A friend of mine was doing some front end work and he somehow over extended the cv axle causing the inner boot to fully extend. The joint wouldn't go back in for him so he gave me a call. I took a look at it and tried myself to push it back in. It wouldn't go. Since the front end was pretty much torn apart, I removed the axle nut and slid it out of the hub. I then straightened out the shaft and took a dead blow hammer and gave it a whack. It popped right back in. He got it all back together and took it for a ride. It seems to be good to go. He is a bit worried though that he damaged the axle, but he didn't damage the boot and it drove without any issues. I told him not to worry about it, but I never ran into this before. What do you guys think?

 

That's happened to me a few times on a few cars, always just whacked it back in with no issues..

 

I spent 2 hours yesterday trying to match up some axle ends to put on my VE hub. There were two styles, or designs, and unfortunately there were no two which allowed me to trade the outer ends. The surprising thing to me was indeed how much they (the inner join inside the canister looking sleeve) freely move. One even had no lock ring to prevent the "knuckle" of bearings from coming out of the sleeve, and the others were retained inside the sleeve by a lock ring. So maybe your buddies axle didn't have a lockring and was extended to the very last mm where it could catch a rasied surface, or any surface beyond the channel in which each ball bearing is in, and a good wack got it back in its grooves. I expect it is fine and not to worry, but if time presents itself, it may be worth while to see if a lock ring is there to prevent any future mishaps. The axle is confined to the space between the hub and the transmission, so I expect all functionality of axle will remain and there should be no reason to worry........... Anyone who dares to open up these bad boys, I warn thee of the grease demons which leave you damning your door for being shut, and yourself for leaving rags inside.........

 

It should be fine. The proper way is to take the boot off and move round bearing type pieces. (Not sure on proper name) Then it slides right in. He shouldn't have any problems.

 

Sorry about reviving a dead thread but this just happened to me today... I can't get the axle to slide back together so that I can put the strut assembly back in.

Is it necessary to take the axle out of the hub or can I do it all semi assembled? I don't want to damage anything but the less time I am in my garage with 97 degree plus weather doesn't agree with me too much

 

I don't like beating on them to get them in. I usually pop the boot off. The 3 roller type deals slide in and out push them to the outside of the sleeve and it will slide back to gether just fine. The slide boot on and replace clamp.

 

Ok thanks for the info, I wasn't sure about that either.