1996 Infiniti I30 Driver Side Axle Replacement Problem

[highenergy]

In an attempt to eliminate a noise in the front end while making turns at 20+ mph, I replaced my front axles. Although the noise is coming from the passengers side I decided that since I had the car up and since it has 180,000 miles on it I figured I'd replace both of them.

To separate the driver's side axle from the transaxle I used a screwdriver to pop it out. When I replaced the axle, I gave it a tug to make sure the axle shaft reseated itself properly in the transaxle.

Well, after a quick spin the axle popped out of the transaxle and I can't seem to get it to stay in the transaxle. Is there a trick to this, or am I just going to have to tear the drivers side suspension apart again and remove it, check it, and reinsert it?

There is a "c" ring towards the end of the axle that I imagine seats itself in a groove within the transaxle, but I can't seem to hit the sweet spot to lock it in. Please help.

Modified by highenergy at 7:20 AM 7/5/2005
Modified by highenergy at 8:22 AM 7/5/2005

[elwesso]

Have you checked our maxima forum??? I'll linkup the maxima guy for you

[maxhopper]

There's no trick to it, just shove it in and make sure that it seats up to the collar so that the splines are all the way in. When you "tugged" on it, did you pull from the inner shaft or beyond the cv boot? To be honest this is very puzzling since when everything is reassembled, there is little room for the axle to back out of the transaxle.

[highenergy]

Thanks a lot for the reply. It sure seemed easy enough to me when I put it back in, but when it came out I thought I may have missed something.

I shouldn't have to tear the axle out to reseat it right, just get it lined up and push it in? I'll give it a try when I get it back in the garage tomorrow.

Thanks again for the quick response. I'll let you know what I find.

[maxhopper]

I shouldn't have to tear the axle out to reseat it right, just get it lined up and push it in?

You may be better served removing the axle, inspect it to make sure the inner shaft has not come out of the CV joint, then reassemble entirely. Let us know what you find.

And, welcome to NICO!

[highenergy]

I made two mistakes:

1. I didn't know that there was an option for a limited-slip differential (apparently the salesman didn't either) so I purchased the wrong axle. I caught on to the difference when I called NAPA and spoke to what seemed to be a more knowledgable person. She pointed me toward the correct part and I swapped it at the retail store I bought it from.

2. This wouldn't have been a problem if I wouldn't have returned the core at the time of purchasing the new one. This would have given me something to compare the new one to and I would have probably seen that the shaft that should be going into the transaxle was about 3 inches too short.

It fit right in to like you said it would last night.

The first time I tried replacing axles was on a Honda about 12 years ago. I got them half way out and got stuck. This time I was bound and determined to complete it from start to finish. Spring compression and ball joint removal were too foreign to me back then to overcome. - Mission completed.

Thanks again for your help.


Modified by highenergy at 6:19 AM 7/11/2005

[Q45tech]

Just like the G20t, the I30t or manual transmission has VSLD so different shaft parts [different diff case] required. Wasn't an option in that they [exact model] all came that way.

[maxhopper]

Congrats on getting everything taken care of! Be sure to check out the Max/I30 forum zeroforum?id=83 to say hi and post some pictures of your ride.