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Installing New CV-Axles


Nick
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not sure about the auto hubs as i have manual, but just give the upper balljoint a good whack with a BFH, i've replaced a couple of them on the pathy, I ended up breaking most if not all bolt heads, just whack'er from the top and she should pop out.

 

 

I've whacked the hell out of it with a Really BFH and it just sorta dents the top bit of the ball joint where it pokes out a hole in the upper A-Arm.. We're talking New Hampshire salty road rust here...

 

still- hoping that the penetrating oil will work it's magic, then I'll give it a whack with the hammer.

 

BTW- what's the suspension on this this car- I don't see any coil springs anywhere.. Granted, I'm not looking at it right now, but it's a little alien to me.. Is the car sprung by torsion bars or something?

 

-Rusty

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I've whacked the hell out of it with a Really BFH and it just sorta dents the top bit of the ball joint where it pokes out a hole in the upper A-Arm.. We're talking New Hampshire salty road rust here...

 

still- hoping that the penetrating oil will work it's magic, then I'll give it a whack with the hammer.

 

BTW- what's the suspension on this this car- I don't see any coil springs anywhere.. Granted, I'm not looking at it right now, but it's a little alien to me.. Is the car sprung by torsion bars or something?

 

-Rusty

 

Yes, its torsion bar independent front suspension. I recently replaced a CV shaft, and my 94 truck started its life in Ohio, giving it an early birth to rust even though its been in Washington for a decade. I hope the penetrating oil works (PB Blaster?), and if not, perhaps you could heat the a-arm with a torch without touching the BJ. I definately wouldn't be hitting the ball joint itself with a hammer, however. That's gotta be bad new for the BJ. If you're worried about the price for a torch, I just picked up a basic propane torch kit from Walmart a bit ago for all of $13 or so. You can use it for lots of other stuff (heating, plumbing, burning stuff...). If it doesn't go at first, grab a BFH. Oil soak, wait, heat, try, oil soak, wait, heat try... It will break loose.

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  • 2 weeks later...

was able to successfully put on the new axle, but the splines don't seem to be out far enough for the hub. Without having to remove to from the main diff we've tryed knocking it inward alittle to try and get just alittle more of the splines to pop out. The snap ring is just barely unable to get back on, maybe 1/16 of an inch, the snap ring spot is visible, but space is very miniscul. Any ideas without having to remove the entire axle and trying again? Thanks

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Jack up the LCA a little, you should get some room that way.

 

well gave it abit of lift and didnt seem to budge, i can actually shift the shaft itself on the axle in and out for the splines, but doesn't seem to come out enough still, gonna go ahead and pull out the axle, check that spacer make sure no crud or anything got up in it, any potential feedback is welcome! :D

 

Thankls

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  • 11 months later...

Cheers for this, after taking the truck out for its shake down run up the coast, I discovered that both CV's up front are shot :headwall: . I am hoping the stealer will replace them under warranty/good will, but not getting my hopes up.

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  • 9 months later...

Wow, what a pain everything was a piece of cake until it came to pulling the A-frame off the ball joint. Pounded the @!*% out of it, damn thing wont budge. 3/4 bolts snapped as well. I can't believe this b.s. This truck likes to see me bleed...

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So, I have a question. I attempted to replace my CV Axle a few weeks ago but I couldn't get it done. I fought a number of tough bolts but was finally making forward progress when I got to this step from the instructions at the top of this thread:

 

"Carefully use a jack to lift and support the lower control arm, keeping an eye on the nearside jack stand to be safe. Unbolt the four bolts securing the upper A-Arm to the ball joint and wire it up out of the way too."

I was very slowly and carefully jacking up the control arm, watching the nearside jack stand just like it said, when the whole front end moved on me and scared me to death :omg:

My jack stands started moving and I thought I was going to lose it, and this was with only one wheel off the ground. I guess I'm just a coward, but it had been a long day with 3 trips to Checker to buy this socket and that tool .... I was tired of fighting it :headwall: . So I gently lowered it all back down, put it back together, and quit. At that point I figured I'd pay someone to install them for me, much as I hate to.

