cv axle separation question

This seems like a really dumb question to me but im a little confused.

While changing my axle seal on the front driver side i pulled out the axle and noticed that you can pull the shaft that goes to the hub and the sleeve that goes into the differential apart.... easily. I have only replaced four wheeler axles and they have clips inside to keep this from happening. So my question is should the axle come apart easily at the sleeve going into the differential? The only thing keeping it together was the CV boot.

thanks in advance

 

well dealership said they didn't know... haha

 

I just replaced my third last night with some friends.. I dont have a 4x4 but its a 2nd gen 2x4 and it slipped right out... very easily

 

Yeah, if you remove the bands from the inner cv boot, you can essentially pull the shaft w/dog bones completely out of the tulip portion pretty easily while leaving the tulip inside the differential assembly. I leave the tulips in the differentials all the time when I replace the cv boots. I pull the rest of the half-shaft out of the hub after disconnecting the lower ball joint and then remove the remaining clips to dismantle the rest of the half-shaft. Then I change the boots, squirt in new grease, squirt some in the tulips as well, and then re-assemble.

 

Because of the amount of movement that you do have with a 4WD truck, many of them have gone to a "Free floating" CV joint. This allows greater movement and reduces binding at full suspension droop. Unless there is a suspension component that has failed, the joint will not slip out while the truck is assembled.

 

Thats great to know guys thanks a ton. All the other ones i had dealt with had clips to keep them together so when it came apart i was kind of confused. Already put back together and its good to go!

Thanks again guys