How to remove CV from halfshaft?

[Rob]

When I rebuilt my swivels a few mouths ago I could not separate one CV from the short halfshaft using the scaffold pipe trick. What is the best way to get it off if that method fails? Grinder? Very big hammer?

 

[Chris]

Drop it from higher onto something harder?

They aren't supposed to be that hard to separate are they? IS there something else wrong in there?

C

 

[pugwash]

which bit do you want to save?

really big hammer will work, but can dent the CV- a deadblow hammer is the business if you happen to have one

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Is this another Milner CV we're talking about? If so, I think the most common method is to cut it off with a grinder or plasma cutter! I have a puller I made, but to give you an idea of how much that shaft doesn't want to come out, it will take the very end off some of the splines on the shaft when it pulls it out

 

[Rob]

Chris from what i have heard only OEM ones are easy to separate, so I can only assume that it isn't OEM.

I would like to save the halfshaft.

 

[Rob]

Is this another Milner CV we're talking about? If so, I think the most common method is to cut it off with a grinder or plasma cutter!

Not sure if its Milner, was that when I got the truck. It has some surface rust so want to change it. Where do I cut it? Around the ABS teeth?

 

[pugwash]

smack the CV downwards with the biggest hammer you can find- it will come off eventually

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I've never cut one off Rob, I pulled them off. The part of the shaft that gets damaged is the bit that retains the snap ring, usually there is enough material left to hold a snap ring still but I prefer a mar-tack anyway and discard the snap ring. I would think you cut a bit further along than the ABS ring, but it's not going to be too critical I don't think.

 

[callum]

if you are discarding the cv, smash the cage with a hammer to remove the main part of the cv and then use your scaffold pipe the other way round. it took 2 of us several goes of ramming the scaffold pipe down on the cv to remove the star. not very refined, but it came off. as with the other reply, it took some splines off the end of the shaft with it.

 

[Andrew Prince]

Rob, what worked for me was slamming the cv onto a hard surface like a concrete fencepost with the halfshaft hanging free. For some reason when using a tube, I could not get the two to separate despite some enthusiastic pile-driving.
Whacking the bell of the cv downwards onto a concrete post had the halfshaft off within 2 or 3 attempts both times.

I have no clue where the cvs originated from - whether OEM or something else... Truck was on 98k at the time, so I guess probably too long for the original cvs.

 

[Rob]

I have managed to separate the CV from the halfshaft after a 3 hours of using a hammer, angle grinder and chisel. I cut the housing lengthways where the ball bearings are to make a slot just large enough to get the ball bearings out. (had to cut through the cage as well). After they were all removed I could separate the CV housing from the halfshaft with the star shaped inner bit. I tried to crack it off the halfshaft but i got nowhere with this, instead I cut the inner bit just enough to get to the snap rig which I eventually pulled out with some pliers. What was surprising was that the shaft would still not come out , it needed to be hammered out with a brass drift and on closer inspection some of the splines on the end of the shaft are damaged. Will now see it the shaft fits the new OEM CVs, if not some modifications will be done

 

[Andrew Prince]

Was the cv and star all intact as far as you could tell? Before you started your handiwork obviously
What sort of damage done to splines? Twisted or just ground up?

 

[Rob]

It was all intact apart from some pitted rust. The splines right on the end of the shaft had some fresh metal (should of taken a pic), caused by the star when it was pushed through without the snap ring. The shaft needed some persuasion to fit inside the new CV but i was informed by Ian that this is normal.

Hubs all done, just need to assemble the front callipers and then do the rear callipers, and the cruiser will be mobile again