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If I was to take out my CV axels, than put the wheels back on (with disc brakes, etc), would I be able to jack the car down and have it stand on all 4 tires?

yes, but a good portion of your atf/ gear oil will come out

I literally laughed out loud

xSocialx wrote:I literally laughed out loud

Whats so funny about that?

It'll kill your front wheel bearings if you leave it sit like that.

if you drained the tranny and pull out your axles and left everything else on, it'd be fine.
how long you plan on leaving it without axles?

personally i think you could leave it like that for a while but you don't want anything getting in your tranny so put a plastic bag in the holes to plug it.

not sure what this front bearing thing is, could you explain that better as to why it would be bad?

Savin wrote:It'll kill your front wheel bearings if you leave it sit like that.

How will it effect the bearings? they are still in the hub and the bearings dont support anything other then the axles

The axle and its nut compress the two sides of the bearing together - holding the 4 stud hub locked into the bearing assembly which sits inside the spindle which is taking the weight. If you have no axle in, the hub and the inner race is surprisingly easy to tap out sometimes. So leave the axle stubs in and you'll be fine, leave them out and you may or may not be. The weights going car->spindle->wheel bearing->hub->rim->tyre->ground.

Marc is smart. Without the axel stubs in the wheel bearing is supporting the entire weight of the car without the help of the axels to stabilize them. If you leave it like that for any length of time, like more than a few hours, it will destroy the bearings.

Buy these and use them.

Ok good to know, I had a feeling that might happen if you take out the CV axels.

wytbishop wrote:Marc is smart. Without the axel stubs in the wheel bearing is supporting the entire weight of the car without the help of the axels to stabilize them. If you leave it like that for any length of time, like more than a few hours, it will destroy the bearings.

The lower ball joint is supporting the weight along with the strut and spring, the wheel bearing is held in via snap ring and has no load capabilities and has nothing to do with holding vehicle weight

also as a side note, non front wheel drive cars are just fine with no axles and dont see there bearings falling apart, the toyota matrix has rear splined hubs on front wheel drive versions that have no axles and are fine (they do this so they dont have to have multiple spindles)

stereoking15 wrote:

wytbishop wrote:Marc is smart. Without the axel stubs in the wheel bearing is supporting the entire weight of the car without the help of the axels to stabilize them. If you leave it like that for any length of time, like more than a few hours, it will destroy the bearings.

The lower ball joint is supporting the weight along with the strut and spring, the wheel bearing is held in via snap ring and has no load capabilities and has nothing to do with holding vehicle weight

Hold an empty hub in your left fist. Now have someone else hold your hand in their two hands. Your hand is the wheel bearing. Their hands are the steering knuckle. Imagine a wheel is bolted to the hub in your fist and is resting on the gorund. Now imagine that a quarter of a car is on top of your friends hands...which are enclosing your hand. All of that weight is being translated through the wheel bearing...your hand. This is the reason that the car uses a double roller design. Because the reaction force imparted on the wheel by the ground is slightly off center and tends to try to rotate the hub slightly in the spindle. It is also why the offest of the rim is so important. Decreasing the offset of the rim moves the line of action of that reaction force farther from the centerline of the bearing increasing that twisting action on the bearing.

The axel helps to resist that twisting by stabilizing the bearing. Without it, the weight of the car will eventually damage the bearing.

stereoking15 wrote:also as a side note, non front wheel drive cars are just fine with no axles and dont see there bearings falling apart, the toyota matrix has rear splined hubs on front wheel drive versions that have no axles and are fine (they do this so they dont have to have multiple spindles)

At least one Protege owner I know of has reported that after leaving the car on the ground with no axels in the hubs, the bearings were buggered. The theory is sound...I can't say how long it would take but I am sure it would happen.