95 sr cv axle replacement help

[kenley&co]

Hey guys so I’ve watched a bunch of videos and read a couple threads but none were specific to a 2nd gen sr...I’m going to replace my cv axle this coming weekend and I’m no mechanic but I don’t have the 300$ for a shop to do it. I picked up a replacement at o’reilys and I will have my old one rebuilt for whenever this one breaks...hopefully no time soon and I’m banking on knowing how to do it faster the next time.

Anyways, do you guys have any links you could direct me to? I’ve seen conflicting videos on some guys disconnecting tie-rods and ball joints and then some don’t. I also have manual hubs I don’t know how much that changes disassembly...any tips would be appreciated or advice on tools I need so I can grab them before hand and not spend the whole Saturday running back and forth

cheers ?

 

[JamesW]

When I do it, I disconnect the tie rod first, top ball joint, then the bottom ball joint, and then I put the whole hub up on top of the top wishbone, and tie it there so it doest move. It doesn't take long to break a ball joint loose, and give you a lot of space to work

Also, have a lot of old rags, and brake cleaner, and make double sure you have the right boots for the cv, as parts people seem to get an evil kick out of providing the wrong ones

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

[kenley&co]

Cool thank you

when you say hub, you mean the whole rotor, caliper assembly and all that stuff?

also, should I rent a tool for the ball joints/tie rods or just tap it out? I’ve seen videos of both methods

last thing I was wondering I saw a couple guys jack up and support the lower a-arm after it was disconnected. Is that necessary?

 

[evomaki]

Here's my $0.02 on this topic. A couple of years ago I asked about this on this forum under the guise of most efficient trailside repair. Toasty replied with some good guidance. Might be hard to find. I've replaced CV's twice on these vehicles but always in my garage and I've bumbled through it, and I was taking apart the hub anyhow. This is what I know (or what I think I know):

• Take the whole hub off with the brake rotor attached, as JamesW mentioned. Toasty mentioned he's held this on his knee before for a trailside repair, but people use a ratchet strap over the hood anchored to the opposite side wheel. I think JamesW must shove it on top of the top control arm somehow. I've found little structure up there to which to tie things, so ratchet strap sounds like it would work.
• No need to support the lower control arm. It flexes down but not so crazy that it frams hard against the skid plate / differential assembly. You will need a jack to get the thing back together. Plus the shock will keep things in order. I recollect that the shock can stay in place, but I'm not 100% on that. I was replacing the shocks when I did my CV work.
• I think, perhaps misguidedly, that unbolting the tie rod with those 8MM(?) bolts is easier than undoing the castellated nut and breaking the taper. You can do that on the top one. My recollection is that you can't do that on the bottom one as the ball joint casting has a v shape to it and it takes some finagling to get it out of the control arm. Good luck doing that with the hub assembly attached. Ask me how I know.
• My recollection is that I backed out the castellated nut on the bottom ball joint and hit that nut with a hammer to free the bottom ball joint, so as to not bugger the threads. Ball peen hammer essential. A dead blow hammer has too much cushion to it. Do same on tie rod first and bottom ball joint second. Tie rod separators damage the boot in my experience. The top one I undid the bolts which hold the ball joint to the control arm, and did not separate the taper.
• I had hoped that I could replace the CV with just the tie rod removed and one ball joint. I was 100% convinced of this for several minutes of ********** around with this mess in my hands, until I was no longer convinced. Maybe, just maybe that could work on the passenger side as the CV bolts to the differential and does not pull out. That would be a cool thing to know so when the day comes for trailside repair one could be armed with best plan of attack.

That's what I know. Good luck.

 

[kenley&co]

Cool really appreciate the responses I’ll be giving it a go tomorrow on my day off. Do I need a new seal at the diff?

 

[evomaki]

I had one at the ready but did not replace it as it looked/felt fine and was not leaking. That is a bit of a BS answer though. Pulling the old one out looked to be a bit of a pain as you almost need some sort of slide hammer puller. My regular wheel bearing seal puller did not fit. To be brutally honest, that might have helped "convince" me of the quality of the existing unit.

 

[kenley&co]

They couldn’t even look the seal up for me at the local autozone and Oreilly so hoping mine looks alright too