[Ron Lawrence]

Hi folks,

I'm in the middle of a fairly large DIY repair job (for me) on my 2005 Titan and I've hit a stuck point that I'm hoping to get some help with.

I'm trying to replace the driver's side CV axle and I'm having a hard time getting it out after unbolting it. The brakes, are off, the front hub is off (I'm replacing that too) and my ball joint that connects the knuckle to the steering rack is disconnected. So right now the knuckle is being held on at two points, the top up by the strut tower and the bottom. I can't get an angle where I can get the CV shaft out, so I'm thinking I need to remove either the top or bottom of the knuckle to get the shaft out. Both ends look to have some sort of capped bolt and the bottom as an extra pinch bolt looking thing (which I'm able to get the nuts off, but the bolt doesn't seem to want to slide out).

Any help on how to proceed from here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Jasontamu]

remove knuckle from upper control arm....swing knuckle out and allow front axle to come out of the splines from the hub.

you may need a knuckle ball joint tool now since you have everythign else out. normally the knuckle to upper control arm should be the first thing you loosen - loosen only not remove, then later its loose to remove and get the knuckle out of the way.

there will be no tension on that joint so the ball joint will just spin...either get a ball joint tool or a long pry bar, but becareful not to tear the ball joint boot.

-J

 

[Smccarty3]

I couldn't get mine past the strut. I had to remove it, except the bolts on the top of my struts were rusted on and I had to cut them off so I had to buy a strut too.

 

[Ron Lawrence]

Just wanted to follow up on this thread for future references.

My truck is a 2005 LE 4X4. As the post above mentioned, I did have to remove my strut and drop the steering knuckle to get the CV axle out. I also found a factory service manual online and it indicated the same (it also said the driveshaft needed to be disconnected, which I find very odd).

I had a hell of a time getting the upper ball joint back tight again due to it spinning. I ended up using two racketing straps connecting between the UCA and LCA and making it tight as heck to put pressure on the joint, and that finally worked (also used an impact gun).

I've done a few CV axles and this was by far the crappiest one, so good luck if you're doing this job