 

After thinking about it for a day or so, I realized the torsion bars were still under tension and I wondered if I should have loosened those first, and possibly unbolted the shock as well. I had re-indexed the T-bars about a month earlier. What are your thoughts on that? The instructions don't say to do this, but I'm wondering if it would help makes things easier.

 

Thanks!

Edited by bdaa86
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It won't help, the LCAs don't need to move to remove the CV axle. I think the positioning of your jacks is the problem. One jack on either side of the truck so the opposite side of the truck has support when you life the one wheel off the ground. Your rear wheels were chocked, right?

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It won't help, the LCAs don't need to move to remove the CV axle. I think the positioning of your jacks is the problem. One jack on either side of the truck so the opposite side of the truck has support when you life the one wheel off the ground. Your rear wheels were chocked, right?

 

Yes Kingman, I had both rear wheel's chocked tight. I was concerned about that.

 

So, by leaving three wheels down and jacking only one wheel up to work on, your saying that is a problem? I guess in my mind it seemed it would be more stable, but it still moved, which is what scared me. FWIW, I used two jack stands. One just behind the jack point behind the right front wheel, and one in front just inside of where the LCA attaches, if that makes any sense. I thought it would be stable. I am really trying to work safe here.

 

Also, are you saying I don't need to jack up the LCA per the instructions, to remove the CV?

 

Thanks!

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I'm going to be doing this soon. So am I correct to understand that I can ignore the instruction in the opening post to remove the disk brake caliper?

 

Any other steps in the opening post that I should consider doing differently?

 

Thanks!

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I'm going to be doing this soon. So am I correct to understand that I can ignore the instruction in the opening post to remove the disk brake caliper?

 

Any other steps in the opening post that I should consider doing differently?

 

Thanks!

Ya, brake caliper doesn't have to come off. I removed it on one side and left it on the other, and found that it was nice having it off but not necessary its, less crowded with it off and easy to remove. UCA bolts will probably snap so be careful, I had 6/8 bolts snap, Just drilled it out put bigger bolts in and nutted them. Had the snap ring problem though, Its hard to get back on.

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I'm going to be doing this soon. So am I correct to understand that I can ignore the instruction in the opening post to remove the disk brake caliper?

 

Any other steps in the opening post that I should consider doing differently?

 

Thanks!

 

I found the following thread by Mr. Pickles that shows you don't have to remove either the tie-rod or the caliper to get the shaft out. The thread mainly dealt with getting the 12pt bolts loose at the diff flange. This was helpful to me.

 

Stuck Replacing CV Shaft

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I found the following thread by Mr. Pickles that shows you don't have to remove either the tie-rod or the caliper to get the shaft out. The thread mainly dealt with getting the 12pt bolts loose at the diff flange. This was helpful to me.

 

Stuck Replacing CV Shaft

 

 

Thanks!!

 

So ... removing the shocks after taking off the wheels will give me the room I need. And no need to remove tie-rod or caliper. Great!

 

Thanks again!

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  • 10 months later...

haha just spent the weekend replacing BOTH of my CV axles :S

didnt think to check for a tut before i did it :/

 

i did mine basically the same except i had to take off my front

shockies as well because it was a bit squeezy,

great tutorial!

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haha just spent the weekend replacing BOTH of my CV axles :S

didnt think to check for a tut before i did it :/

 

i did mine basically the same except i had to take off my front

shockies as well because it was a bit squeezy,

great tutorial!

Should have given us a shout Daniel, I did both mine last year in a few hours.

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  • 11 months later...

