Help! I replaced my driver's side cv boot on my 2003 Focus LX 4 door tonight and now my transmission won't shift into reverse or drive. It just grinds when I raise the rpm's so I turned the car off. I will take it apart again tomorrow but wondered what I messed up. It has 75,000 miles and drove fine until now. The cv joint was not even clicking as they do after being driven awhile without grease. 1 think I did notice though as I took everything apart was that the cv joint was not locked onto the end of the axle which actually made it easy for me to just slip off the joint along with the old boot. I did not thing this was a big deal because the axle is trapped between the hub and transmission when it is all put together. I thought well what the heck instead of popping out the axle entirely I will just slide on the new boot, inner clamp, then joint with new grease and outer clamp and just tap the joint back onto the tip of the axle. I did hit it a few times with a hammer to make sure it locked into the clip that slides around in the groove at the axle tip but I did not go crazy with the hammer. I was able to slide the axle back through the hub, torque the nut down with a impact wrench and re-attach the bottom balljoint with a bit of effort and it all looks straight and tight now.

The car just won't go. Did my hammering cause something to drop or loosen inside the transmission? It just sounds like something is spinning and almost catching but not. Help! If you know what I did wrong please call me at 714-403-5808 if you have time. thx thx thx

 

It turns out I did not put the cv joint all the way onto the tip of the axle and allow the snap ring on the tip of the axle to hold onto the joint, then when I shifted it sideways enough to put the end of the joint through the hub to finish up tightening everything I accidentally pulled the axle tip out of the cv joint. Of course the boot is on now so I did not see this and was still able to put it all together, even with the axle laying limp inside the boot. When I started up the Focus the trans of course just spun and there was thankfully enough grease around the edge of the boot that the axle just turned and the boot slipped as it did. So now I've taken it all apart again and this time pulled hard on the joint to make sure it was locked onto the axle tip. Car runs fine now. Thanks. Not working on my car at night again as that is when I make stupid mistakes.

 

Thanks for the update..

Seen a few CV's 'fishmouth' the circlip during a boot change on different models and not allow the axle to insert to lock.. Glad it was a somewhat simple fix..

 

heh..working at night with a few beers is where you make "oopsies"!!!

glad you got it working....CV's can be a pain...

 

I have a 2006 Ford Focus ZX3 manual transmission trying to change the clutch the unfortunate thing is the half shaft has two pieces and a bearing that is permanently or appears to be permanently attached to the shaft and cannot be removed trying to figure out how to get it out so I can change the clutch everything that I've seen so far says to remove the cap that doesn't exist on this design it's a CV axle I guess can anybody help am I supposed to just pound the crap out of the bearing until it slides down far enough for me to get it out of there or what