Need Advice: Bearing / Hub Replacement

Thanks man, very much appreciated

 

Really appreciate everyone's help

 

I wanted to update you guys that I did actually get the bearings to seat on the cv shafts. I cleaned and basically polished the cv splines. This really didn't make much difference and the fitment was still very tight but I drew them in by tightening the axle nut. I really didn't like doing this but I wasn't going to give up. I hope I don't have to replace a cv anytime soon. I would probably need a press of some sort lol.

 

Worst case, you sacrifice an axle nut.
Basically you back the axle nut off until it just over hangs the end of the cv shaft threads.
Them Tappy, Tap, Tap, and a Shmaaack. And drive it out the with a hammer.

What you don’t want to do is damage the cv thread. So definitely don’t beat on the cv shaft.
That’s why you use the nut

 

I actually found out just how delicate those cv threads are while doing this job... I was removing the axle nuts with an impact gun and the socket slipped of the nut on one side. It ended up chewing up a couple threads near the end of the axle. Luckily, I had anticipated the possibility of this (read a couple horror stories here on tw) and had already purchased a set of thread chasing files. They worked suprisingly well and I was able to fully restore the threads.

 

Yes, they are easy to booger up. I have a nice piece of 1" brass rod that's about a foot long. I can hold it with a pair of channel locks and wail the crap out of it with a BFH, and not damage stuff too much.
The only bad thing about that is, sometimes I get impatient and start wailing with the hammer and then get irritated with myself for having to fix one more thing I could have avoided.

 

Yeah I pretty much would have been screwed if I didn't have those files.

 

What he said. Changed a seal on the front diff a few months ago and the factory CV did not want to gracefully exit from the factory hub. Threaded the nut on and went to town with the BFH, thinking I could save the threads on both. I ended up sacrificing (unintentionally) the nut and a local TW member hooked me up with a spare! $5 nut vs a few hundred $$ for a CV axle is an easy choice!

 

My cv axles required little effort to get them out of the factory hubs. My problem was getting the factory axles to seat in the aftermarket hubs. The fitment seemed way too tight.

 

I've buggered many cv axle threads lol..

Thread files are amazing things to own.

 

Everyone should own a thread file. I have one I got from my dad about 40 years ago. I've only used it a couple of times but it's been a life saver when needed.

 

I hadn't actually used one before this but now I agree, very valuable tool indeed. I got a set off Amazon that covers a big majority of standard and metric thread pitches.