Replacement Axle Assemblies from SurTrack.....

A puller is not needed at all. I have done my CVs several times, fortunately not in the last 2.5 years since I learned how to drive with a front locker, and went back to OEM CVs. If you use a 3lb sledge, just hit the hole that the taper on the ball joint goes into after loosening all the bolts and the ball joint will pop out. I have done this countless times, learned it from JoeD, Peter and JP at Uwharrie. They laughed at me trying to use a pickle fork, ruining a ball joint...:) He walked over with a hammer, one good whack, and I mean a good whack, and voila, ball joint separated.
You don't have to disconnect the pitman arm to do the job. You can wiggle the axle assembly down by rotating the steering wheel as needed. It isn't that bad of a job, just time consuming. I did this twice, once for the locker install, and then again to do the diff drop and painting of the axle assembly. Took a weekend.

I hear ya. Sometimes those ball joints can be so seized though that constant pressure AND impact is required.

Fair warning though. Put the castle nut back on the threads (upside down) before you start pounding on it though to protect the threads. The shaft on the ball joints isn't the strongest material.

BTW, the pitman arm puller is to be used on the ball joints, not the pitman arm. There's no reason to disconnect the pitman arm for this job.

If the new shafts work with the OEM green cup (outer race) then by all means, re-use the green cup & save yourself much effort.

Thank you all!!! But...........there is no way I'm going to be tackling this by myself!!! :bomb::freek::_thinking:badhorse:
Wish one of you were closer to my place....I'm one of those guys that try to fix something and manage to make it worse... not to mention the extra parts lying around after I put everything back!!!

So to the mechanic it goes...hopefully he will know what to do!!! I will share some of the information posted here with him...but he always goes by the shop manual!

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Originally Posted by VXD959

...but he always goes by the shop manual!

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You need to find a mechanic who doesn't. It could save you hundreds of dollars if you can find a mechanic who will use the short cuts described in the How2's.

Cool...

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Originally Posted by VXD959

So to the mechanic it goes... !

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..better safe than sorry, trust me, I know all about extra bits lying around after the job!!

You need to decide if you are going to replace entire axle assemblies...
......or simply from the "Green Cup" outboard.

If its simply a question of bust CV boots.....
...you'll save big $$'s only doing the outers.

However..if you have concerns about the entire axle...do it all now.

Cheers

jo

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Originally Posted by Gizmo42

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...MG_1993100.jpg

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Originally Posted by JoFotoz

... I know all about extra bits lying around after the job!!

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IZZAT why you goin all gangsta on the haf shaf in the pic???

Ordered a set... Tore boots again, even with a diff drop.

Ok...is there a how to or a write up on how to replace these?

My shop is intimidated by the VX just not wanting to mess it up and the computer is giving them a 6 + hour job estimate by dropping the whole axel and diff.

I have told them you can replace from the green cup out and it should be a quick job for the shop.

Looking for something simple to email them so they can follow it and understand what I was saying. Trouble for me is the shop it is at is about an hour away so it's not easy getting there and email is best for now.

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Originally Posted by JHarris1385

Ok...is there a how to or a write up on how to replace these?

My shop is intimidated by the VX just not wanting to mess it up and the computer is giving them a 6 + hour job estimate by dropping the whole axel and diff.

I have told them you can replace from the green cup out and it should be a quick job for the shop.

Looking for something simple to email them so they can follow it and understand what I was saying. Trouble for me is the shop it is at is about an hour away so it's not easy getting there and email is best for now.

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The write-up is in the how-to section. I believe tom4bren wrote it.

So utilize the MechTech boot How-to?

Not sure why they are intimidated.
They are the same shop that put my diff drop brackets on.

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Originally Posted by VXorado

The write-up is in the how-to section. I believe tom4bren wrote it.

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Yes it is ... & no I didn't. :) It's a great writeup & I'd like to take credit for it but I don't remember who did it (I may have converted it to pdf though). IIRC Billy gets the credit.

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Originally Posted by JHarris1385

So utilize the MechTech boot How-to?

Not sure why they are intimidated.
They are the same shop that put my diff drop brackets on.

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Yes,

Mebbe the previous job left them skeered. I learnt lots when I did it ... primarliy that I hope I don't hafta do it again.:) When I replaced the outter boots on Boys, the job only took me about 2 hours ... & then about another 2 hours scrubbing all the grease of'n me self.

Yep, thats my old write-up :)

Billy wrote it, tom posted it. Effective cooperative effort. :_beer:

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Originally Posted by JHarris1385

So utilize the MechTech boot How-to?

