Have read some old posts on this including an answer from James at MSD that says
"undo hub nut,
jack up,
Wheel off,
Undo the bottom ball joint pin or nut, lever down with a big bar and swing the hub free
pull shaft out
job done, 10 mins tops"

I have had this done at two different places in the past few days (first for a CV boot second because the first had somehow broken needle rollers on inner CV causing wierd wobble on acceleration) and they can never seem to get the ball joint to come out of the hub. It seems to be on too much of an angle and end up having to disconnect the track rod from the crossmember and then it is a bitch to get it all back together afterwards.
I ask because I think it needs to come off again and if it could be a 10 min job that would be great.
Also does anyone know if with the wheel hub nut off you should be able to knock the shaft back against the inner CV joint spring of is it a really tight fit in the hub. worried there is no movement left in CV i.e. bottomed out (shaft too long?????) Thanks David

 

Been looking under the car again and see that the angle on the ball joint is not nearly as bad with the weight on the car. Should they be knocked out with some weight on the suspension rather than with it hanging in mid air. David

 

The way that James explained it is the easiest way im afraid. Had to change both sides of one of my drive shafts the other month. You can get the anti roll bar ball joint of the hub on your own but need help to get it back on. This may help as it did me, but what ever side you are working on push the track arm away from you i.e if it is one the left turn the wheels to the right or visa versa. It helped get the ball joint back on just that little bit easier. Make sure the hub but is tight as fook as a garage didn't do mine up once when I didn't know how to do this a while back and wrote of my abs sensor as tooth bit of the outer cv joint.
There won't be enough room to knock the shaft against the inner cv spring I'm afraid.

Ben

 

When I have to remove the front drive shafts which is quite often due to breakages I find that the TCA comes out easier if I jack the Brake Disc up a little and compress the suspension about 100mm and the same when I re-fit

Hope that is some help?

 

thats a great idea, wish i done that when i did mine lol

 

are you changing the shaft of the cv joint?

if you don't need to change the cv then you don't need to undo the big nut, just the little internal circlip inside the cv joint and you can then pop the shaft out

the inner joint will then slide out and you can do what you need to do, including changing both gaitors

with a workshop and full tools etc you can do it in 10 minutes

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I understand what you are saying dojj if not changing the outer CV but the problem has always been unable to get the lower suspension arm (TCA???) ball joint to come out of the spindle carrier (after removing the torx bolt of course) It seems to be on a large inwards angle when hanging in the air so I am hoping that the suggestion by Blades rally team to jack the brake disk up a little will reduce the angle and allow it to come out. My actual problem at the moment is that after changing the complete front driveshafts (including inner and outer CV's) on both sides I am getting a very metallic knocking on startup. Although the fitted parts were supposed to be for a 4x4 saph cos I am a bit suspicious that the shafts are slightly too long and there is no "give" left against the spring in the inner CV (i.e bottomed out). My next thought was to put back the original shafts with the new CV's. I am assuming it is possible to remove the CV's from the shaft. I have seen that one of them just pulls off and am hoping the other is removed by taking out a circlip as mentioned by Dojj. Thanks again for any advise you can give. David

 

Sorry just read the answers again. Kossienutter - when you say "There won't be enough room to knock the shaft against the inner cv spring I'm afraid."
are you saying you wont be able to feel any free play left against the spring. We were trying to test this by knocking against the shaft where it protrudes from the hub with a soft faced mallet ( with the big nut removed so it could theoretically slide back in to the hub against the spring) Thanks again David

 

Thanks for the info Tony. I am now wondering if these may be grp n shafts as I purchased them off a guy who used to rally a 4x4 cosworth and he had them as unused spares after he sold the car. If this is the case should they not work anyway. It seems to drive O.K. but I get this loud knocking on startup that vibrates right through the seat and I and a few others have had a good look under the car and can't see anything else (exhaust, driveshafts etc ) that is anywhere near close enough to be hitting something when the engine shakes during starting. As it only started happening after changing the front drive shafts they are my prime suspects. David

 

Will do thanks. Have had problems with these in the past. Actually ripped an inner CV apart under acceleration due to the engine torquing over with stuffed mount. shaft still attached to hub then slapped around under the car and demolished many parts including alloy crossmember. David

 

the longer shafts will bind up against the inside of the cv joints so not really ideal for what you want to do

the rattle, does it come when the engien is started or when you are driving?

 

Noise is just as engine fires. Not present while cranking. Sounds a bit like when I had my exhaust hitting my front transfer shaft once before but I have checked that. David

 

Have you checked the mounts aren't broken?

 

I did have a look at them but have not yet jacked on the engine to make sure they are still bonded. If it was these it is strange that it only showed up after changing the shafts. CheeRS David

 

If you have only taken off the hub nut you wont I dont think be able to push the shaft throught the hub, Inwards against the inner cv's spring as it would bottom out unless you move the ball joint out the way.

 

Thanks again for all the replies. Going in again early next week with the plan of putting back the original shafts with the new CV's. Hoping jacking suspension up a bit allows ball joint to drop out easier turning it back into a 10 min job instead of a couple of hours. CheeRS David

 

Just another ideas lol. Undo the bolt that holds the bottom of the shock to the hub and get a bar to lower the hub off the shock. But have someone to grab the hub so it doesn't rip the cv boots of the cv joints. Then it will be easier getting the ball joint off. Give the bottom of the shock/hub a good soak in plus gas for ten mins to lossen it up. Then all you should have attached to the hub is the tracking arm.