I just replaced my front wheel bearings on the passenger side and now I am having a heck of a time reinstalling the hub assembly. The problem I am having is getting the lower ball joint lined up with the half shaft installed. Trying to install the half shaft after installing the hub assembly hasn't helped either due to my inability to get the half shaft in with hub assembly in. I wrecked the half shaft while trying to perform the installation and would appreciate any advice before I try to put in the new shaft. Thanks
You can't do it with the CV shaft installed. You must get everything back together totally then reinstall the CV shaft last. It takes seconds to line up the CV shaft if you spin the wheel to the right spot.
Here is the whole sequence written out. The wheel bearing bolts first to a cast spindle with three bolts. That entire assembly has to pop into the upper and lower ball joints and get tightened down. Then there is a cast piece that has a hole at one end for your tie rod balljoint and then two holes at the other end that get bolted to the spindle with two three quarter inch drive nuts. It has to be removed already in order for the lower ball joint to get into its hole. Once the ball joints are tight, its time to have that piece tightened down at this point or you won't have room for the breaker bar later. Line it up with both front wheels held off the ground with the jack in the center of the front of the car. Thread your two half inch bolts in as best you can with your fingers. Then walk around and reach through the driver's side window with the key turned in the ignition and turn the steering wheel all the way to one side. Walk back around, tighten one of the two bolts with a breaker bar, then walk back and turn the wheel all the way to the opposite side, exposing the other bolt. Tighten that one with the breaker bar. Walk back around and spin the steering wheel to put the wheels pointed all the way to the left for the passenger side installation, all the way to the right if you're working on the driver side. Slide the CV shaft into the hub in this orientation so that you have room to get it all the way in and the inner part of the CV shaft past the end of the axle. Finger tighten a few bolts into the axle. Straighten the wheel. Put the tire back on. Lower the car back down to the ground (or put a block of wood under it and just put enough weight on the block to keep the tire from spinning) so that the axle shaft can't spin. (Alternatively you can put the caliper on now and have an assistant push on the brake pedal to keep the rotor from spinning, which is slightly faster) Tighten the lower three bolts with your 8mm allen key. Take tension off the tire by jacking it up or having your assistant let go of the brake. Spin the axle shaft 180 degrees. Tighten the other three bolts. Then go to the nut at the outside of the hub and tighten that down. Done.
Before crawling under the car to try to push the CV shaft in, make sure you test fit the splines. Just slide the end of the CV shaft into the wheel bearing from the opposite side. Sometimes rust makes it really hard to slide in. Don't bother crawling under the car until you've gotten the splines cleaned up so that they slide into the wheel bearing effortlessly.
Last weekend Phil borrowed my garage to do this to swap his with one of my spairs. It took him three hours for the driver side and then 45 minutes on the passenger side to both take it apart and put it back together. Its amazing how easy and how faster something is the second time you do it.
Capt, you need to write a book of how tos for the Eagle. You know more about these dang cars than most of us combined. Very impressive!
Thanks, I got the new halfshaft a few days ago and am going to try and put in tommorow. I have never had a half shaft take this much effort before, you have to love the eagle. I bought this car to rob the bottom end for my cherokee, long story short the cherokee is gone but the eagle isn't. Thanks, I'll let you know how it turns out.
What kind of trouble are you having? I found the exact opposite. I replaced half shafts on two different Eagles I've owned, and was quite surprised how easy it was. But they were both Colorado cars and no rust or corrosion.
Wow, installing the new half shaft was a breeze, The problem I had with the old one was due to corrosion on the splines that prevented me from sliding the splines into the hub and gaining the clearance I needed. Thanks for all of your help. Also wanted to throw a shout out to Gronk, Thanks again for providing the carb conversion kit which solved all of my fuel delivery problems.
Good to hear.
Quote from: Mernsy on August 16, 2012, 06:19:01 PM
They're extremely easy to replace as Eaglefreek says. You don't even need to jack the car up let alone remove a wheel.
Check this out.
http://www.amceaglenest.com/~iowaeagl/guide/index.php?title=CV_Half_Shafts
It's actually MUCH harder with the car lifted up because the CV joint usually catches on the lower strut arm bolts. A little PB'Laster in the splines makes it MUCH easier to assemble!