Front Drive Axle ('half shaft") replacement - 2001 Intrepid

Anyone changed their own front drive axles on the LH series ? Any
tricks or tough parts ? Or is it worth paying the dealer to do it ?

I've got one noisy outer CV joint and the time has come.

Thanks...Phil

 

Hi Phil. I did the passenger side on my '99 Concorde one time. I only
ran into one snag, but that went away once I figured out the trick to it
- which I will pass on to you now. The problem was that when I pried
outward on the innermost part of the axle to dislodge it from the tranny
stub, it wouldn't come out. I finally figured that, due to the shape of
things, most of the prying force was going in a radial direction and
causing a binding - prying harder didn't help. Once I realized what was
happening, I applied two levers at one time on opposite sides of the
axle (more like 120° apart - again, due to the shape of the axle) to
minimize the side-wise force and binding, and it popped right out. It
was rather awkward to manage the two levers simultaneously, but it only
needed a second of the dual lever action to get it out - if it had taken
longer, I probably wouldn't have been physically able to do it (or would
have needed a helper). I think the pros maybe have a slide hammer type
deal with a clevis that grips the tranny end of the axle - that would
have worked really well since it applies a purely axial force.

Also, if there seems to be a bit more radial play in the tranny stub
(which gets amplified by the axle length) than you expect, don't let
that alarm you - it's normal (and if I had known that, I probably would
not have needed to replace the axle - I had let a shop convince me that
the axle was bad when it really wasn't).

HTH!

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Oh, one more thing - pushing the axle stub out of the bearing/hub
assembly is straight forward. Sometimes the stub is tight and needs a
good strong puller, other times, it slips out by hand. If it is
stubborn (corroded, tight due to tolearance stackups, or whatever), a
moderately decent three-legged puller is a must. A two-legged puller
will just flip over to one side or the other when the force starts
building. (I do not like the "hit it really hard with a big hammer"
method that a lot of people seem to be comfortable with.)

Pay attention to the fit of the control arm ball joint stud in the
bottom of the knuckle when you are putting things back together. Check
the condition of the keeper bolt and make sure it properly lines up and
goes thru the relief in the side of the ball joint stud. That's a
single point failure for your whole wheel coming off. Use the specified
torque on that bolt - no more - no less. It's a non-tapered clevis
joint (makes removal really easy - no puller needed).

I guess that was two more things.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Thanks for all of that Bill. Much appreciated.

Any difficulty with the retainer clip (circlip) on the inner end of the
shaft ?

 

You're welcome, and no.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')