'02 Venture axle problem

[earlrichards]

Just wondering if anyone else has ever run into this problem:

I've was helping my best friend replace the driver's side axle on his '02 Venture (FWD), and everything was going fine until we went to install the new axle. The axle was a brand new part from AutoZone, but would not slide onto the output shaft from the transmission. I even pulled the snap ring off the shaft to see if that was the problem, but it still wouldn't go. Figuring it was just a bad machining job on the cv joint, I returned the axle and got another one, a rebuilt one this time. The rebuilt axle won't go on either. The original cv joint slides on and off with no problem, but neither of the new ones will.

We checked with the parts store to see if there were any other options, or if maybe an '01 or '03 axle was a different part #, but apparently those years use the same part. The van was built in 09/01, so if anything I would have thought maybe it got an '01 output shaft...but apparently it makes no difference. The only other option I can think of is that maybe this one has the AWD output shaft, but that seems highly unlikely.

We were going to call the service dept at the local Chevy dealer on Monday, but I just thought I would check here to see if anyone else has every experienced this problem. Thanks in advance for any help.

EarlR

[mt643]

Your 02 Venture will have a 4T65E transmission in it, you most likely are getting axles for a Venture with a 4T60E transmission. The spline counts are different.

[earlrichards]

Originally Posted by mt643

Your 02 Venture will have a 4T65E transmission in it, you most likely are getting axles for a Venture with a 4T60E transmission. The spline counts are different.

Thanks - not sure what the problem was, but we tried a third axle (from the third different parts store) Sunday, and that one did work. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as the problem ended up being the wheel bearing (we had two choices, of course we picked the wrong one); although we did find that the inner cv joint had been leaking and was probably on the way out anyway.