Any of you guys that have installed these Trakmotiv Xtended CV axles have any advice on getting them installed?

I can get it lined-up and pushed in about 1/4" into the ECGS bushing (I just installed that, too) and then that's it. I'm still about 1" away from the splines touching. Hitting the hub end of the CV axle and trying to drive it straight-in just makes the inner CV bounce out (I assume due to the telescoping nature of this axle).

How did you guys do it?
(I'm so frustrated, I've spent 2 hours trying to get this thing installed).

Thanks

It was easy for me, I greased the C clip and set the gap at 12:00, got the splines lined up and drove them in with a 3# dead blow hammer. You have to compress the CV (spring in the shaft) if you're gonna whack it or you'll just flex the spring.

It's easier with two people if one person holds the CV steady and you compress it then whack it home. If you put the truck in 4Hi and in gear (I'm manual) it's easy to get the splines lined up. I just do it by feel.

Also, I reuse the Toyota factory hub nut and castle cap vs the nut that comes with the CV. I use the new nut on backwards to protect the threads when whacking it.

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CVs tend to be a real pain in the ass if you don't have a second set of hands, ask a friend or neighbor to compress the axle and hold it straight while you pound on it

That sucks. I have been able to install/remove my CV's with minimal issues. No pounding or cursing has been required.

Now there has a been a lot of cursing about the Frt Diff seals.... I have only removed the CV's about 5 times in the past 6 months...

Thanks for the quick help everyone. I'll give it a go tomorrow and update.

Dead blow hammer. Makes overcoming the clip a breeze.

Use a pry bar between the anywhere and the inner shaft boss. Should pop right out. No need to touch any sealing surfaces or dust covers

The TrakMotive axles doesn't have the same trilobe cup that can be pried on like the factory axles, just a dust shield



Removing them takes extra effort

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Well, I got the passenger side in without much fuss. Just a little bit of wiggling and then it slid in a little, and then with a big shove, it just popped all the way in. That was easy!

Back to the driver side:

I took your suggestion, @octanejunkie , and put the truck in gear (mines a manual trans) and putting transfer case into 4H. Wouldn't this effectively keep into splines inside the front diff from turning and actually make it harder for the two to match up? Regardless, I tried your method.

(As before, yes, I had greased the C-clip. Originally, I had the gap facing downwards at 6 o'clock as mentioned in the FSM, but I also tried facing the gap upward at 12 o'clock, too.)

As far as feeling the splines line up, I don't feel anything when I first insert the axle. I've tried wiggling/rotating it a little in each direction but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I ended up getting a friend to help out. The axle started about 1/4" into the ECGS bushing where it was last time...
I tried having my friend compress the CV axle inward (since these are the Trakmotiv Xtended with the telescoping axle) and then I tried nailing it with a 4# dead blow hammer. Several times. Nope. I tried a much heavier steel hammer (6# maybe) while my friend held a block of wood over the end of the axle to protect it, while also trying to compress the axle inward. That didn't work either. (TBH, I don't think he was able to get enough inward pressure while also holding that block of wood over the end of the axle. So the axle was probably absorbing the blows as it telescopes inward).

We finally just put everything we had behind it, with my buddy pushing with all his might on the end of the axle, and me pushing on the inner CV joint from underneath the truck looking upward at it...then it popped inward a bit. Whoa, progress, but stopped about halfway into the ECGS bushing. Damn it!

I'll give it another go tomorrow when I have more time with my buddy and we'll see. I can't imagine us being able to use more muscle than we already have. But we'll try something else with the hammer.

Please assure me I'm not going to break anything or F-something up. Man, I hate making expensive mistakes.

Get ya a 5lb dead blow. Makes the job easy for installing CVs. Just tap tap and done. Here it is next to a new a arm for size comparison. Every serious mechanic needs one of these. One of the very best ways to generate force without damaging things. This one is over 20 years old and still going strong.

It honestly didn't take that much to install them for me working alone. Once the splines were aligned it pretty much wanted to go in.

Stupid questions. Was the ECGS bushing just installed and this is the first time you are installing axles or did you pull factory style axles out to install the trak motive axles?

Did you verify the two TM axles are identical and the correct PN, visually inspecting both?

Maybe try swapping the axles, driver to passenger and vice versa. See if the problem follows a particular axle.

