So the story begins when my truck started making popping noises while turning yesterday. I figured it was the cv axle, but didn't have time to look at it yesterday. So today I jacked up the truck, took the wheels off and removed both cv shaft. Yup... the outer joint (closest to the wheel) on the right one (where the noise was coming from) was siezed. Since I'm planning to start my axle swap this coming week, I really don't want to fork out for a cv shaft. This is where the stupid part comes in...

I thought the hub/bearing assembly on these trucks was a self-contained unit where the wheel bearings were pressed firmly into the hubs. Yeah... no. Apparently the cv axles hold the wheel bearings in place. And I found this out the hard way! Once I removed my cv axles, instead of getting a replacement to put in for a week, I decided to throw the wheels back on and drive it for the week without them in there. Remember, at the time I thought the bearings were self contained in the hubs. I pulled out of my driveway, drove to the end of my street, turned right and heard a BAM followed by a SCREEEEEEECH. So I slammed on the brakes, hopped out and my right wheel had come almost all the way off. In fact, all that was stopping it from coming off was the brake caliper!

So, I had to leave my truck in the middle of the road, walk back down to my house, cut the outer boot of each cv shaft, pop the clip and pull the shafts apart, walk back up to the truck pulling my floor jack, kick the wheel back in, and put the peice of the cv shaft in to hold the bearings together.

So thats what I did... What I should have done was come on here and ask if it was safe to drive the truck without the cv axles in! Could have saved me a lot of trouble today!

 

lol i did the same thing i wanted to test drive my truck before finshing it i didnt make it out of the drive way only i hade to replace the wheel bearing. it coast my 185

 

Well technically i do need to replace the wheel bearing. Its making a whole lot of noise now, but it will hopefully last a week. Again, I don't want to buy parts that are about to come right back off.

 

IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO DRIVE THE TRUCK WITHOUT CV AXLES IN. Don't do it. Your wheels will fall off.

 

Yea, I was under the impression that you didn't need CV's in either.
Now I know!

 

Yeah, I was even out talking to my next door neighbor, who has been a mechanic longer than I've been alive, and he was very surprised to hear the bearings came out. He actually said he thinks the bearings were going bad to begin with and thats why they came out, but I don't know.

 

LOL! That topic came up several times! Just remove the outer cup and bolt on the nut and your good to go. And where are the pics! Did you damage the rim?

 

Well I know that now!

As for pictures... have you ever cut the boot on a cv axle and pulled off the outer cup????? I didn't feel like getting grease all over my camera. That and I was more concerned with getting my truck out of the middle of the road!!

As for the rim... yeah, there is a nice gouge in the inside of the rim where it landed on the upper ball joint grease fitting.

 

The shaft needs to be there to support the bearing from the inside. Without it, there's nothing for the bearing to be supported by.