CV Joint & Axle/Shaft Replacement

I dont know if Ryan ever did the job? He did not get back to us. judging by the pic it dont look that difficult.and according to the manual can be done on the car.All you will need is a seal puller.a few bucks at the parts shop.

Thanks robo. The seal part is in the mail. Do you have a description/part number on the seal puller? Can I run down and get this at an autozone?

Im in the process of doing this.

I talked to the GM Dealer service department and was told that the output shaft is just on that spline and the oil seal. The actual shaft inside the transmission is carried by bearings.

Im waiting on a CV axle. Im replacing the axle, wheel bearing and the seal. This should solve the problem one way or another, lol.

Seal pullers can be bought at any parts store for around $10 or so. Its basically a handle with two different hooks on the end. Trying to get a oil seal out with out this tool is usually horrible.

Ok Im eyes deep into this.

To answer my own initial question yes there is a bushing style bearing in that cap that does ride on the cv axle portion where the spline is.

Also worthy of note is the small diameter that the spline is on is a separate part from the larger portion that holds the CV bearings. It to is on a spline and there is play in this spline as well as the spline in the transmission.

What Im getting at here is that between both spline and a somewhat worn out axle and a bad oil seal, I get the play I seen. Just for the fun of it tomorrow Im going to throw some telescoping gage down on that bearing and check the CV axle shaft that came out of the car. Granted I only have calipers but I should be able to get a half-arsed reading.

Ryan, if you could take pictures of your job for this thread I would be forever grateful. I think I'm going to try and tackle this this weekend. I'm a little confused about what you are referring to as the spline. Can you clarify?

Also, what do you currently have for a CV axle? OEM?

Why are you replacing the wheel bearing?

Right now for parts, I have a used OEM CV axle from Morad and a new seal to replace an Autozone reman cv axle and a leaking seal.

Look a few posts above. There is a picture showing where the oil seal and bearing rides. At the end there are splines with a circular clip. This is the end that goes into the transmission. The other end has splines into the wheel bearing.

Why am I replacing it?

Well to be honest when I did the lower ball joint I had to cut the sway bar link. While doing so the cut off wheel grabbed and pulled it into the boot. I cut the boot and grease has flung out. I have a bearing related noise- so given the labor involved in doing this a $40 CV axle without a cut boot is worth it. Sure fire way to cure the bearing sound on that side too.

All done and cleaned up. 3 hrs to get it all back together.

Sorry no pictures it was balls to the wall to get it done tonight. It was 30 out Monday, around 62 yesterday and upto 67 today. Tomorrow the weather is going to cool off and rain.

Having the same problem today getting the cv axle out from the driver's side. It seriously won't come. I even hitched up a winch to another car. Still no budge. This is extremely frustrating.

spray some liquid wrench in ther..maybe that will help

I was able to pry the driver side one out fairly easily. I'm thinkin' the trick is you need to get levers prying on two sides of it because once I did that, it didn't seem to take an extraordinary amount of effort. God help you if it's an aftermarket shaft though. They have a more cone shape to them and there's no good surface to pry against. I couldn't even get it out at all. Also, you can try turning it part of a turn and try again. It'll come much easier when the C clip has the gap facing the top. Obviously you cannot see it's position but you can turn it a quarter at a time and try until you get it.

Yep. Pry, turn, pry again. Try to pry from both sides at once. It takes some force.

Anyone have a PN# for the front drivers side axle?
I also have tranny fluid seeping out from a bad seal.

I can't find a PN# anywhere. Please advise! Thank you!

9471n or 9471 from auto zone depends on if you have a 33mm or 34mm nut size

DO NOT get a remaned part. They do not fit properly. You can see from my earlier posts. My seal leak was caused by installing remans. Do yourself a favor and get a GM used axle from morad parts on ebay.

So get a used GM axle and dont buy ANY of these?

That is absolutely correct. Avoid the nightmare I went through. You may need to replace the seal. THAT you can buy from an autozone or other after market store. I got my seal from advanced auto.

Inface, most of the time it may just need to be the seal that needs to get replaced. What makes you think there is something wrong with your axle?

The boot is torn and I have grease all over the wheel well. I also see tran fluid seeping out.

Enough said. Get the morad axle. Otherwise an easier option may be exploring boot repair kits.

How about a pick n pull axle from the yard? Wont that work?

Sure but rather than pulling it yourself, morad has done it for you. You may save a few bucks but meh.

so buying a new axle is a huge mistake? There are no new axles we can buy for our cars? It just doesnt sound right...........



I want new!

Buying a new GM part is $$$ I'm talking maybe $500ish. You can check with your local GM shop if they have any if you want to go that route. Used GM part it's like max $80 and they are bullet proof. Morad may even have a warranty on his parts. Anyone on here will tell you go to with the used GM over a POS Chinese reman. No offense if you're Chinese.

I was chinese.

Cool. I will check the yards and Morad.
Thanks, Drew.

ive got the autozones in mine with no problem for over 30000 miles. my guess is you or your mechanic didnt do somethin right when installing yours

and remember the pass side is difrent on the sc engines than the na ones

I've been installing GM and aftermarket axles for years. I've used NAPA, Advance, Autozone, PepBoys, etc. I have never had an issue with an axle itself. The only nightmare you will experience is if you install it wrong, or install the wrong part. It's an axle....they work or they don't.

And those are NEW axles that those stores sell, right? Not remans?

Part numbers: https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t7618-faq-the-holy-grail-of-riviera-part-numbers-diagrams#118520

Buying a new axle really doesn't make sense. It's not a wear/maintenance item, so no one buys them (would be like buying a new engine because the oil pan is leaking). Our axles and CV joints are so overbuilt, they shouldn't fail unless a lot of grease leaks out from a torn boot. If you caught yours in time, just have the boot replaced. Try not to drive with the boot torn unless it's getting to the shop!