CV axle shaft damaged after installing Fox Stage 1 lift

Bonchexmix

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Hey all,

Just a word of warning if you're planning on installing a lift kit. A coworker and I installed part # FOXRNGRSTGE14WD from Stage 3 motorsports over the weekend. Taking it for a drive afterward, the front left sounded like the suspension was settling, but after coming back from the drive it started to sound like the CV axle was binding, especially at full lock.

Taking it apart we found that one of the bearings on the side of the axle that goes into the transmission/front diff had dislocated and was being ground up. Attached a few pictures.

Called the local dealership and they found two replacement CV axle's in the entire country, one in TX and CA, but they are likely already allocated to customer repair jobs. Called parts.ford.com and they have one in stock in the national parts distribution center, but the part is technically on backorder and I'll know tomorrow if it's being shipped, but it'll still take 5-6 days to get here.

They recommended removing the center section of the CV axle and keeping the two ends in the wheel hub and transmission/diff respectively, 4WD is unavailable but it should be fine otherwise, and we'll see how it goes.

So again, if you're installing any kind of lift kit where you're disconnecting the lower control arm from the shock, make sure that the steering knuckle/wheel hub/CV axle doesn't overextend and cause the bearings to come out of place.

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Fordguy

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You can either cut the studs off on the bottom of the OEM struts so you don't over extend the axles, or remove the axle nut.
 

RangerB

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Sorry to hear.

I and a few others have run into similar issues. The post here tells the story of mine and some others’ odyssey dealing with such issues during/after coilover installation.

I and a couple others overextended and dislocated our outer CV joint. Others were unable to reseat or keep seated the axle where it goes into the transfer case.

For others reading, I’d recommend removing the axle nut and freeing the CV axle from the hub prior to removal/installation of the coilover assembly. Should give you more than enough room to play with.
 

whitegk

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Similar issue here when I was installing my leveling kit. Axel shafts came dislocated when I was removing the strut on both sides. Luckily, we were able to reseat them.

Another issue that I ran into was that the sway bar link completely came out of it's socket and the boot on the side that mounts to the sway bar on the driver's side. With some swearing and ingenuity, we were able to reseat that as well with no further issues. My recommendation is to disconnect the sway bar link from the knuckle prior to disconnecting the UCA and the tie rod end.
 

Fordguy

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Similar issue here when I was installing my leveling kit. Axel shafts came dislocated when I was removing the strut on both sides. Luckily, we were able to reseat them.

Another issue that I ran into was that the sway bar link completely came out of it's socket and the boot on the side that mounts to the sway bar on the driver's side. With some swearing and ingenuity, we were able to reseat that as well with no further issues. My recommendation is to disconnect the sway bar link from the knuckle prior to disconnecting the UCA and the tie rod end.
You must take off sway bar links. It really takes an extra 5 min per side and there will be zero damage. If you have to pry down hard enough to pop the swaybar link or axle, that would be the first clue. PS, more than likely your link will pop out in the future.
 


jubreunig

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Can you describe the noise more exactly? I got my ranger back with a 3 "level today, My first test drive, I think I hear a whirring sometimes, even when driving straight ahead. But if I lift one tire and turne it, even with full steering turn, I hear nothing unusal.
After I read your expirience I get a little fear.

Additional question. Does the struts have a direction like left / right or front / rear? The paper (the blue one) at the springs was before outside, now it is inside.
 
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Bonchexmix

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Can you describe the noise more exactly? I got my ranger back with a 3 "level today, My first test drive, I think I hear a whirring sometimes, even when driving straight ahead. But if I lift one tire and turne it, even with full steering turn, I hear nothing unusal.
After I read your expirience I get a little fear.

Additional question. Does the struts have a direction like left / right or front / rear? The paper (the blue one) at the springs was before outside, now it is inside.
It sounds like when you're lowering a car back down after jacking it up and the suspension makes some dings/loud pings, can only describe it like a suspension settling. However, the sound only occurred when turning and especially at full lock, and didn't happen when going over any bumps or driving in a straight line. Also, it was only happening to the front left corner, the front right corner was completely silent so I knew something was wrong.

