I am 90% done with a front end refresh and was trying to put the cv axle back in. The manuals I've looked at didn't mention removing the shock, though in taking it apart I had the shocks off for replacement.

So do I really need to remove the shock to finish the job?

Cheers all.

 

just the bottom bolt so you get more slack, but its not totally necessary

 

No.

You don't need to remove anything, but moving the sway bar will give you more room. I think that's easier than moving the shock, but YMMV.

 

only thing really necessary to disconnect is the bottom ball joint, but you gotta take that off anyway to remove the axle, just gotta man-handle er and it'll go in eventually lol.

 

Uh, no. The ball joint definitely does not need to be removed. (Who would build a truck where you have to remove a ball joint to replace a CV boot?)

The problem some run into is they try to remove the half-shaft with the front wheels dangling. The angle of the half-shaft is wrong then, and it won't come out. All you need to do is put your jack under the rotor and lift gently, until the suspension is compressed as though it were sitting on the ground. The half-shaft will come out (and go back in) easy as pie.

Of course, if briholt already removed the ball joint(s), this advice is too late for him (but since he's asking about removing a shock absorber, it doesn't sound like he did that.)

 

not remove, just disconnect. pop the bottom one loose, and wiggle the axle shaft into place. i've only done it half a dozen times, i've swaped cv's mostly on FWD cars.

 

if you do that, put something rubber or soft between the jack and rotor, they're strong but i've seen them slip off jacks and or get cracked from a jack, granted its usually an already compromised rotor, but do be careful with them

 

Thanks everyone for your posts. I had everything taken apart and when I was reassembling the knuckle and the stabilizer bar and the shocks I realized that my wedge keeping the knuckle aligned with the differential had slipped and I knew then that I would have to do some jacking to get the axle back in. So, I put everything together with the impression that based on the manuals, I just needed to make sure that the knuckle and the differential were aligned.

So, here I have using a jack everything is lined up and it appears that the outside end of the CV is blocked by the shock absorber and the stabilizer bar.

What I am reading from you guys is that It should either go in, or it'll be a lot easier if I remove either the stabilizing bar or shock.

I'm Probably just not man enough to shove it in.

 

I had to remove the lower shock mount to get the CVs in on mine (didn't have to remove swaybar). It also helped to have someone (or yourself) working a scissor jack on the bottom a-arm to get it to the perfect angle. Just make sure the truck is on jackstands and the scissor doesn't start to lift the whole truck

 

i have changed my share of cv joints and you do not have to disconnect the shocks, swaybar, balljoints, or anything like that....

 

Any trick? Or is it just a tight fit requiring just the right line-up?

 

This is what my 1993 Toyota FSM shows:


Let me tell you from first hand experience that what is shows in step 4 is physically impossible. I have ball joint spacers, but I seriously doubt that that was the cause of my trouble. I took all 6 nuts off and the snap ring, but there was no way to get it to bend like that, even after jacking it up on the brake rotor. I tried everything. You have to undo the upper ball joint, shock, brake caliper, and the bracket that holds on the brake line.

 

I wonder why Toyota would publish an other-wise complete Factory Service Manual with such an important error? And why the rest of us don't have to remove either ball joint, the shock or the brake caliper?

 

Yeah I don't think I even removed my upper ball joint when I replaced mine. It went in pretty easy

 

I just replaced mine this winter, but I did it with the front diff removed, since I was installing a locker at the same time. However, I will say that I could NOT get the CV axles out before I dropped the diff, regardless of how I jacked the control arm angles around. I agree with 93Xtra-Cab on that. This was even with the 6 bolts pressed out of the differential drive flanges. I'm not sure why people (including the folks who wrote the FSM) have such widely varying experiences with this.

I also disconnected the sway bar links. The outer CV joint/boot is too big to fit between the sway bar link and the shock, and the sway bar link was easier to disconnect than the shock. Just a little turning of the steering wheel, to the right for the left CV, and to the left for the right CV, and it goes past the shock just fine.

Dropping the diff actually isn't very hard, compared to dismantling the ball joints. Once you've got the CV drive flanges unbolted, it's just disconnecting the propeller shaft and 3 support bolts, and it drops right out. Just make sure you have a good jack under it or a strong buddy - it's heavy!

 

when i did mine all i did was pull the hub. didnt even remove the wheel, then i pulled the six nuts off the flange, jacked up the control arm, and dropped it out the bottom. that is also how yamiryder and i did his. there is no need to remove anything but the hub from my experience.

 

The first time I did mine I unbolted the lower shock mount, jacked up the A-arm, and wiggled the CV out of there. Next time I'm going to press one of the studs out and replace it with a nut and bolt. With one stud gone the CV will drop right out. The CV's would last at lot longer if the boots didn't fail.

 

Keep in mind that those "studs" are actually shoulder bolts; the shaft of the bolt is precisely sized to fit snugly. If you replace them with hardware-store bolts there will be more slop in the fit (particularly in the "fixed" side where the shoulder bolts were pressed in), so you will have the chance of some rotational play.

 

It's not quite clear why Toyota decided to use press-fit bolts in those drive axle flanges. It's not really to prevent "play", because the bolts need to be torqued tight enough to prevent any play or rotational slop anyway. If there is rotational motion between the mating flanges, the nuts WILL work loose - the fastener theory folks have proven that long ago. (see this website, for example - http://www.boltscience.com/pages/vibloose.htm ). So, unless the bolt is a press fit in both mating flanges (which it is not), just having a press fit in one side doesn't really buy you anything. In the absence of adequate bolt torque, the joint can still move, which will result in eventual loosening of the nuts.

It's also worth noting that the front and rear propeller shaft flanges do not use press fit bolts, and they only use 4 bolts, which are also smaller than the CV bolts. Of course, the torque transmitted by the propeller shafts is roughly 4.5 times less (because of the differential ratio), so maybe that's part of the reasoning.

I ground the press fit ribs off my bolts so they fit snugly, but are easy to remove. I'll let you know in 10 years or so how that's working out:-)

 

Update:

Still working at this. I took a measuring of the distance between the shock and the stabilizer arm linkage, and it's a good 1/2 more narrow than the width of axle joint.

The old short axles were only about 1/4 inch off, maybe the newer axles are just a bit bulkier.

As of now, after removing the stabilizer linkage and the shock I've got the axle almost together, but damn, that last step of getting the axle to slip onto the differential (those 6 press bolts) is a pita.

Any suggestions.