Another update:

I got the passenger side Trakmotiv CV axle installed no problem. I actually did it by myself. Oriented the C-clip properly, inserted the axle, turned it a little back and forth, pushed, and then it smoothly went in about a quarter of an inch. I then started rotating a little back and forth and put everything I had behind it pushing with my left hand on the inner joint and pushing with my right hand over the end of the outer cv joint and pushing with my back leg gripping the ground, aaaand, POP! It just went right in all the way. Perfect. Pulled on it a bit to make sure it was secure, and it was. Wow! That was a different.

Now, back to the drive side:
We tried a similar procedure, and only got it in about half the width of the bushing inserted. This was with two strong men giving it everything mind you. We then tried one pushing inward on the outer joint with everything he had to compress it, and then I took several wacks at it again with the 4# dead blow. No go. So I pulled the axle out again, took a look at the position of the C-clip, put a little thin coat of grease on everything again, aaaaand then I lost my buddy who had to run off the work. Damn it!

BTW, while this CV shaft schamozel has been happening, I'm in the middle of dropping the lift from 3" down to 2". I don't want to continue going through problems with CV joints, CV boots, or even driveshaft issues down the road. I know most guys on the forum seem to love a 3" lift (my buddy had this Toytec 3" Eibach kit professionally installed 2 years ago and then I bought the truck from him last summer). This is my second 3rd gen 4Runner (I gifted my '98 to my son last summer), and I love having a bomb-proof little truck as my daily driver. I guess I'll post up something about my experience with this drop and how I went about doing it in another more appropriate post. I learned a lot about these Toytec non-adjustable coilovers.

So now I have to hit the pause button while I shoot an assignment tomorrow. Hopefully, I can give it another go on Friday. I know the tolerances are much tighter with this ECGS bushing and that's sort of the whole point. I'm also wondering if maybe we were getting hung up on the C-Clip. I can't' imagine we got it in about half the width of the bushing and the splines WEREN'T lined up. At that depth, I would think they have to be, and that's why I think maybe we were hung up on the C-clip.

Thanks again for the suggestions and help from everyone.
@Romeo1 , yeah, I think I'll try the 5# dead blow.

I apologize, I've been a bit of a shadow on this forum for the past 7 years. I've learned a lot and totally dig that people are so into the 4Runner. I also maintain my wife's 2017 4Runner SR5.

Hi-5s!

No, not a stupid question...
Yes, after I discovered the passenger side inner boot was torn all the way around, I decided I would just replace both CV Axles. I could see that the driver side CV was starting to do the same exact thing. I looked into using the aftermarket boots made for higher lifts, but since I had an aftermarket CV I figured out they wouldn't fit. Turns out the passenger side has an OEM CV axle and the driver side has an aftermarket. (The OEM tulip is much larger than the aftermarket with larger bearings inside—I thought that was interesting).

I had read about the ECGS bushing mod about a year ago and knew that it was something I would have to tackle at some point because of the 3" lift. Well, since I was going to replace the CV axles, I checked the play in the inner CV joint on the driver side and it was DRAMATIC. It wiggled back and forth quite a lot.

The truck has always had a vibration at 60 mph since I bought it. I've done several things to try and eliminate the vibration...trying to go after the low hanging fruit over the past year:

1. Steering column mod
2. Steering rack bushing update
3. Steering rack bushings (the big one facing the ground was torn and had a piece of rubber hanging down)
4. New driver side front diff support mount w/ new bushing
5. New adjustable Sonoran Steel panhard bar (her ass end was shifted about 1" over to the passenger side)
6. Strips of aluminum tape to make up the gap between these Method wheel bores and the hub. I don't care what the Method website says, the bore is more than 0.15mm difference. I just ordered 108 to 106.1mm concentric rings that seem to fit perfect (my son had an extra one that I could test).

I did verify the part numbers for the TrakMotiv axles and I did verify that they looked identical in every dimension from the CV axles I pulled out.

If I have to, I could always do as you suggested and swap them to see if there's a difference in installation. That's a good idea if I can't get this driver side in there.

Your vibration is from pinion angle, almost certainly. If it only occurs with throttle then I'd be more than positive (assuming it's been lifted since you bought it, that is)

Do you feel the vibration in the seat or does the steering wheel shake? Is it a constant vibration that isn't affected by braking or turning?