800 Reasons why you need to take your axles out and inspect the splines By hoser.. About a year ago my right transmission seal started leaking, I let it go for a wile because it was only leaking about a table spoon of oil in a week, after about 6 months it was leaking pretty good and I decided now would be the time to change the seal. I ordered the seal and read the service manual it all looked pretty simple to me, up to the part in the service manual where it says to pull on the inboard joint until it comes out of the transmission everything was going smooth until I actually pulled on the inboard joint. It wouldn't budge so I though maybe if I can get the left axle out I can use a punch to get the other side out, sure enough the left side came out without a lot of hassle. So after tapping on the right joint with a hammer and punch about 15 times it was clear to me that it was not going to come out without a fight. I gave up on on trying to get it out until it had a chance to soak over night in good old PB Blaster. PB Blaster Penetrating Catalyst is great stuff! The next night it only took a few taps to get the axle out, once they were out I noticed there was a lot of rust on the axle and final shaft splines, after cleaning them up with a wire brush removing all the rust I tried the fit into the final shaft, just like I thought loose! So I replaced the seals and applied a huge amount of Anti- Seize to the final shaft and Axle stubs, after getting them installed I could see movement in the stub shafts (up and down) so I figured after this year I would just buy new axles and a final shaft. If Honda would just have applied Anti-Seize to the splines at the factory I would Not be going through all of this! If you own a Pilot I would take the axles out right now and inspect the splines and Final shaft, and when you put it back together use a bunch of Anti-Seize on the splines! The last day wile riding at Land Between The Lakes I was riding on part of the Trail where there is a up hill section with a bunch of jumps, I was doing my usual WOT thing when all if the sudden it felt like I had a flat tire, after a few more jumps I found a good place to pull over, after some inspecting found that one of my axles was not turning and the left tire was getting all the power! Trust me when one of the axles does not get power you don't loose 50% traction you loose 90%, the rear left tire was spinning almost all the time on the way back to camp. After getting the Pilot home and clean I took the axles out and discovered that in fact the inner race of the inboard axle had broke and it was not the splines in the final shaft that stripped like I thought.So with axles in hand I took them back to Rockford Drive Line to see why they thought the inner race had failed and to inspect the other CV joints, they think the inner race might have not been heat treated right and were going to check the Rockwell hardness of the broken parts to see if that was the problem. I took off for home with the new parts needed to get me back up and running again, on that long drive home I decided now is the time to replace the axles and final shaft with all new parts I intended to replace them this winter any way and I have been wanting to use the final shaft and axles from the Pilot on a FL250 rear suspension project I have been thinking of doing. If your didn't already know I took my axles to Rockford Drive Line last winter so they could use my axles to develop rebuild kits for the Pilot axles. Click here for the details of that trip. When I got home I called Hillside Honda and ordered 2 axles, final shaft, Center gasket and all the seals for the transmission. After taking my transmission out and getting it all apart Joe from Hillside called me and said we have everything but the final shaft and the final shaft would not be in until December 18th.
I figured I would wait until the new axles get here and see how they fit into the old final shaft and make the decision if I should use the new axles until I get the final shaft or just go with all old stuff. When the new axles came in the first thing I did was try them in the final shaft, they actually fit tighter than I thought and after looking close to the final shaft splines discovered they are worn less than the axles (harder steel?) and were rusted much less ,so I will install the new one until the final shaft gets here and then pull the transmission out and apart again and install the new final shaft.
Here they are 2 axles 3 seals and the center case gasket (not in picture) the final shaft is still on the slow boat from Japan :-( The cost for the above parts $764.98 and that is not including the $86.28 for the final shaft. If that is not a reason to get off the couch and take your axles out I don't know what is :-) Their is a lot of life left in the splines and I probably could have got another few years out of them but I am looking for another 10 years of reliable service out of my Pilot. I will be writing another article giving some tips on how to get a real stubborn axle out. Update I started writing the stubborn axle removal, it is not done but better than nothing. (11-12-00) Update Pilot Axle Stub Removal (3-27-04) Also see CV Removal
UPDATE Pilot Stub Axle Seal Something Honda should have done to keep the elements out. (3-28-04)
Update 12-28-00 Called to see where my new final shaft is since it was going to be at Hillside on 12-18-00 they said it was discontinued grrrr here we go again, there are 4 total on order with no delivery date set look like I will be in for a long wait if Honda makes them at all, so I will be using my old final shaft until the new one arrives :-( Update: 1-18-01 my new final shaft arrived today! I only received one and the 2nd must still be on back order. Total cost including shipping $92.26
Glad Honda was able to make me another one I bet if I took this into a machine shop they would charge 400.00-500.00 to replicate one of these, Thanks Honda! Update 4-18-05 There is 2 different sizes of clips that go on the end of your axle (stub shaft that enters the trans) one is 44319-HEO-000 This ring is made from 2mm wire. 44319-611 -010 1.6 mm wire I would order both they dont cost that much. More comments on the clips can be found here on the msg board