CV Axle Replacement How To (Pictures)

[410Fortune]

91-94 does not have cv drive axles

the 91-94 explorer uses independant front suspension yes but its the twin traction beam setup unique to ford.
The first gen Explorer, Dana 35 TTB, has a 3 piece axle and slip yoke assembly on the passenger side and a inner and outer axle shaft setup in the drivers side, but no CV axles to speak of
the spindle bolts to the knuckle, the axle shaft rides in the center of the spindle, the rotor rides on traditional style wheel bearings and a hub is used to fuse the wheel to axleshaft for 4x4

You simply remove wheel, remove hub, remove caliper and rotor, unbolt spindle, and pull axleshaft through the knuckle. TTB outer shafts take all of 15 minutes, you dont have to remove the d shaft or mess with the coil springs, ball joints or tie rods.



The break down of the TTB and how to service is also on this site, use the search button Fantome and see what you come up with

 

[G-96XLT]

its 9:38pm... going to hit the home garage to attempt this job.. I have two exes, one with a bad or presumed bad CV axle.. my plan is to remove the good axle frome and put it to the other and keep on driving the older one with the bummed Cv,, it makes a noise and I noticed the rubber had a hole... so I thought it just the CV boot but a mechanic told me if I have been driving like that the axle is probably gone tooo.. I'll know when I put the repacked axle in the other ex..

 

[G-96XLT]

I didn't quite get it done in one night. It took me about 1hr and I took every part off but the axle.. one thing I would recommend for this job is a leverage bar , the bolts were super tight but the bar made it simple. I just need to read up on how to remove the actual axle

 

[MountaineerGreen]

The CV axle pops right out of the diff- just put a pry bar between the CV end and diff- gently! It should pop right out.

 

[tonymac97XL]

I just got a CV from Carquest, and had the following problem with it:

It refused to go into the Differential.

So, after getting extremely angry and demonsstrating my extensive 4-letter vocabulary, I pulled it out and compared it to the other. (I replaced this one about a month ago, but managed to tear the boot while doing some other repairs (Ball Joint).) it went in painlessly before. Well, turns out the little C-clip thingy on there was a different size, just big enough to keep it from going in. I swapped it with the one from the other axle, and the thing popped in like it's supposed to.

Just thought I'd mention that in case anyone was having that same problem, and so you know to look out for it.

 

[G-96XLT]

I got much bigger problems.

I replaced the shaft with the 96 but the front pass end still has a grinding sound. I don't know what else is down there that can make that noise. I already checked out the whell bearings and they seemed fine.

It could be that the bearings don't wiggle with the wheel but they are in fact shot. I wont know until I replace the bearing ..

 

[MountaineerGreen]

I had a bad bearing, it didn't wiggle, just made noise. Sounded like a worn out mud tire on there.

 

[dkchrist]

nice write up but i don't think you have to pull the tie rod though i have done 2 passenger and one driver on my pickup (driver's was completely unnecessary) but i think that you can pull the inside and the diff will leak sometimes but then you can push the inside end through the notch in the A-arm and slide it out the bottom on the passenger driver is a different story. Not sure if this will work for everyone because i have no torsion bars

 

[tonymac97XL]

G-96XLT:
I had noise in the front end, the wheel didn't move. While I had the CV out (the first time), I spun the bearing by hand and it made really nice grinding noises, and was obviously bad. I figure that's your problem.

 

[G-96XLT]

I'll let you guys know in a day or two if it was the bearing. I will be taking the known good ones off the 96 and putting them on the 2000.

 

[Provokr]

Good write up!!!
a little info:

Axle Nut 157-212 Ft Lbs. Ideal: 170

Hub to Knuckle Bolts 70-80 Ft Lbs.
REMEMBER: DO NOT OVER TORQUE. DO NOT TIGHTEN WITH AN IMPACT WRENCH/GUN!!!!!!!! OVER OR UNDER TORQUING IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF PREMATURE BEARING FAILURE!!!!!!

 

[Gustav129]

nice write up but i don't think you have to pull the tie rod though i have done 2 passenger and one driver on my pickup (driver's was completely unnecessary) but i think that you can pull the inside and the diff will leak sometimes but then you can push the inside end through the notch in the A-arm and slide it out the bottom on the passenger driver is a different story. Not sure if this will work for everyone because i have no torsion bars

Normally you don't pull a tie rod, It is possible to mess up an alignment that way. On all of the CV axles I've done (also a fwd import fanatic), I've just popped the lower ball joint up, and the whole knuckle assemble pulls up. Then you pull it out of the trans first and then out of the hub.

Then reassemble in reverse order.

 

[carguy101]

this helped o much thanks!!

one thing you may want to add is that there are races that are on the old c/v's that need to either be replaced or reused heres what i am talking about, i realised they were there after i put it all back together
sorry i suck in paint

 

[gijoecam]

Those are the dust excluder seals. A lot of people just leave them off. They should stay pressed into the spindle, but sometimes they don't.

-Joe

 

[MountaineerGreen]

To bring this back up- I tried this method on a bone stock Sport Trac tonight, worked just fine, it was a little tighter than my lifted suspension, but the CV axles came out all the same.

 

[brianjwilson]

I also did this same thing while replacing my front differential in my 2005 sport trac last Saturday. Pulling the cv shaft through the hub was definitely tight but it worked.

 

[ragingbull2k2]

FWIW, if you heat up the bolts to remove the bearing assembly (or the caliper mounting bolts) with a propane torch or whatever, it makes short work of removing them... specially handy if you don't have much room for a 4' breaker bar, lol... it loosens up the generous amount of thread lock ford left there for all of us, hehe... good write up, btw

Joey

 

[brianjwilson]

Welcome to the forum Joey!

 

[BrooklynBay]

Could you make this a sticky thread?

 

[antimony51]

Great write up, Evan. I did this same job on the driver's side of my 1997 X last summer. Someone may have mentioned this already, but I don't think you have to loosen the tie rod end. When I did it, I removed a bolt at the top of the steering knuckle that keeps it connected to the upper control arm. Once it's out, pry the arm out of the knuckle and the knuckle becomes free. The hardest thing about the whole job was removing the bolts. Major PITA. I had to replace many of them because I stripped most of them and had to use bolt-out kits to remove them.