replacing cv shaft

[ZIGGY K]

was wondering how big of a job it was to replace the whole cv shaft on the crewcab ?? and is there any special tools needed ??

[F9K9]

This may help but, he was referring to axle replacement.

Here ill try to make it a little less complicated (i found my official suv service manual)

here is a quick overview
1. take off the wheel
2. stick a large screwdriver through the middle of the caliper into the vent slots in the rotor to hold it still, then take the large socket and take the nut off of the cv shavt.
3. Remove the caliper and tie it up and out of the way with wire to keep it from pulling on the brake line. Also remove the caliper bracket
4. remove axle shaft from hub by putting a piece of wood against the outer edge of the axle (to protect the threads) and hit it with a BFH (big f-ing hammer)
5. remove tie rods from steering knucles, lower shock absorber bolts, abs brake line brackets from the upper control arm, upper ball joint from knuckle and suspend knuckle by wire (that is if you take the lower ball joint off the knuckle which i didn't, i just kind of let the knuckle fall forward enough to where i could get the shaft in).
6. remove the half shaft from the hub and bearing assembly
7. remove halfshaft from differential by using a block of wood and a hammer to disengage it from the diff. assembly
installation
1 install the axle into the carrier, with both hands on the tripot housing, align the splines on the shaft with the carrier. Then center the axle into the carrier seal and push the shaft straight into the carrier untill the snapring is properley seated.
2. raise the lower control arm and reconnect the following. upper ball joint, lower shock absorber bolt, axle washer and nut (tighten to 103 ft lbs.), reattach the abs line brackets to the top of the upper control arm .
3 reattach caliper and rotor, then the wheel

I hope I made more sense that time

NOW YOU CAN HAVE A PARTY
YAY
(no teacher i didnt copy most of that out of the book)

[Rusty]

Now that I found the "how to" part, anyone know who makes good replacement shafts and where to get them? I managed to grenade one on a trail ride in my Blazer today. Ironically, I wasn't even in 4wd when it blew.

[F9K9]

Sorry, Rusty.....I hope I don't need to know that answer any time soon.

[coffeedrnkr]

I always just got my cv replacements at orielly, they are only like 60 bux with core

I wonder what made it blow considering you weren't even in 4wd??? I never actually broke one and I beat the living crap out of my truck when it was still on ifs...I did overextend and pull apart a couple though..

[Rusty]

Sorry, Rusty.....I hope I don't need to know that answer any time soon.

At least I managed to limp it home. Made a lot of noise though.

I wonder what made it blow considering you weren't even in 4wd??? I never actually broke one and I beat the living crap out of my truck when it was still on ifs...I did overextend and pull apart a couple though..

I think 225,000 miles on what look like the originals might have something to do with it. I've never really used the 4wd until yesterday, other than a brief test on a gravel driveway to see if it even worked. I didn't think I would have a problem with them because I've always heard CV's start making noise before they go. These were quiet right up to the end. I was in 2wd and started to make a turn when I felt the steering "bind up" for a second and then "BANG!" and that was it.

I found "new" shafts at NAPA online last night for about $130 each. I'm trying to remember if that's what Quickbiker used on his. I couldn't find it searching last night. I also have new Moog balljoints, tie-rods, idler arm, pitman arm and urethane bushings ready to go in so I guess it's front end rebuild time.

[border man]

Check out autozone, their's are usually lifetime warranty if they carry for your vehicle. They used to have them for the Crew, but now they don't.

[Rusty]

I got the set of brand new ones at NAPA. Good thing I bought both sides since I discovered I trashed the right side one too. I went ahead and did the rest of the front end while I was at it. One more part of the rebuild out of the way!