Front Drive Halfshafts: Notes

WARNING: This page is about a different car, the 2008 Mercury Sable, 2008 Ford Taurus X, and 2008 Ford Taurus. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.

The halfshafts consist of the following components:

Inner constant velocity (CV) joints
Outer CV joints
Interconnecting shafts

The halfshafts are splined on the outboard stub shaft to drive the wheel hubs. They are retained in the wheel hubs by special wheel hub nuts which also control the wheel bearing preload. The LH halfshaft is splined on the inboard stub shaft and is retained in the differential side gear in the transaxle by a circlip. The circlips must be installed new whenever they are removed. The RH halfshaft is retained in the transaxle differential side gear by bolts that go through the intermediate shaft support bearing. The intermediate shaft also goes through the power transfer unit (PTU) on all wheel drive (AWD) vehicles. The outer seal of the PTU must be installed new whenever the RH halfshaft is removed.