CV Axle Replacement Procedure??

#1 09-18-2002, 05:34 PM

So my new rebuilt axle should be arriving from Raxles on Friday. My girlfriend's father has offered to help me install it in his driveway. This is a guy who knows cars. He's a BMW nut and races a non-street legal 1988 M3. I'd like to impress him and already know the procedure off the top of my head, so can someone help me out? If it's of any help, I'll be replacing the right-front axle..

A step-by-step would be soooooo appreciated

-adam

svx_commuter · #2 09-20-2002, 06:18 AM

Loosen upper strut mount bolts (This way you won't mess up the upper mount when you pull the wheel outward)
Jack-up both front tires. The axle will need to be roated.
Remove the tire
Unstake axle nut
Stomp on brake and remove axle nut (its a big socket) you have new nut? you may need a 1/2" drive and pipe for leverage
Rotate axle locate small hole in axle by trans- unlock steering (a nail can be used for a punch- find size on the new axle)
Drive out the pin (you got a new pin?)
Remove bolts that hold lower BJ (this is easier than removing hub to BJ)
Remove brake line bolt to strut. (for extra brake line play)
Pull front of wheel out from car and remove axle from wheel hub. you will be pulling the tie rod also, the other tire will swing in, the steering needs to be unlocked. Guide the axle out, take care not to damage the bearing seal, if it is old it will be hard, Take care not to damage boots or drop the axle.
Guide axle assy out of the car. pull axle off the trans shaft.

Check the rebuilt axle with old one, pin hole size, diameter of hub where the pin goes, pin to long? Length, splines, axle nut fits?
For the record let us know if the new boots have o-rings in the small diameter of the boots as a new SVX axle would.

Assy is reversed. line up the trans shaft pin hole and axle hole before you start putting it in.

Take care guiding the axle splines thru the wheel hub.

You need torque values.

#3 09-20-2002, 06:23 PM

ack.. just a little too late.. my friend Allen and I sort of used the Chilton's manual as an indication of what NOT to do. Example: it is NOT necessary to remove the ABS sensor (now my abs light is on. goddamnit.)..

Anyway, I managed to get it done. Kudos to Marty at Raxles.com for a great product and superb delivery time... also a great looking sticker

-adam

LarryIII · #4 09-21-2002, 06:23 AM

The boot on the left front axle on my '92 AWD is shot and the axle is noisy. It must be replaced. The mechanic at the local gas station/repair facility qouted me $187- for a no-name axle plus approx. $100- for labor. I figure the final bill will be about $300. The mechanic (he's about 50 years old) has said that he had never worked on an SVX.

My Subaru dealership qouted $459- plus 6% tax, installed.

Despite the expense, I am leaning to the dealership installation.

The reason that I say this is that I trust the mechanic at the dealership and the failure of a front axle while driving is a safety issue.

Can anyone here offer advice?

mattski · #5 09-21-2002, 07:43 AM

Larry, I have done many axle replacements on my cars as a "shade tree mechanic" and have never run into any safety issues. Provided that your 50 year old mechanic has all of his 46 chromosomes and you have had positive experience with him in the past, he should be able to perform the replacements, particularly if he follows the detailed instructions provided by SVX_Commuter.

Regarding your safety concerns, these things do not usually fail catastrophically. Rather, they develop clicks and other noises which provide ample warning of their impending failure, as you undoubtedly already experienced.

The only addition I would make is regarding the torquing procedure for the wheel bearing. It is described somewhere and I would make sure that it is understood and followed by whomever does the job.

One more addition would be to the wheel axle nut removal procedure. If stepping on the brakes does not enable you to remove the nut, you can remove the center cap from the wheel, put the wheel back on, lower the car and access the nut through the center opening. I have used this process for my cars since I usually do not have a helping hand or foot.

Actually, I bet you could do it yourself as well. Just think of the great feeling of reward and more $$$ in the bank.

#6 09-21-2002, 08:27 AM

there's certianly a lot of satisfaction in doing the job yourself, though I learned that having an extra set of hands (and tools) was vitally important. A qualified mechanic can probably do the install in under an hour. My mechanic quoted me $180 for the part, and $200 for the part + installation, so I'm assuming they consider it to be an easy job. However they couldn't locate a part except through the dealer where it's a $400 piece. I spoke with Marty at Raxles.com and he sent me a rebuilt axle for $150 + $16 s&h. It fit just perfectly.

My newly aquired procedure for axle replacement sounds like this:

Jack up and support car

Remove wheel

Remove caliper/rotor

Disconnect brake line from strut and hang out of the way

Disconnect sway bar link and move out of the way

Unbolt the hub assembly from the strut assembly. There's two big bolts that are vertical in relation to one another. Take 'em out.

Pivot the entire hub ass'y down

Crawl under car, rotate the axle until you see the spring pin, and bang the bejeezus out of it with some kind of punch or bolt just slightly smaller than the hole. I found that using a long bolt worked best because it gave me some clearance from the transmission

Once the spring pin is out, pull the axle off the transmission

When you're pulling the axle out, you'll notice that the sway bar is in the way. You COULD matchmark the sway bar nuts and pull the whole thing off, but we used a prybar to lift the bar out of the way for 4 seconds while we removed the old axle and for another 4 seconds while we re-inserted the new one.. it seemed to work fine and nothing got bent.

When hooking the new axle up to the transmission, make sure that you've got the spring pin holes lined up. For the longest time it didn't seem like I could get them lined up, but then we gave a couple extra taps on the axle and it seated down a little further than I thought it would.. presto.

Bolt everything back up. I'm sure everything has a torque value, but we pretty much played it by ear, with the exception of the axle nut.

It should NOT be necessary to remove the ABS sensor. Doing so will undoubtedly result in its failure, as it did in my case. And it's a $110 part. Ugh.

-Adam

#7 09-21-2002, 04:26 PM

what are the torque values? If anyone knows?

#8 09-21-2002, 06:51 PM

in my searches for a procedure I came across the following torque values.. the values are for used-new..

axle nut: 123-152
ball joint to knuckle: 33-43
ball joint to ctrl. arm: 79-101