Re: How to: Remove an axle
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillBoost37
I think he wishes it was a little easier
BINGO...I've never had to change an axle so doing it for the first time. I'm changing both because I can't tell which side is bad, the boots look fine, no grease spraying, etc. I was on here and also Googled till my fingers hurt, the symptom of vibrates on acceleration, smooth on coasting, and gets worse accelerating into a right turn. I found a half dozen posts on various forums with that exact symptom, and the cause was the same every time: bad axle, replaced it and vibration went away...but nobody said which side!!
I'll stop overthinking this and dive into it tonight. Will follow your instructions to a tee and post back.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
I'm usually offline w/o notifications after 3pm.
For what it's worth thought..that's the passenger side. Vibration when slightly taking a left was the left side axle. Hardest part of my instructions is popping the balljoint. It's kinda funny even watching friends that have helped before..it's like they don't hit the side of the BJ quite right.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Bill, where were ya when I was asking this question on Monday?? I see what you mean now, BJ and end link need to be disconnected to rotate the strut and allow axle to come out. Forgot to ask, are.you the bald guy in the pic? Look like my BIL, he's your age. I'm 53 next month, still have sime hair but fading fast LOL.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Update: Got the trans mount and motor mount installed, progress on the axle grinds to a halt. I discover that I don't have an 18mm wrench in my set. Grrrr....
Re: How to: Remove an axle
un bolt the strut. and pop the tir rod. chances are the struts are not slotted and dont have anywhere to go. you can make some marks to make sure its back where it started as well.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Bedtime, gotta work tomorrow. Will pick up an 18mm wrench and get back at this tomorrow night.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Burb, while you are buying tools. Here's a few you'll want to ensure that you have if you are going to work on a GM 3800 vehicle.
10mm, 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 18mm, ensure you have deep sockets and wrenches both.
3/8", 19mm deep sockets only.
7mm nutdriver
Med phillips and med flat blade screwdrivers
When I say socket, I'm talking 6 point only. With that stuff, you can almost completely disassemble your car.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
I've got 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" sets of both SAE and Metric, both reg and deep, in all drive sizes, e-torx, spline drive, crows feet, you name it. Somehow I missed that this nut was 18mm, and my metric wrench set goes from 8mm to 19mm, but there is NO 18mm in the set...Grrr....I guess I never missed it, never had a need for it. I have 18mm sockets and guess I never had a spot where a socket wouldn't go. Everything I've taken apart so far is mostly 10, 13, 15, and 19mm. I am eying a pair of those Sears cable-operated hose clamp pliers, those are SWEET!
BTW, the ball joint nut is MUCH easier to get to with the caliper and rotor off, just as a point of reference :)
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Turn the wheels in the direction of the side you want to work on. Poof... perfect access. Extra work is just extra work.
No 18 must be one of the craftsman sets where they felt it was important to make you buy the key wrenches seperately. Yes..I have had that.
Get the clamp tool, you'll love it.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Both axles installed last night, no issues. Did the pass side first and lost about 3 cups of Wal Mart Super Tech trans fluid. Used a long screwdriver behind the axle and it popped right out. I had the car on jackstands at the front jack points and didn't have enough swing room left on the long crow bar to get the lower control arm off of the ball joint stud. I wound up disconnecting the strut and lifting the control arm off of the BJ stud. On the driver's side, no additional fluid was lost and once I knew what I was doing it went pretty quickly. Even though I added a few steps to Bill's write up by removing the caliper and rotor, and the strut disconnect, it was still only 3 hrs start to finish. Downside of disconnecting the struts was that there was a little play in the mounting holes....even with a mark, a very small movement really changes that alignment angles....so...off to get an alignment today.
Speaking of tools, I was at Sears getting the 16mm and 18mm wrenches missing from my set, and decided to spring for a pickle fork set:
http://autoplicity.com/masterimages/.../LIS-41500.jpg
Helped a lot separating the BJ and tie rod connections.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
i would only use them pickel fork on parts your going to change, they tent to tear up the boots. a good hit with a hammer will pop the tie rods free. and a long pipe on top of the lca, and then under the car, then someone jumps on the bar, popped ball joint with the boot intact still.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
I used the pickle on both the ball joints and tie rod ends. You have to be careful on how you position the pickle, or you're right they will check up the boots. I was able to get mine off with the pickle with no boot damage. The other side I just whacked with a hammer, one good pop and it came loose.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Joined the forum to thank Billboost37 for this thread. Found it via google while doing research to change out a CV shaft because the inner boot failed on the drivers side of my 99 GP GT. I started to hear a whine between 40~50 MPH, spotted the boot was split and grease flung around the inner wheel well. I've put 148k on the clock since buying it new in 99. Figured that was the source of my GP's problem, but now not sure if it was. This is my DD and its starting to show its age.
