# Front Axle question



## SkylineDriftingNinja (Aug 26, 2004)

how much of a problem is it to pull the front axels on a 93 sentra xe automatic? Do I need any special tools? 

thanks


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## I'm tired of my usernamee (Feb 16, 2004)

its not too hard, but make sure that you loosen the axle bolt while the car is on the ground. Also, get a bar to lever out the inner hub. Mine was seized so i had to have a shop use a press to get mine out. Also if you do a search you will find a lot of info on what your looking for.


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## Twiz (Aug 24, 2004)

It's not hard at all you'll need that huge socket to go over the nut... I keep forgetting what size it is... 24 ? and make it a 1/2" drive lol... don't throw a 3/8" ratchet at the wheel nut... and you'll need a 1" galvanized or black pipe to go over your ratchet also mark your wheel alignment with paint before you start taking off any bolts. Follow the torque specs... it's very important and check your wheel bearings too since you're doing this.


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## Hydrolock (Feb 18, 2005)

On the axle take out the cotter pin, little dust thingamagig, and the axle nut, turn the wheel all the way to one side, take out the two bolts holding the strut to the knuckle (take off the caliper if it's in your way) get the knuckle away from the strut and take the axle out of the spindle. Now heres the part that sometimes can be a pain. You'll most likely need a pry bar or something to get that inner end out of the tranny (if you have an bearing in between the tranny and knuckle you'll have to take the bolt out of that first) When it's out change the dust sheilds if you need too, lube the ends up and put her back in. Just make sure its all the way in. Good luck bub.


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## I'm tired of my usernamee (Feb 16, 2004)

the socket i believe is a 32mm. and also to get out the axle from the spindle get a wooden dowel and smack it out using a hammer on the dowel


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## SkylineDriftingNinja (Aug 26, 2004)

Thanks for the replies, I won't be doing it until next week probably, but Ill let you know if I have any other questions :thumbup:


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## Bonesmugglar (Jan 14, 2004)

Dont take out the bolts holding the strut on the spindle, some manu have oval holes on aftermarket struts that allow camber adjustment. Removing these will fuck up everything, Instead removed it by disconnecting the lower ball joint, a lil more pain but at least u wont fuck up the alignment


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## nhladky (Mar 10, 2005)

SkylineDriftingNinja said:


> how much of a problem is it to pull the front axels on a 93 sentra xe automatic? Do I need any special tools?
> 
> thanks


This is something I can actually knowledgably help you with. I just did both of mine yesterday. 

The job isn't that hard, but it will take a few hours so make sure you have about 4 hours to get it done. I'll detail the work I did here:

First of all, my Sentra is is also an 93 XE Automatic and it does not have ABS. You will know if you have ABS by checking to see if you have disk breaks on the rear wheels. If drum breaks are back there, then you do NOT have ABS. This makes the job easy. For the record, I don't think the XE Automatics came with ABS, I believe the SE-Rs and 240's do. 

I'll go with basics to make this a walkthrough for you. First thing's first, if you are going to have to change out the drivers side be prepared to pull the passenger side. The procedure is almost identical on both sides, I will note the only difference in procedures when the time comes. The reason you can not pull the driver side w/o pulling the passenger side is pressure related. The seals will not release on the driver side till the passenger side has been removed. Not sure why, but I pryed for a good 30 minutes before I read that part, and believe me, the drivers side will not come out till the passenger side is removed. 

1- First pull your hub caps for both front tires, and make sure your rear wheels are blocked and your transmission is in neutral with the E-Brake on. 

2- In the middle of the hub is the axle bolt that has a crown with a cotter pin in it. Remove the cotter pin with a flat head screwdriver and pliers, the crown will slide off with ease. Put these parts side by side.

You will need a 32mm high impact deep socket with 1/2" drive, and a breaker bar. The stock torque on the axel bolt is 150 ft/lbs, so you will likely want your breaker to be at least 1.5 ft or more. You'll probably have to use your legs to break the bolts free. Note- all bolts turn counter clockwise to remove. Do not remove the axle bolt, but do break it free so it will come off easily later.

Remember, if doing the driver side (left) half shaft(axle), you will have to remove the passenger side half shaft first.

