How to Refurbish the Half Shaft
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:41 pm
I had to refurbish the half shaft on the car recently, so I thought I’d do a quick write up.
The reason I did this was as I was fitting CV boots (amongst other things) I noticed a fair amount of play in the bit that bolts to the back of the engine block, turns out that the bearing was well on its way out.
So, here is the half shaft still with the inner CV joint cup attached….
The cup comes off quite easily with a few swift ‘taps’ with a hammer.
Next remove the c clip that keeps the cup in its place, this is the easiest of the three clips and can be done with a flat blade screwdriver.
Once off you are left with this.
Looking down you can see a seal and an external circlip, the circlip keeps the shaft attached to the bearing, and the seal, err, seals.
I found the seal popped out easily by pushing one side down, rocking it out of place.
So now that’s out, the circlip around the shaft can be removed. You will now be able to see another clip, leave this in place for now as the shaft need pressing out first.
I pressed the shaft out from the bearing, but it did not take much force and you’ll probably get away with hammer blows.
Once out the final circlip needs removing, which is easier said than done as it’s rather tricky, you will need internal circlip pliers for this.
Once the clip is out, the bearing can be pressed out, again I’m sure a socket and hammer would suffice.
There’s no point in doing half a job so before fitting the new bits it’s worth cleaning things up.
So onto the new bits, a seal and bearing….
Gently press the new bearing in and refit the clip. I packed the seal with grease as that what the manual told me to.
Now press (or hammer) the shaft back into the bearing, fit the clip and fit the new seal.
And that is it, refit the little CV clip and whack it back into the CV cup.
The reason I did this was as I was fitting CV boots (amongst other things) I noticed a fair amount of play in the bit that bolts to the back of the engine block, turns out that the bearing was well on its way out.
So, here is the half shaft still with the inner CV joint cup attached….
The cup comes off quite easily with a few swift ‘taps’ with a hammer.
Next remove the c clip that keeps the cup in its place, this is the easiest of the three clips and can be done with a flat blade screwdriver.
Once off you are left with this.
Looking down you can see a seal and an external circlip, the circlip keeps the shaft attached to the bearing, and the seal, err, seals.
I found the seal popped out easily by pushing one side down, rocking it out of place.
So now that’s out, the circlip around the shaft can be removed. You will now be able to see another clip, leave this in place for now as the shaft need pressing out first.
I pressed the shaft out from the bearing, but it did not take much force and you’ll probably get away with hammer blows.
Once out the final circlip needs removing, which is easier said than done as it’s rather tricky, you will need internal circlip pliers for this.
Once the clip is out, the bearing can be pressed out, again I’m sure a socket and hammer would suffice.
There’s no point in doing half a job so before fitting the new bits it’s worth cleaning things up.
So onto the new bits, a seal and bearing….
Gently press the new bearing in and refit the clip. I packed the seal with grease as that what the manual told me to.
Now press (or hammer) the shaft back into the bearing, fit the clip and fit the new seal.
And that is it, refit the little CV clip and whack it back into the CV cup.
