. I order most of my stuff online, but around here, Olympus Auto parts has a good selection and most of the desk clerks are pretty friendly.

NP. We've actually gone straight to the dealership for parts for my VW. The dealership parts are better quality and not that much more expensive than the knock off parts, plus they're normally in stock.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH did this too on my car. My car was really difficult to change the CV boot though, but I have a German car with a computer system that everyone whines about.

We save a ton on brakes and brake pads by doing them ourselves too.

Do you both do it? Or just the DH?

12:46. My wife has no interest in helping, although she brings me cold drinks and checks in on me every few hours. It's a really dirty job that often results in scraped knuckles, etc.

I'm hoping my daughter and son will get interested in helping some day (they're young).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you male or female, OP?

Also, are you aware of the problems with low quality car parts from China?

I do my own brakes. I know how to do more, but the tools and time required make it challenging. Being a woman, I lack the upper body strength to loosen and lift some things. It’s frustrating.

I'm going to agree with this. DH is extremely strong (he's an athlete) and even he has trouble with loosening parts. He just installed some thermostat in my engine and he had the hardest time with it. We were quoted 2k for this thermostat and he got it done for $200. It was hard work though. I was hoping he wouldn't get it fixed and I'd buy a new car for myself. hah

12:46 here. I'd agree with the above. Even something as simple as a stuck rotor often requires some pretty heavy hammering with a dead blow mallet (please, don't use a sledge!). Not to mention the reaching at odd angles or producing power in confined spaces.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you male or female, OP?

Also, are you aware of the problems with low quality car parts from China?

I do my own brakes. I know how to do more, but the tools and time required make it challenging. Being a woman, I lack the upper body strength to loosen and lift some things. It’s frustrating.

OP here

I'm a guy. Sexual dimorphism definitely helps with grip strength, yeah. But if it's any consolation, you could probably run me into the ground. At 6' and 205lbs, I'm plenty strong, but I hate hate hate jogging.


Yeah, ChiCom replacement parts are a crapshoot. Some are fine, some are absolute junk. I try to get well known parts from NAPA or other reputable manufacturers, but even they source from China sometimes. OEM parts are even Chinese sometimes.


That's awesome that you do your own brakes! You're probably the only woman you know who does that I'd bet!

12:46. I order most of my stuff online, but around here, Olympus Auto parts has a good selection and most of the desk clerks are pretty friendly.