3- Loosen the lug nuts for both front tires. Jack up both sides of the vehicle and lower onto jackstands. Make sure you push on the front sides of the vehicle once on the jackstands to make sure the vehicle is secure while you are underneath it. Remove the lug nuts from the front tires and place them under the center of the vehicle at the outer edges. This will act as a fail safe should your jackstands fail.

4- There are 2 bolts behind the disk breaks that hold the calipers/pads and rotors on. Remove these bolts (9/16ths if I recall) using a cresent wrench (a socket will not get on the upper bolt, but will on the lower). There is a clip holding the break line to the bottom of the strut behind the nuckle, remove it with a flat head screwdriver and set the clip aside. Slide the break line from the clip housing. Use some twine or a coathanger to suspend the calipers up by the springs where they will be out of the way. Do this for both sides if replacing driver side half shaft.

5- Finish removing the axle bolts and place them next to the crown and cotter pins on each side of the vehicle. 

6- The nuckle is the last part we have left to pull from the suspension. These bolts were extremely difficult and I snapped many 11/16ths sockets before I bought a set of deep socket high impact sockets with lifetime warranties to get the job done. You will need 2 wrenches, one for both the nut and the bolt, pull on the right, push on the left(as facing the bolts to pull them). I used one end of a 4 way lug puller, and a deep socket impact bit on a pry bar. To be honest, these 4 bolts were the hardest for me because of the lack of space and leverage I had available. 

7- With the nuckle bolts removed the hub will swing away from the chasis giving you the needed room to remove the half shafts(axles) from the hub. Remove them using a rubber mallot, they should come out with a few good taps.

8- Starting with the passenger side half shaft, using a 16" prybar with a 1" 45 degree angle on the end (can buy at local D&B, CSK, Napa or AutoZone) or just a really good prybar that you can fit in there, wedge the prybar between the inner CV casing and the transfer case, pry fairly hard, then rotate the shaft by hand, pry again. I had to turn the shaft 4 times, 1/4 rotation each time and the 4th pry popped it out. Remove half shaft from transfercase.

9- You can do this either of 2 ways. A- Use a really long screwdriver (metal only, do not try using a dowel- don't want wood in your tranny), slide the screwdriver into the transfercase through the passenger side half shaft opening. There is a bar dividing the center where the shafts come close together. Go to the top or side of this divider bar and use your rubber mallot to hit the but of the screwdriver. This method requires a lot of dextarity because there's not going to be much room under there to swing. 
OR 
B- Use your pry bar to pry the driver side shaft out using the same method as the passenger side. There will be more room on this side to work with for leverage, and you'll need it. You will probably have to pry and turn this shaft 6 to 10 times before it will pop out. 

Voila, removing is the hard part. When putting the shafts back in, do not use a normal hammer as this can and likely will damage the transfer case seperating pin (will hose your tranny!). Instead, slide the proper end of the driveline into the transfer case (will have a little metal snap ring, can't miss it-DO NOT install replacements if they do not have snaprings present or you will blow your new parts in a week). Once you have the shaft lined up, you can tap it into place just by sliding it in. If it does not lock in (and you'll hear the snap ring lock it into place), then simply repeat adding a little more pressure or speed till it does lock into place and is secure. At this point, you only have to install the other side and do the reverse of this whole procedure. 

I might add that when you are done, you will probably want to take your car down for an alignment. My adventure in this project required 16 bucks for tools or tool replacements I should say, and 153 for both reman half shafts from CSK (Checker,Schucks,Krager) and they come with limited lifetime warranties for lifetime of the vehicle. They will warranty them provided you keep a recipt of the front end alignment after putting them in. My front end alignment was 40 bucks from Big O Tires. Had I gone to a mechanic to have this done I would have paid 340 Minimum for the parts/labor. I did it for under 170 for parts and tools and a good bonding experience with my car. 

If you have any questions or are just not sure about whether you can do this task or not, feel free to email me: [email protected] . I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have.


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## K2Fugative169 (Mar 31, 2005)

great write-up, but i'm wondering why it took several hours... i did my front left in 10 minutes and the right (after a rain-break) in about 15. maybe my experience went smoother than others, but it seemed like the most simple semi-major surgery i could have done. i've always been scared of messing with axles/tranny because i thought it was real tough. seemed okay though. anyway, like i said...great write-up, very detailed.


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