Replacement Axle Assemblies from SurTrack.....

[VehiTONY]

I had these (SurTrack IZ-8021 CV Axle Shaft) put on mine yesterday and found some play and leakage behind the green cup.... anyone have ideas on this? Seems like maybe a clip or something should be inside the green cup to hold it still.

[MSHardeman]

I'm confused. Is there play IN the green cup or does the green cup itself move? The half shaft should slide around in the green cup (toward and away from the centerline of the VX). This allows the half shaft to "grow" or shorten in length as the front wheels go through their travel (up and down). There is a little wire "C" shaped ring that fits into a groove at the edge of the green cup to keep the inner CV joint in place, but you really don't need it. Once everything is put back together the suspension doesn't travel enough to allow the inner CV joint to slide out of the green cup.

I can't remember from when I replace my half shafts, but there may be a little in/out play with the green cup itself. If there is an excessive amount of play then something is either loose or worn out where the axle (with the green cup) connects to the axle housing. If that were the case, though, I would think that you might have a fluid leak where the axle goes into the axle housing (which, now that I re-read your post seems like what is happening). There is a seal where the axle goes into the axle housing that could go bad. I think that is what Bart (nfpgasmask) had to replace, which prompted his write-up.

If pictures will help you to visualize everything, I have an extra axle assembly that has the axle bearing, spacer, snap ring and the plate that attaches to the axle housing all assembled. I can take some pictures of that tonight so you can see what is going on in the axle housing.

[bartmanS4]

Tony, if by behind you mean inside towards the differential then you may have a leaky axle oil seal. See number 6 in pic.

[tom4bren]

There are instructions with pix located here:

http://www.vehicross.info/modules.ph...warticle&id=49

[VehiTONY]

It sounds like your on the right track. The entire green cup moves. And it is leacking behind the cup. Which makes me wonder how if the green cup was not removed since they are half shaft replacements. I would appriciate some pictures though. If you have time pales send them to me at tony.c.0313@gmail.com. I'm taking it back to the mechanic to have him inspect it. I hope it is a easy fix since I am broke at the moment.

[MSHardeman]

Take a look at the link that Tom posted. If you click on the first of the two downloads in the thread you will be able to see the axle assembly on page five, six and seven. That is about the same picture that I would take of the one that I have at home so we can use it and the diagram that Scott posted to figure it out.

Just like Scott said, it is probably your axle oil seal that is leaking. The axle is mounted to the axle housing by a plate (#7 in diagram from bartmanS4) with four bolts in it. That plate has mounts on it that, in turn, mount to the frame to hold the whole axle housing in place. The axle (with the green cup - #9) slides through a hole in the plate and then on into the axle housing (#1). Once the axle is through the hole in the plate you then slide on the oil seal (#6) which snugs up against the plate and is then press fit into the axle housing to stop the fluid in the axle housing from leaking out.

After the oil seal is on you would then slide the first snap ring on (#5) to keep the seal in place, then the axle bearing (#4), then the last snap ring (#3). Once all of that is assembled outside of the axle housing, you would then feed the axle into the housing. When you do that you, or your mechanic, would need to be careful because as the bearing and the oil seal seat into the axle housing you could pinch or mis-align the oil seal which would cause a leak. I believe a leak is what prompted Bart (nfpgasmask) to do his front axle rebuild - http://blog.isuzugeek.org/2011/08/ve...e-rebuild.html

I haven't had to do it, but from what I understand replacing the axle oil seal isn't necessarily a tough job, but it is a bit time consuming (Tom's diff drop write up shows the front axle removal).

I hope some of that helps. If you still need pictures let me know and I'll take a few tonight.

[JHarris1385]

Im grinding after install. Im wondering if they are inferior. Its been 6 months since install.

[MSHardeman]

Do you have an idea of what is grinding? Did you goop (it's a technical term) a bunch of grease into the green cup before you installed the half shafts? Where the inner CV joints packed with grease before installation? Are the boots still intact and clamped in place?

As far as I could tell the SurTrack axles are VERY well made. I had the SurTrack's sitting side-by-side with my stock half shafts and, if anything, the SurTrack's looked like they were made of beefier stuff.

[tom4bren]

It sounds like your on the right track. The entire green cup moves. And it is leacking behind the cup. Which makes me wonder how if the green cup was not removed since they are half shaft replacements. I would appriciate some pictures though. If you have time pales send them to me at tony.c.0313@gmail.com. I'm taking it back to the mechanic to have him inspect it. I hope it is a easy fix since I am broke at the moment.

The green cup could have been removed.

We all talk about the easy method (see MechaTech boot install instruction in the Download section).

But ... the shop probably didn't know of that method & could have dropped the entire axle assembly in order to remove the bad 1/2 shaft. I had to go through that whenever I installed the diff drops on mine. It's quite a bit of work to go through if you don't have to.

The seals are probably not very expensive. If you & a buddy or 2 are willing to give it a shot, you can do the entire job in your driveway with common tools (might have to pick up a few at Harbor Freight - but you're probably still looking at less than $100 to get'r done).

[JHarris1385]

Had a shot complete the job.