hey, got upper and lower joints replaced with some cheap ebay parts... should last a few months. how do i seat the axle shaft into the knuckle/hub assembly? it does not slide right in. i haven't wire brushed the splines but what do you guys usually do?

 

Yes it should slide in. If not try rotating it. Check both sides for nicks and burs that will make it stick.

 

If it goes in just far enough to get the nut on the end, run the nut in to pull the axle shaft in place.

 

just got it. needed a good cleaning from where the axle splines welded themselves to the bearing. finished it off with the nut.

 

i'm looking back at this project thinking about how many tools i broke. without lifetime warranties this would have been expensive.

the hub nut is on so damn tight. i broke a breaker bar 1/2" taking it off and a torque wrench 1/2" putting it back on. exactly what tools are you using to make this possible.

i wasn't able to torque the hub nut after i broke the torque wrench, i just went f'n tight with a craftsman 1/2" ratchet and a 3 foot cheater pipe. you guys use torque wrenchs that go up to 200ft pounds?

I also warped the c clamp part of my ball joint press! wtf!? lower ball joint had a lip that was rounded over the top of the control arm instead of the snap ring! should have ground it off...

i'm wondering if hub nuts should be done with 3/4" drive tools....

these questions might seem silly but its the little things that add up and obviously im new. all advice appreciated.

 

it might. i know i broke a 3/4" breaker bar trying to remove a hub nut off my friends 93 dakota.. soaked it with pb blaster then tried it and the tip snapped right off, and that was a huge a$$ breaker bar too.

 

I use a 1/2 inch pnuematic impact wrench to spin the nut off... takes about 2 seconds to get it off.

I use a BFH on all joints that need to come off.

I have a Snap-On torque wrench that goes up to 250 ft lbs.

Honestly, the best invesment you can make is a 60+ gallon, 3+ horsepower air compressor and some decent air tools. They will always make a job go way faster.

 

Not always! Once for me, my air or electric impact wouldn't. I broke 3 breaker bars before that. I took it to 2 tire shops they couldn't with there way more HD impacts and they couldn't get it. Finally I had to go to a 18 Wheeler (Semi Truck) tire shop. They had there Jack Hammer size impact that finally did it.

 

Dang!! Who put that nut on there?!?! My impact has never failed to take any nut or bolt off my truck. I've got all 3/8s air fittings on my air lines though... no 1/4 inch, so my air tools get no lack of air!

And those cv axle nuts are put on at something like 190 ft*lbs.

 

i'm too nomadic for a compressor right now but my dad has a 18 cfm compressor waiting for me in vermont.

next time i go at this ill be using a 3/4 breaker bar, impact adapter to 1/2 and the 1/2 hub socket.

think its worth taking the ball joint press C clamp to a machine shop to press it back? the C started to open when one of the joints was in there so tight... might be out about an 1/8 inch or so. will it stay is the question...

how many ft lbs should i get minimum for a impact wrench?

off to kauai tomorrow! be back beginning of may. talk to yall soon.