I did mine last night, on my 1992 Pathfinder SE. Just to confirm, I didn't remove the brake caliper or tie rod end. Just removed the shock and the 4 bolts holding the upper ball joint and that allowed enought room to get the cv axle out and the new one in. It took an hour on the first one and 40 minutes on the second one. Got new CV Axle's from rockauto.com for $113 delivered for both of them.

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  • 9 months later...

Just some quick info-

The twelve point bolts on the shaft required a 12mm socket

 

I only found it necessary to undo the autolocking snapring, and the upper balljoint to remove, waiting for parts to come in so not certain if they will go in the same.

 

If you can get the shaft to lock to the hub, you can put the lug nuts back on and put a small floorjack/2x4 between one and the floor at 3/9 o'clock to halt the shaft for easy bolt removal, also works for cranking on the hub bolts

 

I'll update with any other tips/tricks when I get the shipment in to finish my front end. I've ordered two duralast remans with a lifetime warranty for 57 a pop, $100 core charge. Autozone said they should take half a day to arrive, so hopefully tomorrow.

 

First side removal took about an hour, but I'm familiar with the hub n such, and waited for some pb blaster to settle in, second side removal was about 35 minutes, not including time to put it on stands and take the wheel off, as I put the entire front end up first thing.

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For anyone else who likes replacing bolts & such as long as you have them off, here are the stats on the ones I replaced this time around-

 

Balljoint 4 upper mounting bolts- m8x1.25 25mm

 

Auto Hub Bolts- m8x1.25 65mm (apx 65)

 

Anyone who can't find the auto hub bolts, here is a site that sells them, also in SS http://www.mcmaster....-screws/=if4h7r

Edited by OldSlowReliable
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  • 9 months later...

If I'm replacing all the rubber bushings in the front end, would there be any combined labor savings by swapping out new front axles? I found that I might as well replace the axles instead of the CV boots as its the same amount of labor...... hopefully my question makes sense.... thanks guys! The dealer quoted me around $600 to replace UCA & LCA bushings, Strut Rod Bushings & all ball joints so I kind of figured it'd be pretty easy to just swap out the axles while they're in there right? Thx

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I have one Cardone and one Napa (which may be a Cardone?) on my truck (another screwed up Rockauto order I've had) and they've been fine through some pretty decent wheelin lately. You might as well get them installed same time, I did them when I was doing my ball joints as well.

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Yea I went to talk to the dealer about it and the tech said that it'd be about an extra hour or so .... expecting to pay around $1k with all the bushings, axles toe links and center links...... if this doesn't fix all the noises and sh!t I'll be really surprised and not happy! ha at least the dealership is willing to give me a loaner car! waiting for the axles and steering components to come in.......

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Well the shop found that every seal is leaking and needs to be replaced...... upper oil pan gasket, lower oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold gasket, new timing belt & water pump... (engine compression tested and does not hold pressure)...... he sent me pics and it wasn't pretty even though the oil isn't dripping, the entire engine is soaked....

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  • 9 months later...

New Guy from Utah is going to tackle both CV axles. It started with a pulsing feeling in the brake pedal. I knew this as the rotors beginning to warp and they needed changing. My pathfinder has 148k miles on the clock and I thought it was about time for new rotors and pads. I pulled the wheel off and started looking around and noticed some grease splatters in the wheel well. Crap! I looked at the CV boot and it had a 2in tear in it. Crap! I looked at the other side and same thing.. Crap... I ordered two new complete CV axles from O'reilly's. I'm not worried about the job just a little confused about getting them out from under the truck. I've read in the service manual that I should remove the bolts from the transverse link fixing nut and bolts, the ones that attach to the under body. This is to allow more room to pull the CV axle out. Now I've also read in another forum where they recommend removing the three bolts holding the ball joint on the lower part of the knuckle spindle. I've also read one guy stating that all he did was turn the wheel all the way to in one direction to wiggle the axle out. I don't want to disconnect anything that might not go back together easily. So, which is the easier and recommended procedure?

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