steffan
SILVER Star
'92 pickup's cv boots finally gave up the ghost and started puking grease. it's not a serious off road vehicle so i didn't look for any high end/ hard core replacements. pretty easy job overall but it definately helps to have two people: makes it easier to manipulate the jack under the a-arm when positioning the new axle and also, when tightening the nuts down to the stub axle (had someone hold the brakes while i loosened/ tightened). overall the hardest part of the job was seating the bolts on the upper ball joint.
for the uninitiated here's the steps:
remove the wheel. remove the upper shock bolt and sway bar link (allows the lower a-arm to drop out of the way - I tried to do it with them in place - close but no dice). remove the upper ball joint nuts. some people say they removed the brake line for more extension but i didn't find it necessary. i then loosened all the nuts holding the cv axle to the stub axle on the differential - using a long 1/2" extension and breaker bar i was able to take them off without too much difficulty (the extension put the breaker bar on the outside of the brake caliper. this way i could rest/ torq off the caliper - made a huge difference). once all the nuts were removed, i took the hub selector off and the bolt/ washer on the end of the shaft. then removed the hub body so the snap ring could be removed. the cv axle could then be pulled out through the bottom of the a-arm (the stub axle has 2 divots that facilitate the pass through). here's what the scene looks like - some good videos on youtube if you really more details.
for the uninitiated here's the steps:
remove the wheel. remove the upper shock bolt and sway bar link (allows the lower a-arm to drop out of the way - I tried to do it with them in place - close but no dice). remove the upper ball joint nuts. some people say they removed the brake line for more extension but i didn't find it necessary. i then loosened all the nuts holding the cv axle to the stub axle on the differential - using a long 1/2" extension and breaker bar i was able to take them off without too much difficulty (the extension put the breaker bar on the outside of the brake caliper. this way i could rest/ torq off the caliper - made a huge difference). once all the nuts were removed, i took the hub selector off and the bolt/ washer on the end of the shaft. then removed the hub body so the snap ring could be removed. the cv axle could then be pulled out through the bottom of the a-arm (the stub axle has 2 divots that facilitate the pass through). here's what the scene looks like - some good videos on youtube if you really more details.
