For all you kiddies who are contemplating doing your front axle service but don't know if you're wrench enough to handle it - go for it. Follow directions carefully and be patient, but it's easy. The most time consuming and tedious part is cleaning everything.
Here a few tips the weren't in the FAQ and should probably be added:
I was unable to get the birfield off the inner axle shaft so I posted and got a fast respsonse to try the "pipe trick". This is frequently mentioned in threads but a how-to is hard to find. Insert the axle shaft in some scrap pipe and hold it vertically with the birfield resting on top. The pipe must be longer than the shaft. I used 1.5" ABS and it worked great. Stabilize the birfield in one hand and then lift and drop to the ground the pipe with the other hand. You should place some wood, or scrap drywall or something under the pipe end when you bang it down to prevent the splines from getting damaged when the shaft drops out.
Dissassmbling the birfield is super easy and takes less than 5 minutes for both. If you don't do it just right, I can see how it could be time consuming but I don't think you could get it as clean without disassembling. I used a brass pin to gently tap the inner parts into position so I could extract the balls one by one. After cleaning, just use the brass pin again and reassemble. Pay attention to the FSM for how you insert the inner star. When you're done, douse it out with brake cleaner and compressed air to remove any slivers of brass that flaked off from your pin.
I thought that re-attaching the steering linkage to the knuckle would be super difficult based on the threads I read. But it's just like the Birfield - easy if everything is lined up perfectly. I was having a heck of a time until I realized that the calipers were contacting the tie rod where I had tied them out of the way. This little bit of friction made it difficult to move the linkage into position. It takes a little muscle but you can tilt the steering arm toward and away from you as you twist it and then like magic it finds the right position and slips cleanly over the 4 studs.
Thanks to everyone for all the posts and to Romer for organzing the FAQ. Having all this info available is waht made the job feel easy.
Here a few tips the weren't in the FAQ and should probably be added:
I was unable to get the birfield off the inner axle shaft so I posted and got a fast respsonse to try the "pipe trick". This is frequently mentioned in threads but a how-to is hard to find. Insert the axle shaft in some scrap pipe and hold it vertically with the birfield resting on top. The pipe must be longer than the shaft. I used 1.5" ABS and it worked great. Stabilize the birfield in one hand and then lift and drop to the ground the pipe with the other hand. You should place some wood, or scrap drywall or something under the pipe end when you bang it down to prevent the splines from getting damaged when the shaft drops out.
Dissassmbling the birfield is super easy and takes less than 5 minutes for both. If you don't do it just right, I can see how it could be time consuming but I don't think you could get it as clean without disassembling. I used a brass pin to gently tap the inner parts into position so I could extract the balls one by one. After cleaning, just use the brass pin again and reassemble. Pay attention to the FSM for how you insert the inner star. When you're done, douse it out with brake cleaner and compressed air to remove any slivers of brass that flaked off from your pin.
I thought that re-attaching the steering linkage to the knuckle would be super difficult based on the threads I read. But it's just like the Birfield - easy if everything is lined up perfectly. I was having a heck of a time until I realized that the calipers were contacting the tie rod where I had tied them out of the way. This little bit of friction made it difficult to move the linkage into position. It takes a little muscle but you can tilt the steering arm toward and away from you as you twist it and then like magic it finds the right position and slips cleanly over the 4 studs.
Thanks to everyone for all the posts and to Romer for organzing the FAQ. Having all this info available is waht made the job feel easy.
!
