Help changing front axle

[Sherwood]

Alright, I have searched my tail off on here and could not find anyone who has changed their front axle on a later model Ex. I have looked in my Haynes manual and it says to just pry out the axle from the diff. Then at the end it says to unbolt the front diff from the truck and take the axle out. I think there was a typo because about five steps earlier, it already told you to take the axle out of the vehicle. What I want to know is. Do i really need to drop the front end or can you in fact just pry it out of the diff? I dont want to start prying and end up busting it up. If you in fact have changed one please let me know. Thanks, Eric

 

[Billy177]

are you talking about the front cv's

 

[Sherwood]

Yeah but the whole axle from the diff to the wheel.

 

[Billy177]

i have not done that but i a pretty sure the diff has to come out. that is the only way to get the cover off to undo the c clips

 

[Sherwood]

Thats what I was wondering. In the Haynes manual it says just to pry it out. Nowhere does it say to drop the diff or pull the cover off or anything just pry out the axle. I was wondering if it was just held in place by the c-clip and not locked on place. Like on of those deals where you can "pop" it in and out of place with enough pressure. Then toward the end it says to put a new c-clip on it before reinstalling the new axle back in the diff. Again, nowhere does it say to drop the diff or pull the cover. I already dropped the diff once to put the lift on that is why I was wondering because I know how much of a pain in the keister it is to do that.