Tim_Snapple76

With thorough searching and reading thread after thread, im kinda dumbfounded at one thing. I understand how to get the half shaft unbolted from the differential. I also read the write up, and have gone through the utultsa page.

From what i know, 1st loosen the 6 bolts holding the half shaft to the differential, (while holding the brake, OR the truck still being on the ground, then what? See i didnt install my warn lock outs & im quite unfamiliar with the disassembly & removing the c-clip that holds all that together.... I just need to know which bolts exactly need to be removed/loosened etc, with a picture for reference. This will be my first time removing all this, on my pickup so please bare with me. I am fairly handy with a wrench, and can do the same on a four wheeler in about 30 minutes. I guess im just unfamiliar with the removal of the rotor & the lockouts. I've been by all the parts stores in town & the best deal i could find was 70$ plus tax w/o core return. Looks like i'll have to go ahead and replace my old boot too, that way i'll have an extra if i get in trouble one day out in the woods. Thanks guys, Tim.

kmcc78240

Should be able to figure it out not to much to the hubs. Here is how you put them on. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f128/warn-manual-hub-conversion-2nd-gen-4runner-76320/ Just work backwards is my guess. I have a set of hubs I just got and have not had the time to put them on. My only question would be can you remove the hubs with out pulling the C clip and center bolt, first in your case. Try on doing thise 12 mm acron nuts and see if she come off. If she does not. Then un-do the dial with the allen wrenchs then the nut on the inside and C clip. Once the hub is removed. There are two spindle nuts. 54mm I belive you can probably get them off with a hammer and chesel But the right way is with a bis arse socket either 54 mm or 2 and 1/8th inch I believe. Then you should be able to pull the CV assuming you followed the change the CV boot thread in right up. PS easier to change the whole half shaft then replacing thwe boot and repacking with grease. Plus they have a lifetime warrenty.

Tim_Snapple76

thanks for link, this helps. i'll let you know how it goes w/ more pics

kmcc78240

PLease do I am curious about the C clips when installing the hubs

leebee

the 'c' clip, gold coloured bolt and washer must be removed to in order to remove the cv shaft. you will have to undo the lower shock bolt and lower ball joint to have enough room to manouvre the cv shaft out.

it takes a bit of wiggling to get the cv shaft past the diff flanges, there are a few write-ups in here on various methods to get the job done. search for 'cv shaft removal' or similar and you should find plenty of reading.

lee

SacRunner

Yes, you can remove the hub without removing the C clip, but you must remove the gold center bolt to get the hub body off (in addition to the 6 crown nuts and cone washers)


I'm not entirely sure that you need to remove the spindle nuts...the axles will come out with out removing the spindle nuts.

I would strongly recommend removing the shock as it makes life a lot easier, unbolt the sway bar endlink either from the sway bar itself or from the underside of the lower control arm (what I did).

There's no need to remove the lower balljoint, unless you want to make things harder on yourself than needed. what I did:
* jack the truck up and put jack stands under front crossmember
* remove 1 tire (only on the side you're working on)
* with hub removed, 6 studs (that held the axle to the diff) removed (pressed out with 6" craftsman c-clamp and 17mm deep socket) axle shaft should hang freely and slide in/out of the knuckle (i think that's what its called)
* I put two 6" long pieces of 2x4 (wood) under the stock bottle jack and lifted the control arm assembly by the lowest part of the lower ball joint, stopping every couple of inches and resetting the jack so its not leaning (used another jack stand to temporarily support the control arms). at some point the truck began lifting off the jack stands under the frame crossmember, eventually the axle appeared to have a straight line to clear the knuckle. (I have BJ spacers which i found was the reason I had to lift my front end so much)




the hardest part I found was getting the big end wide end of the axle to clear the differential flange, but if you are able to get one of the nubs on the axle (where the studs go through) behind the diff flange (the piece that the axle bolts up to) then you can twist/rotate the cv and diff enough to get the rest to clear.

I had such a hard time with mine, and that's with removing the 6 studs and replacing them with 12x1.25x30mm grade 10.9 (i used 8.8, but you should use 10.9) bolts and new nuts, so maybe my method was not the best but it worked for me.

I do have a question for the CV gurus out there, how critical is it that the c-clip on the axle gets re-installed? I was not able to push the axle through far enough to even see/feel with finger nail the groove it is supposed to go into; I re-installed the c clip over the splines (hoping it might do something productive on its own) and the gold bolt on the end of the axle. At first I though it was the autozone axle, but after I replaced the worn boots on the removed axle, I installed it on the other side (passenger side boot tore 1 week after replacing driver side axle) and had the same issue.

Tim_Snapple76

well i get paid this friday, & i'll be back in town on sunday. i'll probably install the new axle on sunday evening if time permits. tommorow i go to dealership to pick up my molded hoses for the oil cooler... YEA, that was real fun.

last person used stop leak... clogged my hose & made a pin hole..

slosurfer

I am pretty sure you want to get that clip back on there. I found that if you don't tighten the nuts on the differential side all the way, you can gain a little bit more slack to get that c-clip on, then go back and tighten down the nuts that hold it to the diff. Just a little tip that worked really well when I changed my driverside a few weekends ago.

tombothetominator

When i did mine last weekend i tried the 'jack it up from the balljoint' but still couldn't get enough clearance, so had to unbolt lower balljoint:
- remove 6 nuts holding cv to differential flange (i used a breaker bar with a 1ft extension so that i could get some leverage from the wheel well area)
- Remove hub body (as others have stated, remove six bolts and washers (if you have warn hubs, they wont be cone washers)
- remove gold bolt and snap ring
- remove swaybar endlink
- unbolt lower shock mount
- push down on lower a-arm (i didn't even think about using the jack, so just had a buddy step on it)
- remove cv from differential flange, and slide out of wheel spindle

Then just do all that in reverse to get it back together. Not to hard, even though i had never done it before. And good call from slosurfer about leaving the dif nuts loose so you can get the clip back on the shaft.