How do you replace cv joints in a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 1500?

Answer 1

Contrary to the previous poster's assertion, there most certainly are CV joints on Dodge Ram 1500s from 2002 and up. U-joints are only on 1500s from 2001 and older with the solid front axle. 2002 and up have independent front suspension.

To replace one you need to * Jack up the truck and use jack stands to hold it * Remove the tire * Have someone start the truck and step on the brakes while you remove the axle nut. An impact gun will make fast work of this, but you might find it's not all that tight. * To make your life easy, remove the brake caliper, pads, caliper holder, and rotor, then tie the caliper off to the upper control arm with zip ties so it's out of the way (no need to disconnect the brake line). * Give the end of the axle a sharp rap with a dead blow hammer to be sure it's loose. You can also use an air hammer since there's a convenient dimple on the end. It shouldn't take much to loosen it up. * Remove the steering arm (tie rod) from the spindle (allows spindle to rotate freely) * Remove upper control arm nut and press the bolt back through - this allows the spindle to move much more freely and get out of the way of the axle halfshaft. * Once everything is disconnected, you should be able to rotate the spindle around far enough to be able to knock the axle out of the hub. This may take two people - one to hold the spindle in place, and the other remove the axle. Push, pry, or hammer - whatever works for you. * Once the CV shaft (aka halfshaft) is free from the spindle, you can pull it free from the splines on the axle housing. It should be relatively loose, though you may have to give it a quick tug to get past the retaining ring. * Insert the new CV shaft with a sharp push to set the retaining ring, and put the other end back through the spindle and hub. You'll have to rotate the hub while putting the CV shaft through the spindle to get the splines to line up. * Once the new CV shaft is in, reverse the above disassembly directions making sure all bolts are torqued to spec. Or failing a torque wrench, just "really tight". Total time for me to do this on my '02 1500 was about 4.5 hours, but I was also replacing the hub which was frozen in place and required some serious hammering to free it from the spindle. Air tools help a lot, but aren't strictly necessary - I resorted to plan old ratchet wrench most of the time since I couldn't get the impact wrench back in there anyway.

One thing to note is the sizes of the nuts and bolts. Some are SAE, and some are metric. Have a full compliment of both before starting work. I recall using 21mm on the caliper holder, top ball joint, and steering arm nuts with other sizes mixed in - 13mm jumps out at me for some reason (caliper bolts maybe). Also, be sure you have the right size socket for the axle nut. I saw it listed as 36mm in a few places, but when I pulled out my socket set, 36mm was too big. It turns out my axle nut is 35mm. I don't know if the confusion over the size is due to there being different versions of the axle nut out there, or if 36mm is just "good enough" for some people to use. Either way, it might be good to double check this before beginning - the axle nut is easily accessible just be taking the tire off.

Overall it's not a particularly difficult job - but it will give you a good workout. Make sure you've got a cold beer waiting for you when the job is finished.