2010 cv axles

[mtntrogger]

Looking for advice on doing both of the cv axles on my 2010 1500 5.7 , There's tons of YouTube vids that show the driver side but almost none that show the passenger side. Hoping someone on here has done this and can provide some insight. I've done more difficult repairs for sure but I'm really curious about what to expect. In particular wondering about the half/intermediate shafts. Should I expect that the old ones will not come apart ? I haven't ordered any parts yet because I want to make sure I get the right ****. I read somewhere that the passenger side requires some diff disassembly ? Anyone know if that is true on the 2010 ?

While I have it all apart I am planning on also replacing the inner and outer tie rods as well as the sway links. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Burla]

I can only say this, if I was just doing cv axles, I'd price them out at les shuab before I broke sweat on it. I had them do mine, I had asked pricing it was very reasonable for this type of work. If I was attempting this as dyi, I'd go all in and expect at least 2 days, and take out axle shafts especially a 2010 that has never had any stub shaft replacement, a long with ball joints. I cant see doing all of this knuckle breaking work just to do cv's. 3 hours labor to a shop that has all of the tools is an easy choice for me, but that wouldn't be all of the other items that likely you need anyhow. Last time I did something similar to this it helped to have a second guy. But doing all of this on your own and when those other items fail it has to come apart again in a 16 year old truck. Just ponder it.

 

[Wild one]

Looking for advice on doing both of the cv axles on my 2010 1500 5.7 , There's tons of YouTube vids that show the driver side but almost none that show the passenger side. Hoping someone on here has done this and can provide some insight. I've done more difficult repairs for sure but I'm really curious about what to expect. In particular wondering about the half/intermediate shafts. Should I expect that the old ones will not come apart ? I haven't ordered any parts yet because I want to make sure I get the right ****. I read somewhere that the passenger side requires some diff disassembly ? Anyone know if that is true on the 2010 ?

While I have it all apart I am planning on also replacing the inner and outer tie rods as well as the sway links. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

This is for the ZF diff,but i think your 2010 still might have the old corporate 8.00" AAM diff

Dodge Front Axle Repair and Replacement, Rick Roods Transmission

Welcome to Rick Roods Transmission!For our first tutorial we've got the 2012 and up 1/2 dodge front axle repair and replacement as Bruce Rood shows in the vi...

www.youtube.com

 

[mtntrogger]

I can only say this, if I was just doing cv axles, I'd price them out at les shuab before I broke sweat on it. I had them do mine, I had asked pricing it was very reasonable for this type of work. If I was attempting this as dyi, I'd go all in and expect at least 2 days, and take out axle shafts especially a 2010 that has never had any stub shaft replacement, a long with ball joints. I cant see doing all of this knuckle breaking work just to do cv's. 3 hours labor to a shop that has all of the tools is an easy choice for me, but that wouldn't be all of the other items that likely you need anyhow. Last time I did something similar to this it helped to have a second guy. But doing all of this on your own and when those other items fail it has to come apart again in a 16 year old truck. Just ponder it.

Thanks like I said in the op, I've done harder repairs. I had a 2nd generation ram that I ended up pulling all the gears from the front pumpkin out and replaced successfully. Even my local parts store guys were impressed and told me that not many people go that deep into their vehicles. The other thing is that I live in the middle of the mountains in a resort area, the nearest city is 2 hours away so there's no les schwab or anything like that around here and our local shops charge close to 200 per hour for labor and definitely charge way, way more for parts than they can be bought for. I haven't asked for a estimate yet but I'd guess they'd be charging me around 2k to do the work I'm planning on doing. They wanted around a grand just to swap the tranny fluid and coolant in my wife's volvo ! And yes I don't expect it to be easy or fast, if it takes me the better part of 2 days I'm fine with it. I'll probably end up spending around 300 or so in parts which is a hell of a lot better than 2k.

 

[mtntrogger]

Finally got started on this project today ! I feel like I should have done a video, after watching dozens that had lots of incorrect details. For anyone else that goes through this, here's a few things that I noticed.
First the axle nut on my truck was a 36mm, most videos said it was a 35, although the nut on the new axle is a 35. Saw plenty of folks try to take this nut off after removing the wheel, I knew better and left the tire on the ground til the axle nut was broke free.

Next big thing is that the knuckle does not need to come all the way off. I got the upper part removed from the upper control arm fairly easily but the bottom knuckle bolt (24mm) was a pain. I got the bolt loose pretty easy with a impact, but was struggling removing it, especially with all that weight on it. Took ALOT of hammering to break the ball joint loose, I used the back side of a axe and a intense amount of excessive aggression to finally beat it loose but again, with all that weight the nut was a pain to remove so I just tilted the knuckle out and the axle was able to slip out. I pulled it out of the boot on the diff side. I also removed the Swing arm link.

Next will be the crux of the project which I'm dreading a bit, removing that last peice of the old axle from the stub shaft or both together from the diff. This is the part everyone seems to have a hard time with. Gonna go at it with the hammer for a while, if that don't work I'll try the slide hammer rental from my local parts store.

Wish me luck fellas ! I'm gonna need it. I'll report back on here in hopes that it will help someone else that goes through the same thing.

 

[mtntrogger]

So I completed the job yesterday. Used a rented slide hammer to get the driver side off. Had it well lubed with pb blaster and it came off with just a few whacks. Did the Swing arm links relatively easily and the tie rods werent too bad either. I got a late start on the passenger side, was probably around 4 by the time i wrapped up the drivers side .I only expected to get it apart but I ended up finishing it up around 7 or so.

So the passenger side only took about 3 hours total but I skipped removing the rotor since it was pretty seized on the hub. I hammered on it for a bit then realized it didn't need to come off, I just tilted the knuckle (still connected at the bottom) and the axle came out. Removing the inner piece was more difficult than the driver side. The area is harder to access and it was also stuck on even worse. I ended up putting a torch on it before using the slide hammer to pop it off. Overall it wasn't as bad as thought it would be. I probably put 8 hours total in, which includes the sway links and both inner and outer tie rods on both sides as well as the cv axles. Really not that bad, but I'd say the impact was pretty critical to the success of this job.

I dropped it off this morning to get the alignment checked, lol they called me and said the inner tie rods were a bit loose. I torqued literally every other nut and bolt except those because the tie rod tool didn't work with the original or aftermarket part and I ended up using a pipe wrench to tighten them ! Good thing the alignment shop was only about 3 miles away.
I hope this thread helps out someone else that is looking to tackle this project.

 

[Burla]

Nice write up boss.