I could not find a thread that really covered this .I was wondering if i could take the cv axels out completley and just stay in 2wd .

 

yes you can

 

Thanks man just lifted and i do not want to put strain on them until i get a spacer

 

WHOA!

NO you ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT drive without the CV's! They are part of what holds the bearing into the hub!

Search and you will find at least one tale of pretty serious destruction to the steering spindle from trying this! (Thank God the wheel didn't come off)

If you have manual hubs, put them in "free" or "4x2" and there won't be any strain on them.

 

Also how much did you lift it?? I had the 3" rancho, POS, without the diff drop and would run with the hubs locked with no problems, not too steep. I once fogot to unlock and wet 120 miles at 75mph with no problems... And how much are you planning on dropping the diff. The rancho one dropped it 3" and the geometry was wrong. It was too low, my CV's had too much inword pressure on them, and the axle would wobble 1/2" side to side from the force. Hubs are the best way to go and leave the diff where its at.

 

The spindle and the spindle nuts are what hold the hub, bearings, and the wheel on. You need to cover the opening left by the CV on the inside of the spindle, but you can simply leave the ADD hub or the flange in place to seal the outside. The CV isn't what holds the hub on the spindle.

I'm currently not running any axle shafts in my solid axle and the spindle is the exact same. I just put my ADD flanges on the outside to seal everything up, and it works fine til I find some 30 spline solid axle hubs.

Do this at your own risk though.

 

um no not really..



see all those nuts and bearings and goodness... thats all attached to the spindle/stearing knuckle.

the stub shaft of the CV comes through the center of all that mess and is held in place (to keep it from backing out toward the center of the truck) with a c-clip. The manual hub(or drive flang) is responsable for transfering the "power" from the stub shaft splines to the hub(rotor) to the tire.

in other words all that bearing mess and nuts are still in place once you pull the outer hub off in order to pull the CV's out.

 

Well, OK - maybe it's just newer 4Runners and Tacos that have the CV holding the bearing in.

I still vote no on the running without CV's though.

 

The 3rd gen 4Runners aren't supposed to be run without CV shafts, which is why most people carry a trail spare. The 2nd gen are fine, I ran mine for a month or so with no problem. The only thing I would caution is keep out of deep water or mud as the inside of the spindles won't be sealed by the joint so there is a slight chance you could contaminate the bearings.

 

thanks for the help this was actually a friends truck and he lifted it 6 inches and was worried about the extreme angle that would be put on the shaft and just did not want to ruin them.It was a 2nd gen 4runner.

 

i drove from Montana to Stockton CA with no CV's it was fine. i agree to stay out of the mud and the muck so you dont get the inside all dirty.

 

See I was correct....

 

Yes, you get a gold star, or if you prefer