Replacing an Axle Shaft

By Joshua Gordon

Comments by Craig Cyr

Note: I am not saying this is the best or easiest way to do this, but it has worked well for me.

Things you will need:

• Ratchet (3/8” drive is good)
• 15mm socket
• 8mm socket
• 13/16 socket for camber adjustment nut/bolt (heavy duty socket preferred)
• 36mm socket for axle nut (heavy duty socket preferred)
• 18mm wrench
• Long breaker bar or impact gun (1/2” drive is good)
• Hammer or small sledge hammer
• Medium or large size C-clamp
• Small block of wood (6”x12” is a good size)
• Flat head screwdriver
• Grinding wheel attachment for screw gun/drill or Dremel tool (may or may not be necessary)
• Rubber mallet (not absolutely necessary but it helps)
• Zip ties
• Lots of shop towels or rags
• New half shaft
• New CV boot clamp (note you must purchase this separate from your new shaft)
• Grease gun and approved CV joint grease or tube/can of CV joint grease
• CV boot clamp crimping tool
• Optional brake or parts cleaner

Removing the old shaft:

1. Raise front of vehicle and brace securely with jack-stands.
2. Remove tire.
3. With a 15mm socket, remove the 2 caliper slide pins.

4. Pull the caliper towards you to compress the piston a bit, and then slide the caliper off the rotor.

5. Hang the caliper from the strut with zip-ties so it’s up and out of the way.

6. Remove brake pads, being careful no to touch the surface.

7. With the 15mm socket, remove the 2 caliper bracket bolts and set aside the caliper bracket.

8. Remove the brake rotor, being careful not to touch the surface.

9. Remove sway bar end-link nut, and then use the rubber mallet to push the bolt up and through the bushing.

10. With 18mm wrench, loosen the tie rod end-link nut. Once, the nut starts to spin easily you will need to hold the bolt with and 8mm socket or wrench to keep it from spinning. See picture.

11. Now use the rubber mallet to push the bolt out, if necessary.

12. Using 36mm socket and impact gun or large breaker bar, remove the axle nut. The impact gun really works much better here, as it takes a while to get this nut off. If you don’t have an impact gun either have someone hold the opposing tire or lower the car on that side to keep the wheel from spinning.

Alternate Method: I personally do not pull the strut bolts, but pull the ball joint instead. With this method you can move to step 16 and remove the axle from the hub by rotating the bottom instead of the top, it just depends on which way you find easier. –Craig-

13. With a Sharpee marker clearly mark the position of both camber adjuster bolts. This will save you an alignment when you’re done.

14. Using your 13/16 socket and impact gun or large breaker bar remove the 2 camber adjuster nuts.

15. Now with a hammer knock the camber adjuster out of the strut. Do NOT try to screw it out, this is a splined bolt. Hit it hard, this is going to take a lot of force.
• Note: It is possible and even likely that you could deform the end of the bolt while trying to pound it out. This could prevent the nut from going back on later. But don’t worry; you can always grind it smooth again with your grinding wheel. A bench grinder would have been great at this point, but I didn’t have one.

• Note 2: Also be sure to remember which bolt it the upper one and which is the lower one, or else you’ll be trying to figure out which is which by your markings!
15. Now pull the axle out of the hub. It should slide right out. You will probably have to play with the hub a bit to get the shaft all the way free.

Alternate Method: The inner CV joint ends CAN be removed from the transmission so the CV axles can be completed on a bench rather than in the car, HOWEVER transmission fluid will leak from the transaxle, so have a pan ready if you choose this method. -Craig

17. Push the inner CV boot clamp off the boot using a hammer and screwdriver.

18. Now pull the inner boot off of the inner carrier. I placed some shop towels under the shaft in case a lot of grease poured out. This is what you are left with.

19. Thoroughly clean this inner housing so that no traces of any dirt or grease remain. If you’re picky you can use brake or parts cleaner for this. This is how it should look. Don’t forget to inspect the carrier for cracks or other signs of damage while it’s clean.

Installing your new/rebuilt axle shaft

1. Fill the inner carrier with approved CV joint grease. A grease gun makes this easier.

2. Pop the CV boot clamp off the new axle. Remove the new inner carrier and set aside for later.
3. Guide the new shaft into the inner carrier and insert outer shaft into the wheel hub.

4. You want to make sure there is plenty of grease in the CV joint. So shoot a little more grease in, if necessary.
5. Slide inner CV boot over the grooves on the inner carrier. You should be able to feel when this is in place. The boot won’t want to move in or out easily.
6. Now wrap your new clamp around the assembled inner CV boot. It should be snug, but not tight yet. This is the type clamp I prefer. NAPA should carry these. I have problems with the fold-over type that Autozone sells.

Alternate Clamp: I personally don’t like these squeeze clamps as they can come loose over time. I personally use the fold over clamps that require a tension tool and lock into place. –Craig

7. Tighten inner CV boot clamp using the crimp tool. You can rent these at Autozone. To make crimping easier you can use a pair of Channellocks on the tool. This makes it easy.

8. Now finger tighten only the new axle nut that should have come with your new shaft.
9. Re-install the camber adjuster bolts, being sure to line your marks up. Hammer these in just a bit to get them started, but don’t hammer them in all the way.
10. Finger tighten only the 2 nuts onto the camber bolts
11. Re-install the tie-rod end-link and fingers tighten only the nut.
12. Now using a breaker bar or impact gun tighten the camber nuts all the way. This will pull the camber bolts all the way flush.
13. Tighten the tie-rod end-link nut to 18ft-lbs plus an additional 180-degree rotation.
14. Now tighten the axle nut using your 36mm socket. The book calls for 118ft-lbs.
15. Now re-insert your sway-bar end-link bolt into the bushings, and install and tighten the nut.
16. Put the rotor surface back on the hub.
17. Slide caliper mount bracket into place and install and tighten mount bracket bolts to 137ft-lbs.
18. Now drop in your brake pads (the one with the defined circle is the inner one).

19. Using the C-clamp and the block of wood, compress the piston SLOWLY back into the caliper about halfway. This makes it easier to re-install the caliper.

20. Now cut the zip-ties and slide the caliper back into position over the brake pads.
21. Clean caliper slide pins and coat them with caliper lube.

22. Insert slide pins and tighten to 63ft-lbs.
23. Now re-attach the wheel and lower your car. You’re done!

Now for your core…

1. I’m assuming you want your core charge back, so let’s get the core ready for turn in. Slide the inner CV boot over the inner carrier that you didn’t use.

2. No needs to use a clamp, I just turn mine in with a zip-tie! It’s going to get rebuilt anyways…

Now this took me a little over 2 hours including time to take pictures and do the write up. So working at a casual pace you should be able to do one side in about 2-3 hours or both sides in 4-6 hours. There are worse jobs…