Front drivers side drive axle inner shaft retaining ring

The hole where the circlip goes in when on the shaft is tapered. That forces the clip to shrink in diameter as it goes in. Once in all the way, the hole will have its own groove where that ring can expand to hold the shaft in place.

There are two problems I've run into with this design. The first is the new ring is made from larger-diameter wire than the original one was. It is possible to get them to work, but it is much easier to reuse the old ring, when you still have it. (Also consider your old ring might have been one of those larger replacements already, and it broke when the last person forced it to go in). The second problem is the ring has to be expanded to slide in onto the shaft, and that can stretch it so it is larger than the tapered area of the shaft it is going into. If it does not start going into the tapered area, it cannot be compressed to go the rest of the way in. To solve that, I use a pair of pliers to bend the ring to a much smaller diameter, but be careful that it remains round. Now when it gets stretched to be placed on the shaft, it will have enough "memory" to shrink down tighter on the shaft. When you go to slide the shaft in, wiggle it up and down and sideways as you push it in. That will help to start the ring going into the tapered part of the hole. If any part of it hangs up outside the tapered area, the shaft will not go in, and pounding on it will just deform the ring and destroy it.

As a last resort, find an old shaft at a salvage yard, hope the ring is original, and use that one. It is likely you will find it is made of smaller diameter wire than the one you have been trying to use. I have never done this, but I suspect auto parts stores will have replacement rings too, and they may have an assortment that includes one closer to your original ring.

I take that to mean you carefully and precisely nudged it gently together, and I can go home now?

Happy to hear you solved it. Come back to see me again when you need my wondrous wisdom!

Hi Carl,

I noticed you added to an older post. I'm not sure that Randy is around anymore. Can you tell me what you need, and I'll do my best to help?

Let me know.

Joe

Hi,

No problem. If you look above, he described how the clip works and is installed. I'm sorry. I'm not sure if you need additional info or the reason you looked again is because you couldn't remember. LOL

I have the directions for replacing the front drive axle. Let me know if it helps.

Take care,

Joe

See pic below. Let me know if that helps or if you have other questions.

The clip too hangs down too far making it difficult to reinstall, use grease to help suspend the clip in a natural position which should make the install easier.

Salvage yard. Most of the larger yards have multiple barrels of half shafts from vehicles that were about to be crushed, if those shafts weren't removed already. Even those with torn boots and worn inner joint housings have value. They sell them in bulk to the rebuilder companies. Removing the circlip won't decrease the shaft's value as the rebuilders will put new ones on. Even the dealership I used to work at had barrels of shafts and all kinds of other items to sell when the rebuilders came around.

There's some yards near me run by rather friendly people. At those yards, they will typically toss you the ring and tell you to "have a nice day. A dollar or two tip would be appropriate. If the people are crabby or hard to work with, give them the dollar or two they ask for, but if it's more than that, I'd look for a pull-your-own-parts yard. There will be plenty of vehicles that have had engines and transmissions removed, and the shafts will be tossed in the back.

There are nice do-it-yourself yards popping up all over the place, but one chain I'm quite familiar with is "Pull-A-Part". They have around two dozens yards that are very well organized and clean, and the customers and employees have always been very friendly and helpful. I've been to 16 of their yards so far. You can do an online search to see if there's a yard near you and which yards have the model and year you need. They can't tell you what has been removed or damaged, and which parts are good, colors, and optional equipment. You have to pay your buck, throw your tool box in one of their wheelbarrows, and look through the vehicles yourself. All of their vehicles are supported on wheels welded together, so it's easy to get underneath if you have to. They even have hand washing stations, and at some of them, they use big fans to blow water mist on you on really hot days. I mainly visit their yard in Indianapolis. The rest start in that area and go down to Georgia. They've been opening new yards to the west over the past few years.

One side note. You didn't mention a problem other than you have to do this again. If all was okay before, but now the inner CV joint popped out of the transmission, suspect the internal spring is broken. When you loosen the large axle nut, you can push the shaft in toward the center of the vehicle, with your thumb. It should be rather difficult to push in, and it should pop back out with pretty good force. That's due to that spring inside the inner joint. When those broke on Chrysler products, it caused a minor, but noticeable vibration in the steering wheel. Replacement springs cost $3.00 in the '90s.

The circlip should not be the only thing keeping the joint in the transmission. That spring is more important for that purpose.

Same clip design and same difficulties. I'm waiting for you to tell us you've had success.