Not sure why they are intimidated.
They are the same shop that put my diff drop brackets on.

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Just tell them them it's MUCH easier than installing the diff drop brackets. The mecatech guide will work, only addition is to pull the hub flange and half shaft retaining ring. That will allow you to remove the old half shaft for replacement.

If the same guys did the diff drop... it should be an easy job for them.

Stoop time to do one side is about 2 hours... with distractions!!
So shop time should be less.!!

Make sure they clean out the "Green Cup' really well before putting in the new 1/2 shaft.

Jo

Installed my new Surtrak axles (complete assembly). My mechanic took 3 weeks to do the job, but can't complain as he charged me only $470 (including replacing the differential seals / gaskets). I kept the original ones as spare.

One week of work was lost due to:

1) He could not find the wheels' key (I guess the previous owner forgot to include them - glad I found out before a flat tire!!!). The mechanic lost my phone number and he did not want to break the wheel key without my permission. I called a week later to check on the VX to find out that he did not work on it.

2) Rusted bolts that needed to be loosen.

3) I instructed him to take his time and go slowly. Thankfully he had worked on a Trooper axle replacement before and knew the complications.

JoFotoz - kudos to you for finding the replacement axles!!!:dance:

I'm about to order the Surtrak axles to do a swap on Vicki. The front driver side CV (as far as I can tell) has started clicking something fierce when the power gets pushed forward and I don't like it. I'm going to order the complete assembly and replace the axle because my original green cup was damaged and repaired so I figure I might as well just replace it now. Since I'm replacing the driver side, I might as well replace the passenger side too so I'll order both axles from Surtrak. Guess I should get some new bearings while I'm at it.

My question for anyone who has done this swap is: do you have to drop the front axle housing in order to get the axles out of the housing or can they be removed using the above mentioned CV boot fix/swap?

Dang, Daniel, wish I would have seen this post back when you did your shafts, I could have done them for you in my driveway, I have it down to about 2 hours per side at the most.

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Originally Posted by MSHardeman

My question for anyone who has done this swap is: do you have to drop the front axle housing in order to get the axles out of the housing or can they be removed using the above mentioned CV boot fix/swap?

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No need to drop diff, just disconnect lower ball joint from lower control arm and move out of the way to pull inner CV out from green cup.

To change the complete axle w/inner green cup yes you have to drop the diff to remove the retaining clips. I will be doing this in the near future at the same time I replace all my control arm bushings and replace a steering hose :)

Billy, I need to look into this a little more, but are the axles held in place by some clips in the pumpkin or is everything that you need to remove outboard with no need to get into the pumpkin?

Oh whoops, yeah if you have inspected the green cup and made sure it is in fact damaged then yes you need to drop the diff, because the plates that mount the diff to the frame are used to hold the green cups in the diff. But still many of us (me included) have done this in our garages or driveways. As stated before it is just messy and time consuming.

Ryan, thanks for the heads up. So it sounds like you don't actually have to get into the center pumpkin (diff) to get the whole axle assembly out. I've got no problem taking my time and getting dirty so this will be a "fun" weekend project.

X2 on Ryan. Remember, you don't have to break the Pitman arm loose, you can wiggle it out. I think that was the hardest thing to do the first I time I pulled it down to do the locker. The second time I did it, when I did the diff drop brackets, much easier, leave the steering alone. You will have to lower one side, then turn the wheel to the other direction and voila, problem solved! Have fun, it isn't a terrible job except not messing up the wheel seals. I screwed mine up, didn't prelube them, now I have a tiny gear oil leak, but not eenough to make me take it apart...lol. I would recommend some gear oil stable RTV.

OK, got the SurTrack axles have been delivered and are sitting in the garage ready to go. I have axle bearings and axle seals on order and they will hopefully get here in the next week, or so. I'll pick up some gear oil and additive (which I can't remember what it is called right now) to replace any that may leak out during the axle swap. I plan on re-packing my front bearings while I'm at it so I'll get a couple of tubes of grease and some new seals for those.

Is there anything that I am missing? Do I need any kind of special tool? I already have a seal puller and access to a press to get the new bearing on the new axles (if that is necessary). Just want to make sure that I have everything lined out an ready to go before I start pulling things off the VX.

Thanks y'all!!

Chris, you mentioned that you do NOT have to remove the pitman arm, but you do need to wiggle it out of the way. HUH? I'm guessing that once the lower ball joint is disconnected from the lower A-arm and maybe once the axle is loosened from the housing that there will be enough room to move things around without disconnecting the pitman arm?

Also, what is the purpose of turning the wheels? Does that give you enough room to slip the axle out of the front hubs?

