since i had been told there wasnt a decent diy for the removal of the cv axle i figured i would do one up since i had to take my axles out to get my trans out.


<u>What you need.</u>
1.) 3/4 inch combo wrench.
2.) a 1 1/4 inch ssocket with a breacker bar.
3.) a cheater bar for breaker bar.
4.) a decent hammer or dead blow hammer.
5.) a beefy flat head screw driver, (ill explain why below)
6.) a ball joint seperator,(pickle fork)
7.) a 13mm socket on an extension.
8.) a decent crow bar.
9.) needle nose pliers
10.) a clean oil drip pan.
11.) torque wrench



<u>What to do</u>

1.) jack your car up onto jack stands or if you have a gravel driveway i suggest cinder blocks

2.) get your wheel off lol


3.) use the needle nose pliers to extract the cotter pin from your spindle nut.



4.) this is where you need your beefy screw driver.. here's why lol


insert your screwdriver into this open space in your caliper an into the rotor vent slots





5.) take your 1 1/4 socket an put it on your spindle nut and then slide your cheater bar over the breaker bar like so




then proceed to loosen nut, once spindle nut is off proceed to step 6

6.) take your 13mm socket an extension combo an place it on your spindle like this, this way you dont damage the threads on your spindle

hit the extension till you knock you spindle back into the hub. once this is done proceed to step 7

7.) take your 3/4 inche wrench and loosen your lower ball joint nut.



once you break the nut loose proceed to step 8

8.) take your pickle fork and insert it between the boot on your ball joint and your lower control arm. hit it with your hammer till it pops loose but make sure you dont peirce your boot on the ball joint or youll need a new one of those.



take nut off ball joint an then seperate your ball joint an your control arm like this

after this is done then proceed to step 9

9.) now finish popping your spindle out of the hub. then use your crow bar to pop the other end out of the tranny, DO NOT PULL on the cv axle or you WILL need to replace it. it will pop out. like this





to install repeat the steps above in reverse order.
torque the spindle nut to 180 ft pounds. i do not have pics of this yet as i havent done it but there it is have fun

 

great DIY! The buttload of pictures will make this easy to follow.

Cinder blocks are not good jack stands tho, please people don't rely on cinder blocks...they are only meant to hold 80-120 pounds typically, not 750. Jack stands are 10-15 bucks a set a wally world, pep boys or autozone.

 

Nice DIY!

A safer way to take off the wheel nut is to put on the spare tire wheel and drop the car and apply brakes. The wrench would fit through that rim's center hole. It would probably take longer tho.

 

One of my axles was rusted to the hub and I couldn't get it out, even with a big sledgehamer. A shop is changing it for me today I think, but I just realized that Autozone has a free loaner tool that will help with this, called Flange Axle FWD Puller:



Mounts on the lug studs and as you tighten it, it pushes the axle out. I haven't tried it but I sure as hell wish I had it when i did my clutch

Oh, and you don't need to separate the ball joint.. taking the 2 strut bolts out is enough, just turn the steering wheel all the way to push the tierod outward, and you should have enough space to pull axle.. you might need to pull it out of the tranny first and push it upwards to make room but it will be easy enough

 

. . . and you don't necessarily have to pull the axles out of the spindles to get the transaxle out. Leaving them in slightly complicates transaxle installation & removal, but obviates the need for resetting bearing preload.

 

True, I just wanted to change my axles too. What is bearing preload? lol

 

wtf1.gif seriously? Oh, nothing! (/sarcasm)

"On cars with the front wheel bearings mounted in the steering knuckles, never move a car unless the front hub nuts are torqued to specifications. Lack of bearing preload could damage the bearings if the hub nuts are not tightened to specifications."
From "Automotive Suspension and Steering Systems" by Don Knowles & Jack Erjavec

 

Yep just did this three weeks ago. Many trips to advanced auto for rental tools. Also for anyone planning on doing this i paid 62 for each side at advanced everywhere else including rock auto one was like 120 and one was 60.

 

I got both axles from rockauto for $50 each, no core. I think they're listed as automatic tranny but they work. I put the pass side axles side to side and there was no noticeable length difference

By the way, autozone has the 32mm axle socket (1/2" drive) as a free loaner as well

 

Good info, I wish that they were doing that tool rental program when I did mine. Oh well, it's nice to have that socket around. LOL I've used it a few times.