Went wheeling the other night and ended up getting stuck due to a broken drivers side CV axle.. So we had to leave it overnight.. We went back the next day to retrieve the 4 Runner and ended up dinging the drivers side fender and door - looks bad, but it's really not. Anyway how bad is it to replace the CV axle, and how long can I drive it like this?

 

ITs not that hard to remove. Just messy.

Dont drive around with it broken you will end up causing more damage. On our GEN 4Runners you can remove the half shaft. no problems. I droe around for a couple months with it removed

 

If you have the manual hubs - turn them to the FREE position and drive it to where you will fix it or remove the axle and then drive it.
With the manual hub option - you may want to tie the axle up out of the way of the steering.

 

Not sure if it is the same on 2nd gens as it is on 3rd, but there are 3 (I think 17mm) bolts ont he bottom of the steering kncukel, you remove those and pull out the shaft, it's a very simple thing, just messy, make sure you clean up all the greese, you don't want it turning into cake with mud later on. If you have manual hubs like everyone said, just turn them to free and your good to ride around until you can afford a new axel if $$$ is the issue.

 

changing the cv takes an hour or so, did the passenger side in november on my 91 with auto locking hubs. popped off the wheel, the cap, and i think there were 6 torx screws holding the hub on, a retaining clip and a lil spacer of sorts.. then on the other end where it bolts up, i had to use air tools, tight as hell... had to wiggle the axle a bit, turning it so it compressed the most and it slipped out. To get the new one in was a little harder, had to disconnect shock and so forth to drop the lower control arm enough to squeeze it in didnt compress as much as the old one, put everything back together as i took it apart. after bolting it back to the gear shaft, took a while turning and pushing on the axle as hard as i could to get the retaining clip back in.

actually, my old cv axle is still in OK shape has a bit of play, ended up not being the noise that i was trying to fix. was the steering stops. I didn't return it cause my cousin ended up getting away without paying core i should of trusted the forum and not the 3 other shady tree mechanics (and one that owned a garage) saying that it was the cv. if you need it let me know, since we're both in ontario

 

green 91 where in Ontario are you located? I'm in Ameliasburgh. If you don't know where that is, it is in Prince Edward County - just north of Picton... I may be interested in the CV axle...PM me

 

yeah sounds like a fun job for the weekend i need to replace bothe inner boots im considering getting slip yokes

 

hahah you do knowthis thread is like 4 years old haha

its really not that hard if you jack up the opposite rear side of the truck you can slip the cv out and the new one in easy!!

WELCOME TO YOTATECH arizonaguy!