PX Ranger CV Replacement

[mac_man_luke]

Today i replaced my passenger CV shaft after my failure in the high country and then failure of the replacement aftermarket shaft soon after.

Job in theory is easy and shouldn't take to long.
- Drained the diff (not totally needed, but my old was of unknown quality after the ordeal)
- Loosen the shaft nut
- remove the wheel
- remove brake calliper and brake hose brackets, secured with wire.
- remove bolts holding ABS cable to free up extra cable.
- undo tie rod end
- undo upper control arm ball joint (easy in my case with a uni ball but not too hard with factory ball joint)
- tap shaft out of hub and then pull out from the diff

This is where my trouble started, the outer CV fell apart as soon as i pushed it out the hub.
Later removed the booted, investigated and found the crappy retaining clip had fallen off.
Then attempting to remove the shaft from the diff first by gentle levering as all that should be required but it wouldn't budge. Proceeded to use bigger levers and even resorted to hitting the pry bar with large hammer. No luck.

Struggled with it for about 4 hours!

Search the net for ideas and i came across someone else in a similar situation and they made a tool with a slide hammer and vice grips - quick trip to super cheap, fire up the welder and i ended up with these:



I undid the boot from the CV and grabbed the outer shell with the vice grips
and worked it. Rotated it a few times and finally it came.

Massive relief!



Proceeded to take a bunch of photos comparing my new OEM shaft to the aftermarket unit
and i really can't believe 1) someone could make and sell such garbage 2) mechanic would even install it, soon as i looked at it i could tell it was rubbish and there is no way i would have installed it.















Proceeded to remove the oil seal as it had been weeping after the previous repair (and just good practice while its apart)





Tapped the seal in with perfect sized piece of pipe
Didn't get a photo of the new seal installed as it was getting late.

New shaft back in, popped into the diff sweet as - much easier than the beating it took the mechanics in Heyfield to get the aftermarket shaft back in.

All back together, diff topped up, everything degreased and back on the road in about 1hr after getting the old shaft out.

Confident i could carry the tools and do one on the side of the track now (well with factory shafts it should be much quicker and easier)

Going to do the drivers side as well but that can wait for another weekend.

Going to get in contact with the mechanic from Mansfield this week and hopefully get at least a refund on the shaft.

Parts and specific tools needed:
Driveshafts
Oil seal
New shaft nuts (single use)
35mm socket for ford shaft nuts
36mm socket for aftermarket nut ($22 socket for one use )
? ratchet for diff drain and fill plugs (square drive...)
½ socket set and assorted spanners etc

 

[80lover96gxl]

Wow, nice work luke.
Kinda the chance you take sometimes with after market gear. Looking at the pics its easy to see the inferior quality of the aftermarket cv and not suprising it fell out being to short and a crappy retaining ring.

Atleast you now have the skills to do a replacement fix on the tracks,,just make sure ro pack your new wizz bang tool you fashioned up in the back mate.

 

[mac_man_luke]

yea thats kinda why i did it myself, much nicer knowing how something goes together if something goes wrong.

The slide hammer and big sockets will go in my tool bag now.

 

[nightscale]

Should have put a locker in while you had it half apart

 

[4key]

Wow I can't believe the difference between the two parts no wonder it popped out again on the tracks, should not be allowed to sell that crap. The vice grips and slide hammer genius, sounds like it worked a treat. Glad to hear you have it sorted well done mate.

 

[cookie64]

Well done Luke, good result in the end, Google is your friend

That's the problem with non genuine parts sometimes, they are just not made the same. I have that issue in my business particularly with Lamps and cables where the client wants the cheaper parts, I tend to let them go elsewhere as it is just not worth it.

Me, personally I tend to go with the best product / part preferably Australian.

cheers

 

[abw]

Yeah, that cheap cv looks pretty average. You'll probably also find the splines and thread on the cheapy are machined, rather than rolled (which is a lot stronger).

Did you buy a new original cv or had your old one rebuilt?

 

[Cavsarge]

yea thats kinda why i did it myself, much nicer knowing how something goes together if something goes wrong.

The slide hammer and big sockets will go in my tool bag now.

Good to see you got it sorted, I have been carrying an OEM shaft for a while but not sure if I could honestly repair it trackside to be honest - thanks for the write up. There was a spate of failure of aftermarket cv's for the hilux's a while ago which is the only reason I spent the extra coin on an original.

 

[GUnka]

Good to see you've got it sorted mate. It's pretty obvious looking at the genuine and aftermarket shafts side by side how much of an inferior product it is. I would also be a bit dubious about the actual tensile strength of the aftermarket one also just by the looks of it as some of the cheaper Chinese products are known to use a lesser quality of steel and quality control in the actual hardening process would probably leave a lot to be decided. Top idea with the slide hammer-vice grip, have actually seen one on a US tv show once and thought it was a handy tool to have but have never actually come across one in any of the local tool shops.

