CV joint wont go in tranny

[gbsk]

I am going nuts. I am replacing g the CV joint for a ‘96 Subaru Legacy. I removed the old one. I put the short stub for the transmission on the CV joint. I keep trying to put the end into the transmission and it won’t go in. There is consistently an inch between the axle and the tranny. P I have put a long screwdriver in the hole and also my finger and nothing seems to be in there. I line it up and hit a board against the outside shaft with the hub bolt. Even if I hit it with a three pound hammer an inch is sticking out. No even tried it with the retaining ring off stub shaft it does not go in. How can I get this to go in?

 

[Dave in Costa Rica]

What you're trying to do may be impossible.

Over the years, Subaru, and others, have built vehicles in Japan, in the U.S., and maybe elsewhere. It's common for them to source some components locally, so your '96 Legacy, built in the States, might have been assembled using U.S.-sourced parts like the CV joint and that may not be the same as the CV joints installed in '96' Legacies assembled in (say) Japan.

When buying parts online, it's always important to specify the VIN which, among other things, identifies where the vehicle was built. Ask any Parts guy.

A while back, I wanted to change the struts on my '92 Toyota Camry. I bought top-quality aftermarket struts in the States. Only when the mechanic tried to install them did we learn that the U.S.-sourced struts were not the same as the OEM parts installed on my Toyota when it was assimbled in Japan.

 

[gbsk]

Thanks for the reply. When I was replacing the CV axle I removed the old one and had to remove the short stub from the old one and reattach that to the new axle with a roller pin How did the same short stub fit in before and won’t go in now?

 

[Rattlenbang]

Are you sure your splines are aligned? Grease on the spline? There's been times I've had difficulty getting them in and the hitting the end with a hammer only works if everything is pushed in so that it's steel hitting steel all the way through. The boots can hold everything loose and hitting the end is just absorbed by the rubber. It can take a surprising amount of force to get them in sometimes.