Super write up (so far) Chris. Many thanks for posting this!

 

Part 2: The Bench Work

Note: I will be showing how to do an inner joint, the outer is a bit more difficult but the process is much the same. Where there are differences I'll make note of it.

-First up, remove the existing clamps on the joint to be removed.

-Then the boot, if its ripped it much easier to take a razor blade and cut it off. If you plan on reusing the boot for whatever reason (titan swap axles for example) then just carefully slide the side away from the joint.

-Clean up the area a bit so you can easily see the cir clip and remove it. Set this aside for later as not many boot kits will include a replacement. My Moog kit provided a new clip but it did not fit as snugly as the original, so I just reused the factory one.
Note: Outer joint will not have a cir clip. Skip ahead.

-Now an explosion of balls and metal comes rushing at your face and parts going flying in every direction!! Just kidding... Hold the CV while gently pulling on the shaft to separate the joint. Nothing crazy will happen I promise.
Note: On an outer joint this will not come apart as easily. On an outer, there is a c clip on the end of the shaft inside the CV. To remove this end you must force it over this clip. The best way I found to do this is to clamp the shaft in a vise with the end you are trying to remove down and use a 1" x 1" x 18" or so piece of wood to beat it off. Press the wood against the inner gear looking thing and alternate hitting each side with the wood using a BFH on the end. So hit the gear thing with a hammer via the wood as to not damage it. It takes a good amount of force but it does come off I promise.

-Take note of how it goes together and pull it all apart. Clean all the bits with a rag to remove the old grease and set all the parts aside.
Note: On an outer joint this won't happen, it will come off as a unit. IE: no free balls, cage, and gear thing. They will all still be together inside the CV cup as an assembly.

-Next, grab the shaft and clamp it in a vise with the dissembled end up (optional). Using snap ring pliers, remove the snap ring and gear thing. Notice that the on the gear thing, only one side has a relief cut into the splines. This side goes in, not out. So opposite the snap ring.

Axle Assembly

- Grab your boot kit and take out your new boot. Apply a small amount of grease to the small diameter and slide it onto the axle. If reusing a boot, make sure the boot is clean and remove as much old grease as possible from the inside. Some grease is incompatible with others and will cause the new grease to break down faster. While most boot kits will come with a packet of grease, I prefer to use my own as the I feel for the price paid for the kit the grease is probably of lower quality. The choice is up to you though.

- Begin filling the boot with grease until it is about 1/2 full and evenly distributed

- Install the gear thing with relief down and snap ring with the sharp edge up. I like to go around the edge of the snap ring, tapping on it with a hammer and flat head to make sure the ring is fully seated.
Note: Outer CV assembly should be cleaned to best of ability at this point and can be filled with grease. Get the splines started onto the shaft and adjust c clip until assembly slides over it. You should feel it stop once it gets to the ends of the splines. Give it a tug to be sure it is properly seated.

-Install ball cage and balls. Start by placing the cage on the gear thing, it will only fit one way. Align the slots with the recesses of the gear thing and one by one place the 8 balls into place. It helps to dip the balls in the grease before placing them in a slot so they stick. Once all balls are in place give the whole thing a healthy coating of grease.

- Fill the CV cup with about 3/4" -1" of grease in the bottom and a thick coating on all the walls. Then slide it over ball assembly and move it around a bit to get the grease into all the nooks and crannies. Reinstall the big cir clip and then try to pull the cup off, you should not be able to. If all is well, slide the boot up and get it seated into its place on the cup.

-Hand fit the larger boot clamp as snugly as possible and then crimp the square bit with some wire cutters. You can also do the small clamp right now if want as it will be easier but I usually wait until the half shaft is installed and the truck is sitting at ride height so and can set the bellows properly.

-Complete half shaft to be installed!

 

The re-installation:

Going back out to the truck, get the half shaft into position. Remove rag from diff and give the sealing bits on both the shaft and diff a quick cleaning. Apply a small amount of grease to the c clip on the side that goes into the diff. Center this clip as best you can and place the end into the diff hole. This part can be difficult, do not force it in if it won't go. You can easily mess up the diff seal. By hand, the stub will stop right about at the step-up in size. Make sure you are holding the cv straight and that nothing is binding. Compress the whole half shaft and with a plastic hammer tap on the end of the shaft. It should not take a ton of force. If it does not go in easily, do not force it. Remove the shaft and reapply grease to the centered clip and try again.

Once the inside is in the rest is cake. Clean the wheel bearing area and then angle the spindle out and back and place the stub in the wheel bearing. Line up the splines and push the spindle up to its normal position. Some anti seize on the spline/threads is always good here.