Bought a new replacement CV shaft from NAPA and followed the easy instructions in the 1st post of this thread. Finished the shaft swap in just under 2 hours.... only pita doing the job was removing the balljoint castle nut cotter as it took about 20 minutes to get it out (had to destroy it) and thought oh man here we go, it was a sign of things to come. But, I recently replaced the sway bar with the solid one from Summit so the end link removal was easy, along with disassembling everything in the step procedures to remove the CV shaft. The old CV shaft popped off the stub on the 2nd attempt giving the pry bar a quick jerk. Rotated the retaining ring split to the 12 o'clock position and the new shaft popped in place with little effort. The rest of the re-install took little effort and minimal sailor talk to complete.
The cussing began on the subsequent test drive. The low pitch whine is gone but its now been replaced with a vibration when under acceleration, which disappears when I lift off the throttle. Wondering about the balance of the Cardon shafts NAPA sells, all suggestions welcome..... Thank in advance.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
I run napa axles in my car and havent had an issue, but thats not to say your new axle you bought is a bad new part.
If it was me, I would replace the other side aswell, just to see if that one is the cause. Then if the problem is still there, I would get a new one for the drivers side.
Also make sure your motor mounts arent blown out or smashed from age, that can throw off the axle geometry.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fivefingerdeathpunch
I run napa axles in my car and havent had an issue, but thats not to say your new axle you bought is a bad new part.
If it was me, I would replace the other side aswell, just to see if that one is the cause. Then if the problem is still there, I would get a new one for the drivers side.
Also make sure your motor mounts arent blown out or smashed from age, that can throw off the axle geometry.
I was planning to do both CV shafts but expected after changing the shaft with a known problem (torn boot) to not have a new issue. Engine mounts might be a contributing factor and most likely need to be replaced. I visually checked them today after the test drive but didn't spot anything obviously wrong. With the vibration only starting after installing the new left side CV shaft and only happened under acceleration, not when I'm off the throttle... I'm not inclined to replace the right side CV shaft until this has been resolved. Be it motor mounts that have impacted engine alignment.... or at least not until I've confirmed the inner hub snap ring is actually engaged in the groove on the stub spline (it appeared to snap on pretty easy), or rule out the shaft has a defect, maybe the manufacture simply put the wrong shaft in the box marked for the 99 with a 3.8.
Anyway it works out, I appreciate the reply.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Hmmnm axle could be off, although I'd usually trust a Napa axle more than most. Ensure the axle nut is snugged up and see if the issue seems to happen more when lightly turning left/right.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BillBoost37
Hmmnm axle could be off, although I'd usually trust a Napa axle more than most. Ensure the axle nut is snugged up and see if the issue seems to happen more when lightly turning left/right.
Hmmm, should the axle nut torque be 118 ft/lbs for a 99 GP? Vibration was independent of turning, occurring going in a straight line but only while accelerating and pronounced above 40 mph. Thanks again for creating this thread.
EDIT: Gotta add, just got off the phone with NAPA. Was told to bring it in to exchange for another new one. That's almost painless, lol.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
Correct the spec is 118 ft lbs, Let us know if the new axle fixes your problem.
Re: How to: Remove an axle
its really easiest to take the outer tie rod from the inner. dont move the lock nut so you can put it back the same. or mark the threads with a sharpy. unbolt the struts. 2 bolts. nuts are 22mm, 21mm. i've encountered both. the knuckle can be turned and pushed down this way. dont even have to take rotor or brake off this way. you can get a small pry or claw/ crowbar, and put it in the end of a long pipe to pop the driver axle out. dont even have to bend down or push hard. i use the breaker bar and tap it with hammer against the cup on the pass axle. doesnt have to be hit hard. anything long and skinny works.
the axles sort of clip in place when the lock goes in. you will hear it. it doesnt leak when seated. at least i've never seen one leak tranny fluid.
doing anything trying to take off the knuckle is hard because the road and elements weather the studs (like on outer tie rod) so the nut doesnt want to unthread without heat, torque, and or pb blaster if you are lucky. i just cut them off anymore.
