Anyone taken off their front axles before?

[m0nkeyprince]

So i as trying to take off the CV axle after unbolting the 6 bolts holding the inner side to the front differential, however, i cannot pull it out (i took off the snap ring in the front already) as the control arm is in the way. Haynes manual says to unbolt the 3 bolts holding it to the ball joint, but the bolts cannot be pulled out as the cv axle is stopping it. Anybody replaced their front axles before? Any ideas?

[01silvapathy]

Just take off the snap ring then you have to drop the lower control arm down its a few bolts and then knock the cv with a hammer down and then back to get it out. Look it up in the FSM thats listed on this forum

[m0nkeyprince]

yeah, i did, i followed the haynes manual because the outer side of the control arm seemes easier to take out. ill do the inner side tommorow. The FSM says to replace the plug seal on the inner side of the cv axle, should i do that? i cant seem to find any online. Thanks

[ARKQX33V6]

Remove the hub, snap ring. Stop. Loosen bottom strut bolt. Brake the tie rod connection, use a tool to break tie rod or make sure to buy tie rods. With everything loosened you have a choice to remove hub or take it apart. The lower ball joint if bad beat it out but if still good use a breaker tool. The ball joint has tight clearances, you will need to remove the hub to take out the LBJ. With all apart remove boots and locking devices, wipe up the grease. The 1/2 shafts should break apart, take note of their placement.

Raise the vehicle high enough to swing a hammer, or use a pry bar, or to use a nut runner air or electric.

You can always dis-assemble the brakes, hub and each piece as you go deeper. The 3 bolts that are in a unit will come out when you move the un-assembled hub off the drive shaft and spread them about 1/2 way through. When doing by your self place a small hydraulic jack to support the weight and the operation will be easier on you.

Many suppliers provide 3 nuts and bolts separately, use your OEM spreader containing the original bolts, it makes life easier.

Without a jack to help support thing another pair of hands are needed, but if the vehicle is high enough and another smaller jack is used it is a 1 person job.

[alexf20c]

wow, that was confusing.

you do not need to loosen the strut mount bolts.
you do not need to remove the hub.
you do not need to remove or adjust the steering tie rod.
you do not need to disassemble the brakes.
you do not need to follow the directions in the Service Manual.

remove the wheel.
remove the dust cover on the hub.
remove the snap ring.
undo the 6 bolts that attach the CV axle to the differential.
undo the 3 bolts that attach the control arm to the lower ball joint.
lower the control arm away from the spindle.
pull out CV axle from the spindle.
with the control arm lowered as far as it will go, pass the CV axle out through the little bend in the control arm.

to install, reverse the above directions.

the first side may take over an hour, but you will soon be swapping CV axles in a matter of 30min or less.

if you do it my way, you do not need to get an alignment.

[JonathanPrem]

^^^^^ your Still Here.

post5739168.html?hilit=alexf20c%20banned#p5739168

[alexf20c]

yep, i'm still hear as much as it's still spelled you're.

as in you're still a ricer and your Pathfinder is rice..

[attofarad]

...
undo the 3 bolts that attach the control arm to the lower ball joint.
..l.

Since a couple of posters in this thread said that, I tried it. Once the nuts were removed, I couldn't get the 3-bolt piece out, so couldn't drop the ball joint end of the control arm. Doing it the FSM way, which is to remove the 3 bolts holding the other end of the control arm, makes it easy.

[attofarad]

BTW, I replaced the axle/CVs with one from Oreilly Auto. 3 weeks later, all of the exposed metal was covered with rust. The original, with 15 years / 200k miles, shows almost no rust. Makes me wonder about the quality of the metal inside the CV joints

[atraudes]

I installed a pair of SurTrack NI-8185 7 or 8 months ago, and this is what they look like, even with with a few months of wet weather. It's about what I'd expect for unfinished metal. I wonder if the original ones had a clearcoat or something on them.

[Pathfinder78]

When you pulled out your front axle, did you have to drain and replace the oil in your differential? I've seen some videos that's show it leaking oil when you pull it, but other than a small note in the shop manual about replacing the differential oil seal, nothing is mentioned about oil.

[atraudes]

Nope, it was a completely dry affair. If a seal has failed or something you may have some leakage, but I want to say you'd notice it before starting. The CV axles are simply meant to bolt up, not provide a seal at all.