CV Axle On Wheel Side Won't Seat All The Way

What's the secret to getting the last inch in? =)

 

Did you get the axle nut on? If so, tighten it down and the nut will pull the axle through the hub.

 

The dust seals kind of “slide into” each other.
If they are positioned correctly it should go right together.
Unless the splines on the CV/Hub are rusty. I usually take a steel brush and hit the splines.
Then use a VERY light coat of grease on the splines.
If grease gets on the threads where the axle nut goes, wipe it off.

 

I hit it with my impact gun like I've seen online (recommended to tighten it to pull it in) but it stopped - not moving and I don't wanna just keep using the impact if it won't budge

 

Sorry off topic but is it necessary to do an alignment after?

 

I usually get the nut on, and torque it down. That will pull the axle thru.

@TegoTaco yes. If you messed with the suspension, you need an alignment.

 

It depends on what you did?
Not if the only thing you are doing is removing the axle or hub.

 

No

 

No, but what makes you thing you need an alignment?

 

How do you guys remove the axle? Don’t you need to unbolt the lca to lower the lca?

 

Typically unbolting the LCA steering stop bracket from the spindle and reconnecting doesn't alter alignment enough to be noticeable. The two bolts have fairly tight tolerances.

 

^this.
Two bolts on the bottom of the spindle, then swing the spindle out of the way and remove the CV from the hub.

 

Id take it back out and do a quick inspection of both male and female splines. Hit em with a small wire or brass brush if you see rust or dirt. Then wipe down and apply a light coat of grease like @TnShooter said and reassemble.

 

Did you change the dust shields on the Spindle side? If you did might want to check the ones you used cause i bought wrong ones one time and ran into a similar problem and eventually came to the conclusion that it was dust shields and it fixed everything.

 

Is this a remanufactured axle? Sometimes the splines are mushed but were overlooked during the reman process.

 

Thanks for recommendations all - I ended up taking the axle out and cleaned up both splines real good. I'd previously wiped em both but only with dry rags - this time I went in with a brush and made sure I got every little bit of anything wiped out after I loosened it up. This time it went it nearly all the way right when I slipped it in, and with one quick burp of the impact it seated properly.

A little unrelated but I'm trying to torque down my knuckle bolts/ball joint bolt and the hub assembly wants to turn on me.. Currently the tie rod is disconnected (replaced that as well), not sure if I should put that back on and torque or if that's not meant to take that much pressure. I'm doing this alone but suppose I could get a friend to come hold the hub while I'm tightening down.. Would prefer to know the best way of doing it solo..

 

The steering rack puts way more pressure on the tie rod than you ever will.
If you are that worried about it, snug them up best you can with wheel off.
Then put the wheel on and let the truck down and finish torquing them.

I am pretty sure I had my tie rod connected when I torqued mine.
And I know the wheel was off. I didn’t have any problems.