Just bought an 01 Dakota an after checking it out realized that the driver side cv shaft is slipping off of the stub shaft. Was wondering if I need to just replace the snap ring or more than that. Any help would be appreciated. Just some more information in case it’s needed. It has the 4.7l in it.

 

Think I would just replace the entire axle, and call it a day.

 

Like Heyyou said, replace the whole unit. It may have hit something off road and damaged it. That's why the snap ring won't stay on.

 

Could be the axle shaft is the wrong one if it was replaced at some point. There was a production change to the axle shafts in 2001 models. Some have the snap ring groove closer or further away from the end of the cup. I had the same issue with my truck and only noticed it because I took both axles off to compare and saw the difference, then did some research and noticed that the 2001 model had a shaft for built from 09/12/2000. Retaining ring groove located 1/2" from end of Female Inboard Housing and Built to 09/11/2000. Retaining ring groove located 1 5/16" from end of Female Inboard Housing. Hope that helps.

 

Check the stub shaft. I had an 03 that stripped the splines. The CV shaft wobbled on the stub shaft. Makes a hell of a racket driving down the road, bahaha open diff, so the stub shaft will spin the opposite direction as the other side, and the CV shaft will spin the direction of the tire. Wish they kept the gen1 design with bolt in inner joint. The only thing keeping dirt and water out of the splines is an O-ring.