And I'm not sure what you mean by struts, the rear ones? I don't think they have a specific orientation, but I have the stickers facing outside simply for looks.

Are you still hearing the whirring?
 

Fordguy

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Can you describe the noise more exactly? I got my ranger back with a 3 "level today, My first test drive, I think I hear a whirring sometimes, even when driving straight ahead. But if I lift one tire and turne it, even with full steering turn, I hear nothing unusal.
After I read your expirience I get a little fear.

Additional question. Does the struts have a direction like left / right or front / rear? The paper (the blue one) at the springs was before outside, now it is inside.
They are shocks, not struts. There is no orientation unless you have a reservoir.
 

jubreunig

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It sounds like when you're lowering a car back down after jacking it up and the suspension makes some dings/loud pings, can only describe it like a suspension settling. However, the sound only occurred when turning and especially at full lock, and didn't happen when going over any bumps or driving in a straight line. Also, it was only happening to the front left corner, the front right corner was completely silent so I knew something was wrong.

And I'm not sure what you mean by struts, the rear ones? I don't think they have a specific orientation, but I have the stickers facing outside simply for looks.

Are you still hearing the whirring?
I will try it later again, I use my other car until I no whats wrong with it.
With full steering turn, I have try it only on the jack and hand-turned - and there I heard only the brake pads on the disk.

Yes, I meant the shocks.
 

jubreunig

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I turned some sharp rounds on a parking lot and I hear nothing what sounds unusual, no grinding or similar. I don't know what I have heard yesterday but glad about it.
 

RANGER78

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I'm about to fit new front struts i was looking on YouTube at sum installs sum remove top ball joint outher removed bottom control arm sum undid the axle nut.
One guy removed bolts from bottom control arm then used a ratchet strap connected from the opposite lower control arm to the lower control with the bolts removed.
The ratchet strap is ment to stop the cv comeing out of place.
I was going to use a strap and undo the axle nut just to be safe will that be ok.
 

tbirdz12

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I'm about to fit new front struts i was looking on YouTube at sum installs sum remove top ball joint outher removed bottom control arm sum undid the axle nut.
One guy removed bolts from bottom control arm then used a ratchet strap connected from the opposite lower control arm to the lower control with the bolts removed.
The ratchet strap is ment to stop the cv comeing out of place.
I was going to use a strap and undo the axle nut just to be safe will that be ok.
 

tbirdz12

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Mine still came out. Axle nut removed, axle freed up, bottom coilover studs cut off, sway bar links disconnected. I just took the CV boots off the big end and made sure they slid back in properly and put new CV boot clamps on....
 

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Kicking myself so hard for not doing my research on this first. Both of mine popped out during install and I cannot get the drivers side back in to save my life. Got a friend coming over later to assist but im worried that I will have damaged them the way that OP did. Im primarily frustrated with myself but also wish that stage3 would amend their install video with the number of people out here causing damage to their trucks.
 

austinb324

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Update....It would seem that I'm in the clear now. No damage to the CV joints as far as I can tell. In my case I figured out that the primary reason I could not get my axle to pop back into the joint was that the boot had an air tight seal so when the axle was pulled out of the joint and extended away, it created a vacuum effect in the boot which caused the boot to collapse inward. This effect was keeping pressure on the bearings in ways that wouldn't allow them to align to the joint when trying to push it back in. All I did was lift up carefully on the main boot clamp and heard air rush into the boot and it immediately poofed back out to a normal shape. After that, I got it popped back in within 5 minutes of carefully trying. I have yet to try using the 4x4 though so we will see.
I did however have one casualty...The driver side swaybar end link ripped out of its socket on the lower side. Not a tremendously expensive fix but it means driving without an attached swaybar for a few days.

I definitely hope people see this thread before attempting to install their kits.
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