It was a dark and stormy night… OK, so it was a bright and sunny day. The gang was at Hollister Hills SVRA trying not to choke to death on dust. I was having a grand old time running through the only mud pit that could be found; every time we drove by it, I would run it forwards and backwards. By the last run of the day, it was rocker panel deep (on my truck), and the entrance was near vertical. I ran it forwards, and on the way back through it there was a violent snapping sound from the front end as it hit the vertical climb out of the pit. After some field diagnosis, it was agreed that I had broken the passenger side inner axleshaft. Which brings us to the point…
1. Remove the front wheels. Sounds simple enough, unless your local 4x shop lifted your truck, and used three different sized lugnuts to install them. 2. Disassemble locking hub mechanism. After taking the selector knob out, remove the c-clip, then screw in two of the allen bolts that hold on the selector knob to use as a handle to slide out the gears. 3. Unbolt the brake caliper from the splash shield and set it on the leafspring, out of the way. If the brake hose won’t reach that far, then use a piece of wire to hang it out of the way. 4. Remove the locking nut from the spindle, behind the locking hub, then the lockring and the adjusting nut. If you do not have the socket specially designed for this purpose, pray that a nearby dealership is open where you can buy one. If there isn't a dealership open, put the wheels back on and buy, rent, borrow, or steal one before you attempt this job again. You need one every time you repack your wheel bearings anyway, so you might as well buy one. 5. Slide the rotor off of the spindle, making sure to catch the bearing as it falls out. Now is a good time to inspect the seals on the wheel bearings, and the bearing itself. 6. Take out the six bolts that hold the backing plate and the spindle to the knuckle. Remove the backing plate and then the spindle. The spindle has a bit of a press fit into the knuckle, so you may need to persuade it a little with a soft-faced mallet. 7. Now you’re ready to remove the axleshaft. The yokes will barely fit throueh the hole in the knuckle due to corrosion and years of junk building up on them, so they will probably need a little persuasion. In my case, the passenger side came out pretty easily by just yanking on it real hard, but the driver’s side needed a bit more persuasion. After trying several methods, we found that by using a hammer and punch to tap it lightly from the inside. It came out very slowly but wasn’t too bad. There was no apparent damage to the knuckle afterwards, so this seems to be an acceptable method.
8. If you are replacing a broken shaft, you are now faced with the task of removing the broken piece, which will still be deep inside of the axle tube, in the carrier. I had heard of several methods to remove the broken piece, so we tried a couple of them. The first method was to pull the diff cover and push it through with a bent coathanger. After pulling the cover I found that with a Powr-Lok, you can’t even see the splines in the carrier, let alone get a coathanger to it. Another method that Steven had heard was to use a magnet on the end of a probe to fish the piece out of the carrier. We didn’t have a magnet or a probe, so this method was a little difficult to attempt. While we tried to figure out how to get the piece out, I decided to clean the dirt and gunk out of the axle tube. I loosened it by scraping it with a long prybar, and then used a big shopvac to suck it out. Guess what? Yes, that’s right, the broken piece was sucked out and landed in the tube about four inches from the end.
9. On a side note, it’s a good idea to pull the cover on the diff while you’re under the truck, for a couple of reasons. First, to check the fluid for water contamination. Second, if you do use the vacuum method and you don’t pull the cover, the only place for the air to come from when the vacuum sucks it in is through the other axle tube, and it will suck the dirt from it right into the diff. Third, it's a good opportunity to check your gears for wear. I found sixteen teeth that were cracked, and three of them had already broken off. I have a feeling that one more trip would have broken more off, introducing lots of metal chunks into the delicate innards of the carrier. I found all three pieces that had broken off in the bottom of the case, and they hadn’t caused any damage yet.
Installation: 1. If you haven’t installed the U-joints into the shafts yet, now is the time to do it. If you’re using full circle c-clips, make sure you put them onto the cross of the joint before you press the cups in, because you can’t put them on after the cups are pressed in. 2. You’ll also need to press the seal backing plate onto the stub shaft before installing the shaft assemblies.We used a two pound sledge with a cast iron weight to spread the impact of the blows.
3. Slide the new shaft into the axle, but try not to let the end slide on the bottom of the axle tube. This way you won’t scrape any of the dirt left in the tube past the seal and into the diff. 4. All that’s left to do now is to reassemble everything in the reverse order that it was removed. Re-install the spindle and torque the nuts to spec. The retaining nuts are of the locking variety and are supposed to be replaced rather than reused, but red loctite is said to be an acceptable alternative. Remember to put the backing plate/brake caliper bracket on before you torque the nuts down! 5. Install the rotor on the spindle, but before you do, now is a good time to repack the wheel bearings. Check your service manual for torque specs on the adjusting nut and the locking nut, because there is a lot of variance between different model years. There is also a special procedure to make sure that the bearings are seated correctly, and it’s very important to follow this procedure.
6. Reinstall the locking hub assembly. If you are using Warn hubs, do not grease them, if you are using stock hubs, check your service manual for rebuilding instructions. Better yet, replace them with Warns now so you won’t be stuck on the trail later. 7. Install the brake caliper, but you might as well check the pads first. Then reinstall the wheel and repeat the whole process for the other side. When your done with the other side, refill the diff, double check all of the fasteners, lower the truck from the jackstands, and go enjoy your (nearly) indestructible new axleshafts!
Chrome-Moly shafts are also offered in the GM 10 bolt 28 and 30 spline axles. You can also get shafts for Ford and Dodge applications. Contact Offroad Design for more info and prices.
Off-Road Design 314 C.R. 110 #2 Glenwood Springs CO 81601 Phone: (970) 945-7777 Fax: (970) 945-8389 tech@offroaddesign.com Be sure to check out Evans sight also: http://contagious-racing.8m.com Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OffRoadDotCom
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