Front Diff Axle Seal Leak

[Unner]

No need to remove the sway bar link. None.

If the CVs are original, it will be a 35mm nut. I always reuse the OEM one.

Blue loctite and 59ft/lbs for the LBJ bolts. I use the bottle jack against the UCA to line up the LBJ for re attachment.

Keep the CV as parallel to the ground when putting in the new one. Coat the splines that go into the diff with a little gear oil. I can always just hand force the passenger side in, its that easy.

Good luck with the seal. I have never had to do one. Since you have done the timing belt this will be a walk in the park.

Fair enough then, one less nut for me to remove if I leave the sway bar link. I'll just reuse the OEM nut too as long as it comes off fine which it should. My truck doesn't have any rust. Gotta love a southern car.

Yup, I remember the loctite and torque from when I did the LBJ's last year. I figured the CV should be as parallel as possible. Is gear oil or a grease like Lucas Red n' Tacky best for the splines on the CV to slide easier into the diff and hub?

Good to hear about it sliding right in easily. Hopefully that's my case.

I know I can do this, after reading about it non stop for the last week I'm pretty confident I know all the little tricks now. It doesn't look like a hard job really, just sounds daunting to change a CV axle. The only difference was with the timing belt I had access to my dad's driveway and all his tools. Although I have way more tools than most people at this point I'm sure haha.

I picked up some PVC couplers and end caps to tap the seal in with, I didn't like the way the seal driver kit thing lined up. I'm shooting for 4 hours from grabbing my tools and heading to the parking lot and having everything packed up and finished. I pulled the engine/transmission skid today so one less step for tomorrow. Might change my oil tomorrow while the skids are off too. Not sure, I guess my test drive after I get it all back together will be to O'rielly's to return the tools and get an oil filter. Then wally world for oil. I'll either change it tomorrow or next weekend over Easter.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Just a little gear oil, then pop it in. Good luck.

 

[totokisalman]

he was shot down

Australia vs New Zealand Live Streaming

 

[fourfive]

No need to remove the sway bar link. None.

If the CVs are original, it will be a 35mm nut. I always reuse the OEM one.

Keep the CV as parallel to the ground when putting in the new one. Coat the splines that go into the diff with a little gear oil. I can always just hand force the passenger side in, its that easy.

Followed his advice the first time i changed out my cv's and everything went suprisingly well. The only issue i had was trying to get the cv back into the diff. I ended up having to use a 3lb plastic hammer to tap the cv back in. I used heavy duty zip ties to keep the wheel hub out of the way and to suspend the cv so it was parallel to the ground. If you have a good quality pry bar it should pry out pretty easily if you keep working it around. Its tempting to go rambo on it and start cranking if it doesnt come out right away but keep your cool so you dont dent anything. I used super lube on the splines just bc i had it but gear oil works too. Keep an eye on the inner shaft when installing everything bc sometimes it'll want to come out of the joint (within the inner boot) if its ever left just hanging.

 

[fourfive]

...having to use plastic hammer since i couldnt get it seated all the way by hand

 

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

In the realms of slight off topic-ness...

How easily does that stub axle bearing come out?

 

[Unner]

[MENTION=5345]habanero[/MENTION] [MENTION=69868]LittleCaesar[/MENTION] [MENTION=116877]fourfive[/MENTION]

Thanks for the help everyone. I got it replaced Friday, just haven't logged on since then. Everything came apart really quick, getting the old CV and seal out was a breeze. Getting the new seal in took a while because I was being super particular about how far it was seated and being level. Getting the new CV in took me a while too. I didn't realize how hard you actually need to push to get that snap ring to start sliding. I definitely wasn't able to get it to seat by hand without my BFH and prybar.

Put almost 200 miles on it since then though and everything seems to be good. The only issue I had was I had to halfway disconnect my sway bar to get the CV to clear the pins on my disconnects and ended up forgetting to put it back in. Right now I have a cotter pin in there until I can get a new pin... I did learn though that my sway bar makes is what is making all this low speed noise, because disconnected it was silent. I'll have to look into this.

Overall it took me about 6 hours, but I work slow, stopped to check directions, went on a test drive, lowes to see if they sold the pin I needed, and wrestled the 60 pound skids back into place without a floorjack... Could definitely do it faster next time around.

Only picture I took, my working station...



[MENTION=7105]Scramble[/MENTION]

Thanks for the moral support!

 

[The Count]

I don't know if anyone mentioned it here but.... when reinstalling a cv shaft that has a retaining ring on the inner side, always start installing the shaft with the open section of the ring facing downward. It will make smacking the shaft back in to seat it much easier. That way less of the actual ring is making contact when popping it back into place.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I still can't believe the seal gave away so fast. I'll chalk it up as a knowledgeable fact that it can occur.

On a 1 to 10 scale changing out these CVs is about a 2.5 to 3. Some FWD cars and SUVs are 10x the pain. Know where the receipt is for your Napa CV is. The boots on aftermarket ones don't always last as long as OEM.

Looks good. I love my orange HF hammers.

 

[Unner]

I still can't believe the seal gave away so fast. I'll chalk it up as a knowledgeable fact that it can occur.

On a 1 to 10 scale changing out these CVs is about a 2.5 to 3. Some FWD cars and SUVs are 10x the pain. Know where the receipt is for your Napa CV is. The boots on aftermarket ones don't always last as long as OEM.

Looks good. I love my orange HF hammers.

Yeah, the leak might have been a little exaggerated in those initial pictures I posted also because I had just got back from a 350 mile trip, one stop, 70+ pretty much the entire way. If you had just driven a normal 350 miles over a couple weeks going to work and back I don't think it would have been as bad looking. When I cracked the front diff open it actually didn't need anymore fluid surprisingly.

 

[Unner]

I don't know if anyone mentioned it here but.... when reinstalling a cv shaft that has a retaining ring on the inner side, always start installing the shaft with the open section of the ring facing downward. It will make smacking the shaft back in to seat it much easier. That way less of the actual ring is making contact when popping it back into place.

So is the opening on the ring supposed to be facing up or down on that snap ring? I installed mine with the opening facing upwards because that's what everything I read said to do...

 

[The Count]

I have been installing them with the opening down, like I suggested, for 18 years. It was how I was taught to do it and does make installing the shaft easier. Once it's in, it doesn't matter though, since it spins with the shaft somewhat. As long as you got it in, that's all that matters. Just for future reference, try it like I stated as see how it goes.

 

[habanero]

You can be an up or down guinea pig for all the cvs you'll get to do, Unner.
Awesome you got it done!

 

[Unner]

You can be an up or down guinea pig for all the cvs you'll get to do, Unner.
Awesome you got it done!

[MENTION=5345]habanero[/MENTION]

The results are in, opening facing down is much easier than opening facing upwards. I learned this today. It went right in with the opening facing down.

 

[habanero]

[MENTION=5345]habanero[/MENTION]

The results are in, opening facing down is much easier than opening facing upwards. I learned this today. It went right in with the opening facing down.

Cool! I'll give it a try next go-round, cvs, there's always a next go-round.