vmarques82

iTrader: (1)

Has anyone replaced the axles themselves? How hard was it and what is really involved in it?

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

depends on your level of skill working on the car.
it's not extremely difficult..but it'll take some work.

maybe a search can give u an idea what's involved?

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

axles as in "instead of replacing a cv boot, i'll replace the whole axle with a rebuilt one for $100 instead of a $16 boot"?
Jae

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

I did both of mine myself, but like DanNY said...search on here for Axle replacement. and you'll see. It'll definately take the most part of your day if you've never done them before, but after the first time, you'll start breezing through them, hopefully you won't need to do them again

ron4291

Its simple Just take loose the 3 bolts on the bottom of your control arms and the cotter pin and center nut on your hubs and pull the shaft out or lightly tap on the stud with arubber hammer once you got that end out. Reach inside towards your diff and tug on the other end
until it pops out dont be scared and have a drip ready to catch your diff oil. The pass side is similar except the shaft goes into a coupler and you have to pull it out after you have taken out 3 bolts!
Like the others said if youve never done it before have some one help you the first time that knows what they are doing and then you will be able to them yourself, Good Luck!

FrankBattle

I'm doing mine as we speak/type/read. I got a lot of help from searches on here. As has been said many times, the passenger side is a bytch to get off. For me, I got a hammer, a screwdriver AND a ball joint remover (no special reason, it just worked) and I tapped away until the shaft came loose.

I will admit, I thought that bad boy was welded on there the way it looked, but repeated taps knocked it loose. I might add to the numerous write-ups already here should I find or do something different.

klymkow

An air-hammer will knock out the passenger side at the center bearing location very nicely.

They tend to rust in-place and can be difficult to remove.

Tim

FrankBattle

...on the driver side, make sure that when you re-install the half-shaft and after aligning the teeth, give it a PUSH or sevaral strong pushes until you feel the end "catch."

I say this will be obvious because if this end of the shaft isn't all the way in, you will not be able to reconnect your lower ball joint.

Just something to keep in mind.

ron4291

nupe500 how did you get your pics in your post?

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

I've got them in my signature....also you don't need to remove the ball joints to do the axles

pj93max

Ummmmmmm....So which one of you wants to put up links to "how tos" ?

My driver side inner CV boot is popped

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

sorry...just replaced the boots to the max and altima...hopefully i won't be doing those anymore for sometime.
Jae

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

Sorry to tell you but you will be tackling those again soon. Once the boots go unless you catch it like the day or even the week the go, you'll end up changing the entire axle within a year or two.

pj93max:
There have been plenty of write-ups on that...just do a quick search here and you should find what you're looking for.

FrankBattle

True, you don't need to, but you do need to remove the three nuts that hold the ball joint to the control arm. Unless one is lazy, it makes a world of difference as the wheel will just wing out of the way as soon as the shaft is removed.


BTW, I just finished replacing both half-shafts. In hindsight, it wasn't so bad. But need a lot of elbow grease, patience, lots of shop rags and a can of bug spray (moths ATTACKED me at night). And the ride is a lot smoother. Maybe it's a placebo effect, but replacing 3-4 quarts of transmission fluid also seemed to make the car accelerate better (never mind the oxygen sensor cable I had to re-attach).

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

3-4 quarts....you might have over filled that bad boy there...Franky...check your fluid levels...yea...elbow grease is a must...and patience....laterz