STEVE_R

well after going out and playing in the blizzard, my 4 wheel drive no longer works, i inspected the front drive axle and looks like the driver side cv joint completely shredded! i do not have the time or money right now to fix it, but i'm not concerned bout using the 4x4, but is it ok to drive in 2 wheel drive or will the wheel bearing fail causing the tire to fall off? any help is greatly appeciated! thank you!

kenbo53

is the axle actually broken or is the rubber boot just torn, if its just the boot torn then u can still run it the joint will just wear out quicker. Ur 4wd may not be working due to snow being packed up into the front axle and damaging the electrical or vacuum connections on the front of the axle check those and make sure nothings broken or disconected

JonnyBoy

No, the bearings secure the hub and the axle shaft passes through it. Hope you have selectable hubs and not drive flanges, though, or your axle will still be spinning.

STEVE_R

axle shaft is not broke, the boot completely slipped off and the joint itself where the bearing race? is completey shredded. there was some snow packed in there, but i pulled it in the garage and stuck a heater on it, melting all the ice and snow. when i drive you can hear a constant grinding niose. after doing some searching on here, i'm not worried about the wheel bearing anymore, but i am concerned about the shaft siezing. i wish i had the manual hubs, but no, i do have the add. is there a way of totally disconnecting something and run it in 2wd with no worries?

JonnyBoy

Pull the cv axle and do something to seal up the backside of the spindle. That's about it.

STEVE_R

thanx jonnyboy, i thought the same thing, the boot is still good, no tears. maybe i can just slip the boot back on.

xjdubber

stuff some grease in there slip the boot back on and get a boot kit from your local parts supplier they come with new clamps just put the clamp on and call it good for now.

STEVE_R

well, i managed to scrape together some extra dough and bought a whole cv axle assembly, now comes the fun part of pulling the bad one and installing the new one!! just wished i had a little extra mula biengs i'll have the front end apart. manual hub conversion, shocks, that kinda stuff. thanx for all your imput guys, this is the nice thing about these kind of sites, a bunch of gear heads and off road enthusiasts sharing the wealth of knowledge!

JonnyBoy

No Problem, and if you haven't already read up on the bolt modifications to the diff side of the cv axle, I highly recommend doing it. I got some new metric 10.9 bolts for it, but if you didn't wanna spend the money, you can just take the time to grind the splines off the existing bolts. I haven't broken a cv on the trail yet, I'm pretty careful, but I know it wasn't nearly as difficult to pull my cv's when I installed my ball joint spacers.

rattlewagon

have you considered a junk yard? you could prolly get a cv for under 50$

STEVE_R

unfortunately, all the toyotas in a 100 mile raduis seem to be still going! cause i cant seem to locate ANY yotas. but the whole assembly only set me back 76 bucks with the core charge, i'm satisfied..... for now.

STEVE_R

well, i attempted the cv axle replacement, and i was so close!!! i got everything off and went to un bolt the diff. side and no luck! sprayed some pb blaster, and heated the nut/bolt. and they wouldnt budge!. i ended up putting everything back together and called the local shop and found out he would only charge me for an hour of labor!! $60, beats all the bs in single digit temps!!! oh well , i tried! lol!

xjdubber

you just need to go work out some more

STEVE_R

xjdubber

sorry man, really just joking. took me a good two hours to get those crazy bolts of mine when i did mine. but then that was in a heated shop with snipes on wrenches....

fireman1559

been there i used a mix of cokecola and brake fluid and wd40 and some heat and they came off just took an impact and some heavy grunting

STEVE_R

i knew you joking xdubb. the temp here now is currently -10 F! my heater wont keep up! as much as i hate to bring it to a shop and pay for something that i could've done myself, the option is looking better and better! thanx for all your help guys! -steve