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Honda CR-V Drive Shaft
U-joint Replacement

by Eddie Carrara

Honda CR-V drive shaft u-joint replacement should be a straight forward job, but unfortunately it's not on a Honda CR-V, in fact, it's impossible without changing the drive shaft yoke. But there is an alternative, and it is much easier then replacing the u-joint.

My son drives a 2001 Honda CR-V, and the u-joint started to squeak. After evaluating the damage, I realized the u-joint needed to be replaced, so I ordered 2 Doorman U-joints from Amazon. They were cheap, and looked easy enough to replace. I wanted to replace the whole driveshaft, but even with my discount from working at a Honda dealership, the new OEM drive shaft would cost around $800.

Once I had the old Honda CR-V drive shaft u-joint removed, I cleaned up the yolk to expose the groove where the c-clip would sit, but there is no groove. On closer examination, the Honda u-joint is staked onto the yolk. Even if I were to clean up the old steaks, it would be almost impossible to re steak the new u-joint without a special tool. At this point, it was time for plan B.

Honda CR-V Drive Shaft U-joint
Replacement pictures

As you can see by the pictures, I had cleaned everything up pretty good, I thought they would be a piece of cake to replace, I had replaced them on other vehicles, and found them not difficult to replace, but they are a bit time consuming because you need to take your time and be sure everything goes back together smoothly.

For whatever reason, Honda did not want you to replace these u-joints, even with all my creative thinking, my only options were to either replace the complete drive shaft, or bring it to a drive shaft specialist and have the yolks replaced, and that was not an option for me. I was running out of time with winter closing in, so I didn't want to gamble with a drive shaft specialist.

Honda CR-V Drive Shaft U-joint
Replacement Video

Where to find an Inexpensive Replacement
CR-V Drive Shaft

You could go to the Honda Dealership and by and OEM drive shaft, but you will spend about $800. I happen to find one on Amazon for a lot less, about $335, but be careful on Amazon, if you place anything in your shopping cart and it's left there for any length of time, the price seem to go up each day you don't purchase the item, so if you find what you're looking for on Amazon, don't place it in your cart until you're ready to buy.