Just something I found after my rear locker crapped out and failed to work the first time I tried it is if your Ranger has some form of VDC or stability control being a fairly new model and as Victoria made it mandatory fitment on all passenger and commercial light vehicles from Jan 2011 you might have a similar feature to mine where it uses the ABS system as an LSD on both axles even in 4L (traction control is disabled but stability control still active) as long as the locker is not engaged, as is the case with mine that when the locker is engaged the ABS is disabled. Maybe something you can check up on as I found it worked a treat on the tracks in the HC.

 

[hiluxdriver]

Do you mind sharing the supplier of the aftermarket piece? I will look at buying a spare or 2 for an upcoming cape trip and not real keen on opening the packet to find one like yours lol. Nice work on the repair, how long did it take in the end? And don't worry about the 36mm socket, it will probably get used one more time at least.

 

[GUnka]

http://imgur.com/63ArFrJl

Looking at the wear/witness marks on the spline of the aftermarket shaft it looks like there was less than 10mm of contact area at the best of times and can imagine during flex/wheel drop there would have been barely any especially without the extra splining all the way to the end of the shaft. You can tell what a cheap and nasty part it is by the fact that after they machined off the splines on the end of the shaft (why they would even do that god only knows as you can still see what looks like small marks all the way around the end) they didn't even bother to chamfer or deburr it. No wonder it popped out.

Also with the diff drop going in it will push the shaft even further in and give you a heap more contact/surface area on the splines.

 

[mac_man_luke]

Should have put a locker in while you had it half apart

Haha i did consider it but it was $1600 i didn't have at the moment

Just something I found after my rear locker crapped out and failed to work the first time I tried it is if your Ranger has some form of VDC or stability control being a fairly new model and as Victoria made it mandatory fitment on all passenger and commercial light vehicles from Jan 2011 you might have a similar feature to mine where it uses the ABS system as an LSD on both axles even in 4L (traction control is disabled but stability control still active) as long as the locker is not engaged, as is the case with mine that when the locker is engaged the ABS is disabled. Maybe something you can check up on as I found it worked a treat on the tracks in the HC.

Yea mine has some traction/stability control in 4L, its not bad but i prefer the positive traction of the locker, pity it can't continue to provide traction control to the front axle while engaged.

Do you mind sharing the supplier of the aftermarket piece? I will look at buying a spare or 2 for an upcoming cape trip and not real keen on opening the packet to find one like yours lol. Nice work on the repair, how long did it take in the end? And don't worry about the 36mm socket, it will probably get used one more time at least.

Once i know ill let you know, unfortunately the invoice has no information and the part has no markings!

I reckon i took about 8hrs, the next one i reckon will take less than 2hrs.

 

[Swaggie]

Hi Luke

What was the cost of the aftermarket and the original.. Looking at that you wouldn't go aftermarket anyway...

Makes you wonder though, mine are still original after 10 years plus now. What year is your vehicle..

Nice report..

Going to get in contact with the mechanic from Mansfield this week and hopefully get at least a refund on the shaft

Id say if you have the time take them to a small claims tribunal for the lot..

 

[mac_man_luke]

its a 2012, has done 50,000km with 40,000km lifted.

Aftermarket was $360 and OEM was $500. If i had the option a the time i would have never touched the aftermarket for that price difference.

 

[Swaggie]

its a 2012, has done 50,000km with 40,000km lifted.

Aftermarket was $360 and OEM was $500. If i had the option a the time i would have never touched the aftermarket for that price difference.

Have you an idea of the brand he used, usually they state as good as OEM or better.. Sorry something went wrong with my first reply and I hadnt finished, it didn't even show I posted straightaway lol...

This mechanic has real issues if he is fitting rubbish like that... I meant to say if he doesn't come to the party look at the alternative.. Can you pm me the business name...

Cheers

 

[80lover96gxl]

So whens the first test trip off road mate ?

 

[mac_man_luke]

Not sure yet, was thinking of trying to get a trip in before Hopes though.

would also like to get the diff drop in which should arrive monday.

 

[80lover96gxl]

Not sure yet, was thinking of trying to get a trip in before Hopes though.

would also like to get the diff drop in which should arrive monday.

Yeah id be fitting that before heading off rd again mate,,just for total piece of mind.

So do you think you'll make the hopes trip ?

 

[mills63]

Great post Luke glad it has all come together for you.
Great tool there.
Cant believe the difference between the OME and aftermarket.

Steve

 

[mac_man_luke]

Yeah id be fitting that before heading off rd again mate,,just for total piece of mind.

So do you think you'll make the hopes trip ?

Yea definitely