my neighbor a young guy has the 03 blazer and he drove the guts out of the front left cv outer joint. anyway he can’t afford to get the cv axle now he will need to save up for one. or wait until one show at a junkyard. anyway can he take the front driveshaft off without doing more damage and then drive? or even take the front drive shaft off and take the cv inner on that axle off as just shove it back into the diff and drive it to keep the grease in the diff? i believe he can but i wast to get more opinions on this. i know some 4x4s can have the front drive shaft off but those are the truck that have the u joint axles i’m not to sure about the cv axles being they hold grease in the diff. or at worse and more work take both cv’s out and the drive shaft. but that is tons of extra work both ways and i bet it would not get repaired
You can disassemble the inner and outer joints but leave the inner shaft Inside the differential of the fluid will leak out and destroy the diff.
I think that the outer shaft should also stay in place because I think the wheel bearing depends on it.
ok being the outer slides thru the bearing assy i don’t think that needs to be there for now but if he takes the inner cv off the axle and shoves it back into the diff will it stay there by itself and just not get tossed out being it slides in and out with suspension movements? if i recall don’t they have a spring keeper on the splines to hold that inner on the diff shaft? if so i think that will keep the inner cv in place but before i send that guy down the wrong road with bad info i’m asking here for some back up help thanks
OK , this site has some real mechanics with a lot of experience . But why are you getting involved with this ? Just say the person or you does not make this thing safe to be on the road and they crash and injure theirself or even kill someone how are you going to sleep at night.
I would either say park it or loan the money to them to get it fixed properly.
first off lots of 4x4 guys have taken the front axles off for one reason or another and never had issues. second removing the fort cv axle is not going to cause a crash if may ruin the diff if it was to leak out the grease. because i have not had to take many of these out i do not recall if they will remain in the diff if taken off the rest of the axle. that was the question
There is a snap ring that retains it. The plunge is taken in the joint, not the splines into the diff.
thanks i knew it had the spring tyep retainer but just wanted to ask if the consensus is that it will remain in the diff and not come flying out .
I agree here, the RWD and 4WD hubs have different part numbers, now it could be one has the inner splines for the axle and the other one doesn’t, but the RWD at NAPA list price is about $33.00 more then the 4WD hub…
I would think that it cost more to machine spines in a hub then just a smooth hole or nothing at all, so my theory is the RWD hub cost more do to having to be self contained versus needing the help of a Axle with retaining nut to keep the bearing from separating…
And if you are pulling the axle apart anyway, it would be much easier to just leave the outer cv joint in the hub and never remove the nut, once you seperate the steering knuckle to give you room to pull the inner cv joint out, just pull the inner axle shaft from the outer joint and maybe clean up the grease if any is left…
Another thought is, the inner joint is held in place by a round wire clip and the outer axle nut torque spec is 130 ft-lbs (maybe more), so that in itself tells me it hold the hub to the bearing…
I’ll start by saying I don’t know anything about it or the axle configuration on a four wheel drive. I had a cv joint come apart on a fwd. the bearings just fell out and the car would not drive. If a 4wd will still operate without the front, I’d be inclined to just split the boot on the outer cv and pull the ball bearings out to disable it and leave everything else alone. Not knowing if it even has one.
But yeah loaning the money would be the simple thing to do.
The best way to get most people from coming around you anymore is to loan them money…
dave they are in my pocket now but over a hundred buck. i have to draw the line somewhere.
i guess i could tell him to leave the outer. but what about the inner. if he removes that is will blow the lube out of it. i’m leaning on telling him to remove the center section and leave both ends for now as loose as it is he may not even have to take the knuckle out i grabbed it yesterday and it just about fell out.
anyway i found one on ebay for like 40$ free shipping so he may be able to afford that one and i will help him install it. but i’m not loaning anymore money for the most part i would help him by paying for the parts he needed and he would pay me back but the last 3 years he seems to think tool are more important than paying me back. he owes me over a hundred bucks not. and so o do not dwell on it and let it fester i just wrote it off but i will not loan anymore. helping is free
That is what we meant… I guess technically leave the inner Tulip in the diff (for no leaks) and the outer Race in the hub bearing (so it can’t separate) and remove everything in between the Outer Race and Inner Tulip as described in the picture…
I would clean the Tulip very good so no out of balance from dirt/grease could make it vibrate and possibly come out…
Scroll down to you see Components of Drive Shaft and CV Joint Assembly and the picture (green) is right below it as it keeps deleting the picture I posted…
thanks for the axle view i do know how the are assembled but even though the inner has that spring clip on it i wanted to ask if you guy thought that spring clip would be plenty strong enough to not get tossed out during driving the car until he can get parts. and as your suggesting just leave the outer in place to support the bearing. thanks.
I don’t see why not, that is all that holds it in place anyway, you almost always have to use force to remove the inners on GMs, now the old FWD Mopar’s would just about fall out when removing…
Like I said though, clean it very good to help with balance…
thanks for the help. like i said i have done tons of car repairs but i have only done 2 cv type repairs . i have done more engines than i want to think about and a few transmissions but mostly i change them but rebuilt a few. and about everything else on cars, but maybe 2 cv axles. and that was years ago. so i had to get some other opinions. anyway i sent him a email telling him that information you gave me and now the ball is in his park. thanks tons for the help. wha ti hope is he just gets one i found on ebay for 45$ and just does it correctly. that would be the best thing.
ok update his dad stopped over and he went and got the boy a new axle so now it is new. he was going to take the axle apart and leave the ends in the trans nd hub but after i talked to his dad and told them that as long as he was in there messing with it that he might as well just fixt it the correct way and be done with it. so his dad got him a new axle. thanks for the ideas and help.
Heh heh. Dads will do things like that from time to time.
yes we do. it seems we are always dads and we help out the kids when they are in a bind. my dad could not help me out much but the wifes dad helped as best he could so that is how it goes. i’m not this boys dad but i have helped him out as much as i can and i would have done the repair but not pay for the parts.
Perhaps I misunderstand,but in 2wd if it is a Trailblazer the front axle is not engaged.