Replacing CV axels on 2006 Manual transmission

[Sal_fresco]

Wow, what a horribly frustrating learning experiance! I had to remove the axle twice on the driver side as I accidentally over extended the axle after replacing the ball joint. This causes the 6 ball bearings inside to fall out of their cage and requried me to go to a local mechanic to re assemble it. He is a great guy and only charged me 10 bucks. This was a huge relief considering that none of my local part stores could get one for three more days. He also gave me the option of ordering a new one from his supplier for the price that i paid a remanufactured one and no core charge. I managed to re install the driver side on my third attempt, making sure to heavily grease the splines and the retainer clip which helps center it during insertion into the transmission. The most effective way I found to place the axle was to disconnect the sway bar connector link, strut tower, ball joint and leave the hub connected to the tie rod end for easy installation. making sure to first reattach and fasten the nut on the ball joint( this required a pickle fork to remove by the way) then the strut tower bolts, the cv washer and nut(tighten with a ratchet to pull on to the slines) and lastly the sway bar connector link which is much easier if you take a second jack, (the one included with your spair worked great) and lift the control arm up so that you can connect the top bolt of the link. then tighten everthing back up, re install the wheel. Lower to the ground and use a torque wrench and torque the cv axel nutto 210 LBS. The driver side leaks some transmission fluid when you remove it but the passenger side didn't. You will have to top it off while its running when you are finished using synthetic 75w85 gl4. expensive stuff, couldnt find it anywhere but the dealer. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.