• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

Broke outer joint of CV halfshaft

T

TravelingMan0491

Member
Messages
136
Reaction score
11
Location
Virginia
Yesterday while helping a friend move barrels of veggie oil from one location to another I managed to break the outer joint of the passenger side half shaft while turning full left in 4WD. Mind you that this is a less than a month old reman unit from O'Reilly's Master Pro branded. The only reason I had changed out the original half shaft was because while I was air hammering out the original ball joints, I slipped and punctured the boot. Yesterday was the first time I had the truck in 4WD since swapping the half shaft. I still have the original half shaft and I'm really wanting to just replace the punctured boot and put on the original half shaft again. When I replaced the original part, I felt like the remanned unit was shorter than the original since I had to extend the spline end quite a bit in order to secure it to the hub bearing. Does anyone have experience with the remanned units from O'Reilly's? Where would you recommend to find replacement units? By the way way this is a 94 K2500 with 6 lug hubs. Any insight would be helpful!
 
When it comes time for replacements, where would you get them? Since our wouldn't make sense to get them from O'Reilly's if they are shorter than what is needed.
 
I've used O'Reillys on other trucks (not available for my hummer) and had no problems before. If you can see a difference in the new one and the factory one, never take the wrong length.

I would bring both of them into the store and make them give you another one or refund your money. I also agree about putting a new boot on the original one after checking the internals are good.
 
Thanks for the advice Will. I'll do that but the question is, is it worth getting under the truck twice? I would have to remove the broke part and drive with no passenger side half shaft which I suppose will be fine as long as I don't use 4WD, take both parts to O'Reilly's deal with them and eventually get back under the truck to put the original part back on. Or I may just have wife help me take pictures while I have both parts off and then put the original back on and then deal with O'Reilly's afterwards.
 
DO NOT DRIVE WITHOUT THE HALF SHAFT IN! I CANNOT stress this enough. The end of the outer CV shaft that goes through your hub bearing is ALL that holds the hub bearing together. Without the stub shaft in and torqued down to 250 foot pounds, your BEGGING for the hub bearing to come apart and to have a NASTY accident. As to whos shaft to use, I just put in a set of O'reillys new shafts in mine. I replaced my boots 5 years ago hoping to not have to mess with em again for awhile, but one boot tore and it messed up the CV joint(I live on a dirt road, and grit got in it and wiped it out). Got underneath and looked, and the other side was getting ready to go as well. New boots are $40, or I got the new shafts for $60. Another thing of note is GM used a used a plastic CV boot whereas the aftermarkets are all neoprene rubber. The plastic boots held up ALOT better, wished now I would have left my origanal plastic ones on it. As far as I know, GM is the only place to get the plastic replacements from. All the aftermarkets are all neoprene.
 
Thanks Thefermanator! I'll keep that in mind. I've already driven it with the busted half shaft still in place for quite a while before parking it yesterday. I definitely don't intend to keep driving it until I get the half shaft replaced.
 
so long as the stub shaft is in and tight, you're fine. take it out and do a hard turn and you could be seeing your front tire behind you in your mirror.
 
The half shafts compress and extend for the suspension. Keep that in mind. Yes the aftermarket boots suck as far as short life before cracking including the OP's brand asked about.

6 and 8 lug may be different part numbers.
 
Last edited:
I would agree that the 6 lug shaft was a breeze. I'm a pro at it at this point. Only help I needed was someone on a pry bar on the front sway bar so that I could reconnect the sway bar link. Another thing that threw me for a loop was that the reman unit that I replaced used a different hub nut thread so I had to have my wife come get me from the on base auto hobby shop so I could find the original. I luckily did not chuck it along with the old ball joints and found it in the first place I looked!
 
Only cause you asked if anyone else has had some issues, I've had some of late with Half Shafts on a 6 lug seeming to be too short. Parts came from O'Reilly and I used to two different brands... A1(not) Cardone remans and Precision (I think the name was) "New Units". See my 'CV shaft separation' thread for the ugly details.

I'm pretty sure the issue is more with the lift I got but furthering that discussion here will constitute a thread derail.
 
I know I had a water induced actuation but didn't experience any breakage, just some vibrations etc.
Added wear and tear yes but I don't know if it would be enough to bust up a nearly new half shaft and mine all busted up popping from the differential side, not the wheel side.

Incidentally, I made the mistake of driving my half-ton, 6 lug, with the axle nut not fully torqued and leaving the wheel bearing vulnerable. Got about 100 yards and "BANG" grind, grate, vibrate, grind noises like bolts in a garbage disposal. Busted wheel bearing, pulled the caliper bolt out stripping the threads from the steering hub, caliper was toast, brake pads and rotor as well... bad deal. Good thing all the parts except the steering hub were old...no wait...I had just replaced everything but the steering hub. Thread on that learning experience around here somewhere too.

I get the feeling sometimes that my life's purpose is to serve as an example to others on what not to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top