I will start off with that the axles that I am working with were originally together and never apart so no chance of anything being awry. I did have outer CV boots to replace as both were torn from a foreign object. I did remove the axles from the car to work on them.

The question that I have yet to find an answer, and yes I did search everything from forums, tech manuals, talking to axle companies, and even general pictures of people replacing CV joints---- nothing comes close to answering my question.

The question is that I knocked off the outer CV joint on the rear axle and I did not notice any retention clips at all when I popped the first one off. I looked inside the CV assembly and nothing and furthermore the axle came out without much fuss. Then I did the same for the second one with the same result and this time I really paid attention to see if there was a clip.... nothing.

So that is the question.... has anyone removed the rear axle bar out of the outer CV joint and is it simply a slight interference fit, no clip even though there is a groove for a retaining ring?