First broken CV

Went to AOP in South Pittsburgh over the weekend. Managed to spin a CV around 7pm on Saturday. Had to finish out two of the blue trails in 2WD Lo (w/the rear locked). We were finally getting on some more technical (fun) stuff too!

 

we are going March 24, AOP is fun

 

I'll get some pics of the aftermath when I get back home. Originals from the night of said carnage have been destroyed to protect the innocent...and the guilty.

 

So here's the inner CV boot. Looks pretty good!

I drove all the way home without issue, however Monday morning on the way to work it must have got in a bind and was making an awful clunk. I turned around and traded in the Taco for the wife's VW and went on in to work. Hit the autozone after work to pick up a remanufactured CV($65+20 core) with lifetime warranty (we'll see) as well as a 35mm and a 1/2 drive breaker bar to put it on.

 

I was having a tough time removing the rotor and did not have a proper bolt to thread in to push it off. The 12mm that holds on the horn under hood and in front of the radiator assembly works perfect.

 

The dust cap was seized on the hub with the ferocity of a thousand wolves, maybe more.

The trick was to not try and pry off the cap, but to chisel and hammer a gap all the way around the thing, and then use the tire tool to pry around and it will come free.

 

When I replaced both Axles I just disconnected the lower ball joint from the spindle and swung the whole spindle assembly with the brakes still attached out of the way and tied it off. Saves having to take off so many parts

 

The 35mm, breaker bar, and BFH were used to remove the large hub nut. A little pb blaster and home made impact (BFH) took care of that fella pretty easily.I worked on the hub assembly bolts located behind the stud assembly next. Didn't have a 17mm wrench, but the SAE approximately equivalent size worked well enough. Used two wrenches to provide leverage, again pb blaster helps.

 

12 hours too late my friend... I was following a thread on here about cv and axle bearing removal. I'll find it and link it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-replace-front-wheel-bearing-2nd-gen.189356/

 

I'm a little heartbroken now, but I'll carry on.



Here is about where I got to last night. Didn't have proper size sockets for the castle nuts on the ball joint or tie rod end. The tire tool functioned adequately. Going to pick up a puller from the zone tonight and finish this thing the hard way.

 

haha no worries. Hopefully helps for next time:

1) Remove Wheel
2) Remove Dust Cap
3) If you don't have a Impact: Put the wheel back on, lower the truck, put the socket onto the axle nut and break it loose, jack truck back up and remove wheel again.
4) Remove Axle Nut
5) If you still have the sway bar, remove the sway bar link and swing it out of the way
6) Remove Tie Rod nut
7) Remove two lower ball joint to spindle bolts
8) Tap on the axle to break it loose from the hub
9) Swing Spindle assembly out of the way while pushing the axle out of the hub
10) Tie off spindle, make sure no brake lines or wiring is getting stretched or pinched
11) Take a pry bar to help pop the axle out of the diff, might need some gentle tapping
12) Once it pops loose carefully remove it from the diff to avoid damaging the axle seal, be sure to have a drip pan standing by to catch any oil
13) Reverse everything
14) Check everything is torqued up and top off the diff oil


I blew a inner CV boot on my way from Chicago to Detroit. My rest stop fix was a layer of Gorilla Duct Tape, Zip ties, another layer of tape, and then some more zip ties. Kept everything pretty secured and didn't loose any more grease.

Another screw up I had was put a pin hole into the boot while installing, couple layers of crazy glue and it sealed it up without any issues. This only worked cause it didnt loose any grease, I knew I put a hole in it cause I heard some of the air escaping from it

EDIT: Forgot the tie rod nut. Updated

 

This sounds more reasonable. I was thinking, no way would I do this on the trail. I break one of these while I'm out wheeling, I'm done for the day

 

The third time I did this, Once for the ECGS Bushing replacement, and 2 for Axle replacements, I want to say I was about 30-45 mins. Truck was on a lift and I had air tools, so if I was on jack stands and all hand tools then I would say an hour is plenty. This was all by myself to

 

What about a wood block, two OEM bottle jacks, and most of the hand tools required?

I'm at about an hour and a half of shop time. Probably have at least an hour to go.

 

Those bottle jacks are whats gonna slow you down haha things suck.
First time I did this there was a lot of running around getting more tools that I didnt think I needed. Had like 3 different mallets, 4 pry bars of varying length, and a puller tool since the tie rod didnt want to come loose. The prep of all the tools is almost as much time as doing the work

 

Is there a consensus on the quality of the parts store CV axles? Last time I searched the forums about them some people were shitting all over them and saying to get used Toyota ones from a yard.

 

I didn't have any luck with the junk yards in my area and had to get the truck back on the road so I went with the parts store cv. I will update with my thoughts on the quality.

 

Parts store CV axle doesn't last as long as OE. Consensus is to take the broken OE axle and send it to CVJ in Denver (http://www.cvjreman.com/) to be rebuilt with OE components. Your local dealer may also have a driveshaft shop on contract that can do the work. This way you'll have a backup axle when the parts store CV axle breaks.

 

Autozone cv axles suck...Napa is good