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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
You should just be able to press it back out of the hub and pull it out from the front diff. Normally there's just a tension clip that holds it in the diff.
you just need to remove the top control arm at the ball joint and that will give you enough room to get the half shaft out. I had to remove mine for a bad seal, it is a really easy and straight forward process.
Remove the axle nut and once you separate the upper ball joint you have enough room to pull the half shaft out. No special tools needed. Sorry I don't have any pictures, once you get in there it's really straight forward.
Why replace the entire half-shaft for a torn boot. Don't they still make replacement split-boots? Cut off the old one, slip the new boot around the joint, fill with grease, and seal it up. I didn't that some time ago on another vehicle, and it held up fine.
PS - The passenger side half shaft (if you do actually need to remove it) goes into an intermediate housing/shaft, not directly into the front diff. This is so the 2 half-shafts can be the same length, even though the front diff is off-center on the drivers side.
If the cut is not too severe then black RTV works very well and you don't even need to pull anything.
I've been running a repair on a similar cut for 2 years with the original RTV
If the cut is not too severe then black RTV works very well and you don't even need to pull anything.
I've been running a repair on a similar cut for 2 years with the original RTV
