AWD Front Passenger Side Drive Shaft

[merlinq2]

Hello all,

Last week I had my S tech's installed. During the install the tech noticed that the cv boot was torn, the boot was still reasonably full of grease. The cv joint was in good shape, knocking etc.

I was pressed for time so I had to take the car back yesterday for the re and re of the cv boot. As they tried to get the axle assembly a part yesterday, they were un able to remove the axle nut. They hit with penetrating fluid, heat and leverage. Nothing worked. They managed to get the nut about 90 % of the way off before they managed to cease the nut.

There is no way to get the nut off period. These guys are very good techs, great reputation and always solid work.

Looks like I have to get a new right side axle assembly (transmission out), the part is somewhere between 500 and 700 bucks. So a very costly repair. Anyway, I asked the tech about trying to prevent this and he suggested just to leave it alone.

I was wondering if anyone has run into this with their awd?

Do you have any experiences with this and how much did it end of costing you.

Anything you can recommend to help with seized nuts. I mean the axle looked great nice and clean and the nut looked good, so visually it looked easy enough. I am wondering if the tech was just over zealous and just messed it up?

Looking forward to your feed back

[jonlex99]

No issues with mine when I had the ksports installed..

[rgb129]

The fact that they didn't remove the axle when removing the stock strut tells me THEY tore the boot. If you don't remove the axle, you have to push that spindle so far out of the way that it would certainly tear the boot. I would be quite a bit of moula that they tore it. I would make them pay for it for not following proper procedure of removing the stock strut. I bet they tried to get the nut off the axle, but couldn't and tried to do it without removing it and tore it. It doesn't sound like a good shop at all. I would make them pay for the repair at a shop that knows what they are doing.

[merlinq2]

Thanks

I will bring it up with them, but now I am screwed, the shaft is at least a month delayed. I am sure they cut corners and I am not sure how I am going to prove it because the other side is immaculate, so now I have to fight with them for the costs. But I need to bring it up when I get a final cost to complete the job. I did look at the service manual, and the removal of the of the drive shaft from the the assembly- the nut, is not required. But the boot was freshly cut, the grease was black and the the boot was still black meaning that it was a very recent cut. I will update after we get to the bottom of it?

[rgb129]

Thanks

I will bring it up with them, but now I am screwed, the shaft is at least a month delayed. I am sure they cut corners and I am not sure how I am going to prove it because the other side is immaculate, so now I have to fight with them for the costs. But I need to bring it up when I get a final cost to complete the job. I did look at the service manual, and the removal of the of the drive shaft from the the assembly- the nut, is not required. But the boot was freshly cut, the grease was black and the the boot was still black meaning that it was a very recent cut. I will update after we get to the bottom of it?

Yeah, I just don't see how you can take the stock struts out with out a high probability of tearing the inner boot on either side. I would definitely not be paying for this...I'd also look around the area to see if the grease was flung everywhere...if not, then they def. did it.

[merlinq2]

update,

the shop was able to have the threads re threaded,, looks as good as new, they were honest about it and fessed up to tearing the boot. Before I could they did not charge me for the machine shop work or the labor for the boot replacement (or the re and re of the drive shaft) so it cost me 65 bucks and a half day of having to drive a POS camary hybrid. So all in all, a learning experience. Thanks

[rgb129]

Glad it all worked out!

[merlinq2]

Yeah thanks for the advice and comments.

[Ajkennedy84]

The fact that they didn't remove the axle when removing the stock strut tells me THEY tore the boot. If you don't remove the axle, you have to push that spindle so far out of the way that it would certainly tear the boot. I would be quite a bit of moula that they tore it. I would make them pay for it for not following proper procedure of removing the stock strut. I bet they tried to get the nut off the axle, but couldn't and tried to do it without removing it and tore it. It doesn't sound like a good shop at all. I would make them pay for the repair at a shop that knows what they are doing.

Jumping back into this thread - I have an 06 M35x and I am all set to replace my front struts. I got new OEM ones from Infiniti of Gwinette, GA (Discountinfnitiparts.com) and I actually just got new front hubs too online since my M has 170k miles and never had them changed as far as I can tell. To change the struts I am OK to remove the axle nut and do the hubs at the same time IF that's what is required. But I need to know what ELSE it takes to do this myself - tie rod end dropped? control arm drop?. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and have the right tools and everything. But just looking for any guidance or notes from someone has changed out the front struts on an AWD M like mine.

Thanks all!!