Install axle nut and snug it up, install the cotter pin. Re connect UCA ball joint and if OEM torque to 58 ft/lbs and replace cotter pin. If aftermarket, consult vendor/ manual for torque specs. I torque my Total Chaos Clones to 85 ft/lbs. Re connect tie rod end and torque to 58 ft/lbs, replace cotter pin. Re connect abs sensor and place back into clips. Re install wheel and place on the ground. Torque axle nut to 101 ft/lbs, place hub cap back on. Torque lug nuts to 98 ft/lbs.

If you did not install the smaller clamp, now is the time to do so. Lay under the truck and adjust boot to minimize bellow rubbing, then crimp cv clamp.

Test drive and check for any loose clamps/ leaks.

:sign7:

 

Awesome write up.

As a reference, the clamps you are using are called oetiker clamps. They do make a special tool to tighten them, but it's basically just a wide mouthed end nipper.

 

Nice write up for those with later model trucks.


I just did a front axle on my daughter's 4WD 1998 Pathfinder in October (also leaky boot), just replaced the whole drive shaft, $75 lifetime warranty. Less messy too.

 

glamisdude

can you restore the photos on this page? Or at least tell me what kind of snap ring pliers I will need?
Thanks

 

Working on getting pics back this weekend. The Snap ring pliers at Harbor Freight are what I use. They are not the greatest, but do the job.

https://www.harborfreight.com/snap-ring-pliers-with-interchangeable-heads-60531.html

 

phototbucket just running a train on everyone.

 

Moved photos to imgur and fixed all within this thread.

If anybody has a request to fix the photos for any of my other threads, please send me a PM. It is quite a lengthy process to fix them due to Photobucket being greedy pricks...

 

Is there a part number for the Differential Oil Seal that needs to be replaced when doing this job? (As per the Service manual from Nissan)

I can't find the part number for it anywhere, any clues?

 

you didn't specify year, or sub model. let lone what side.

https://parts.nissanusa.com/nissanp...sanparts/?action=replacement&groupid=F&sectionid=381&jointvehid=13919&siteid=14

 

Is there a trick to get the axle to go back into the differential? I'm having a hell of a time. C-clip is lined up, the tip of the shoulder goes in and I can feel it go past the initial entry, but it won't push in any farther

 

Grease the tip at the C clip and make sure both inner and outer joints are compressed before giving it a push. Otherwise you're wasting effort in the joints. Lastly, keep the whole thing as in line as you can.

 

I think I can safely say I've been trying that method for near on 2 hours now. I tried taking the circlip off and inserting it, and it went in as previously described it should. What are the chances the circlip is too large? How bad would it be to install it without the clip?

 

One last thing to try before ditching the clip, add the old axle nut and give it some hammer blows while compressed. I don't recall them being working threads but if the nut is nearly all the way on, you may have plenty of grab without marring them

 

Truth be told, I don't have a rubber hammer so that's how I've been hitting the axle anyway. I'm hesitant to hit it too hard, but after I just gave myself a nice blood blister on the hand, I'm ready to try something more extreme!

 

As a follow -up, I got one side in. I threaded the new axle nut on deep, put the old one on after it and locked them together. I seated the axle in so the splines were engaged and the shoulder was seated. Then I it it way harder than I thought I should, and it popped in. Thanks for all the help guys! Awesome forum.

 

So I did the driver's side inner boot fine, no problem. When I opened the passenger side inner, I noticed that the bearing cage sits opposite of the driver's side. I could not remove the cage without removing snap ring and gear from the spline first. Is this how it should look? It's a lot more difficult keeping the bearings in place while I'm trying to reassemble it, which is why I'm second guessing myself. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks for the writeup! I replaced a CV two days ago using your thread. I chose to spend $120 at Napa and replace the whole thing rather than rebuild the failing one. Your thread helped me out though since I've never changed one before.

 

Great write up, thank you. I found that getting the last 1/4" of the drive shaft out of the hub was annoyingly hard (drivers side). It ended up being easier for me to pull the CV axle out of the diff first and then slide it off to the side. That created a little more play to get the shaft out of the hub.

For the reinstall I slid the shaft into the diff first and had to gently use a mini sledge and the axle nut to tap it in. The plastic hammer didn't cut it. I wish I had taken a picture of the axle in the diff before disassembley so I knew what fully inserted looked like. You have a lot more leverage on the reinstall, so putting the shaft back into the hub is a lot easier than removing it. I didn't have to disconnect the ABS line for the job, but did pull it out of all the routing clips to get more play in the line.

 

Thank you very much for the detailed write up, this was super helpful