Just replaced the drivers side front half shaft. It was very difficult to seat the inner end in the transaxle. This is the end with the circlip on it and it needs to be compressed and then snap into the internal groove inside the transaxle. The replacement half shaft had no place to get a good grip on the outside.

Any body out there done this before?

Any hints on seating the inner end (the end with the circlip) in the transaxle?

 

Well... after all was said & done... it turned out to be the Pax side CV half shaft. Apparently the noise was transmitting through the intermediate shaft and the transaxle was acting like a sounding board making it sound like it was the drivers side half shaft.

Replacing this half shaft was really easy! You can remove the half shaft and the intermediate shaft as a unit and separate them on the bench and then insert the new half shaft into the intermediate shaft then put the unit back in the transaxle as a single unit. Piece of cake!

 

Turns out that the circlip on the drivers CV halfshaft that NAPA uses is extraordinarily difficult to get into the transaxle. After going around the block several times I've concluded that the NAPA unit is defective. So if you have to replace the Drivers side CV half shaft, go elsewhere than NAPA for a replacement unit.

 

In the past I've used a shop that fully rebuilds your stock C/V axles while you wait. Don't know if these shops are everywhere but could be a good solution.