I'm sure that I'll figure this out as I go, but I like to get a complete picture in my head before I dive into anything like this.

I'll try to remember to take pictures as I go so that others will benefit.

Don't forget to check and repack the needle roller bearing that goes inside the hub and runs on the outer CV shaft.

PK

Good call PK. I'll be sure to do that.

To tell you the truth I didn't even know that those were there, but logically there needs to be something there for the shaft to spin in.

This repair should be "fun".

Let me know when you're going to do this Mark.

I would like to come and be your helper and learn if it works out...:bwgy::smilewink:bgwo::bgwb:

Earl, I'll probably be starting on this mid-morning on Saturday, March 29th. I'll be hitting all of the pertinent bolts with PB Blaster on Friday night, but there may still be some cussing, screaming and general grouchy-ness as things unfold. I have the following week off, so I won't be in any rush to get it done quickly, but I do want to get it done right.

You, and anyone else who wants to, is welcome to come on by to watch/help the festivities. My garage isn't that big so it might get crowded, but it could be fun. I totally plan on taking copious amounts of pictures to document the whole swap so if you don't want to drive the three and some odd hours you can wait for the book. :biggringr

Thanks Mark.

I'll be in Houston that weekend at the Sport Clips national franchise meeting so I'm out...:(

Look forward to the How To.

Did anybody know that our axle bearings are NOT pressed onto the axles? Who knew!?

Just took a look at the extra axle that I have so I could get a feel for what I will be up against when I do the axle swap. I was worried that I would need a press to get the new bearings on the new axles, but both the axle seal and the bearing are each held on by a snap ring that seats into a groove in the axle. SUPER COOL! That's going to make axle removal and replacement a lot easier than I thought (knock on wood).

I'll take pictures of the swap for anyone who cares.

Good to know.

Yes the front axle seals are easy to replace. The rears however require heating and a press.

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Originally Posted by MSHardeman

I'll take pictures of the swap for anyone who cares.

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This would be a great help!!! Please take detailed pictures of each step along the way.

Just going on the record that I bought the SurTrack IZ-8021 CV Axle Shaft from Amazon for both sides and they fit great! With no issues at all!.... Thanks for the info on this site. I will be making a donation on payday since the info on this sight seems to pay off in a way that no other has. -- Thanks everyone for contributing!!

Kudos to ya....

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Originally Posted by VehiTONY

Thanks for the info on this site. I will be making a donation on payday since the info on this sight seems to pay off in a way that no other has. -- Thanks everyone for contributing!!

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..... helping to keep this great site up and running is the best
money you'll ever spend on your VX IMO :thumbup:

I know its saved me LOADS of $$'s !

Jo

I had these (SurTrack IZ-8021 CV Axle Shaft) put on mine yesterday and found some play and leakage behind the green cup.... anyone have ideas on this? Seems like maybe a clip or something should be inside the green cup to hold it still.

I'm confused. Is there play IN the green cup or does the green cup itself move? The half shaft should slide around in the green cup (toward and away from the centerline of the VX). This allows the half shaft to "grow" or shorten in length as the front wheels go through their travel (up and down). There is a little wire "C" shaped ring that fits into a groove at the edge of the green cup to keep the inner CV joint in place, but you really don't need it. Once everything is put back together the suspension doesn't travel enough to allow the inner CV joint to slide out of the green cup.

I can't remember from when I replace my half shafts, but there may be a little in/out play with the green cup itself. If there is an excessive amount of play then something is either loose or worn out where the axle (with the green cup) connects to the axle housing. If that were the case, though, I would think that you might have a fluid leak where the axle goes into the axle housing (which, now that I re-read your post seems like what is happening). There is a seal where the axle goes into the axle housing that could go bad. I think that is what Bart (nfpgasmask) had to replace, which prompted his write-up.

If pictures will help you to visualize everything, I have an extra axle assembly that has the axle bearing, spacer, snap ring and the plate that attaches to the axle housing all assembled. I can take some pictures of that tonight so you can see what is going on in the axle housing.

Tony, if by behind you mean inside towards the differential then you may have a leaky axle oil seal. See number 6 in pic.
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/da...2-page-001.jpg

There are instructions with pix located here:

http://www.vehicross.info/modules.ph...warticle&id=49

It sounds like your on the right track. The entire green cup moves. And it is leacking behind the cup. Which makes me wonder how if the green cup was not removed since they are half shaft replacements. I would appriciate some pictures though. If you have time pales send them to me at tony.c.0313@gmail.com. I'm taking it back to the mechanic to have him inspect it. I hope it is a easy fix since I am broke at the moment.