When replacing cv axle on 90 track kick any problem with leaving the snap ring off the hub end. Seems this serves no real purpose other than something to lose on the trail.
Thanks Rjm

Snap ring or circlip?  Are you referring to the circlip on the outside of the hub, the one that needs circlip pliers with two different size tips?

Omit it at your own risk.  If it's not there the CV axle can slide back out of the hub and you WILL lose drive to the hub and then destroy the splines on the CV and the hub.

Thanks Fordem, I'm just not seeing the axle coming out or putting a loading force on this circlip/snap ring. Clearly it has some value or more would omit it. I've serviced a few front drive cars and found this clip missing - but could see no way the axle could pull out anyway.I'm guessing your experience says at full droop, this clip keeps the package together?
Thanks, rj

On a FWD car or a 4WD with independent front suspension, the "length" of the CV axle changes as the suspension cycles - to accommodate this change in length, the inner CV joint will usually allow what is known as "plunge" - the axle & inner race of the joint, moves in & out, relative to the outer race.

Without the circlip it is possible for the axle to remain fully "in" in the inner CV, and if the suspension droops at that point, the splines that drive the hub will sometimes slip back far enough that they are damaged.

I'm inclined to say it's quite rare for FWD cars to have this clip, in fact I've never seen one with it - the wheel end of a FWD car CV axle usually has a nut to hold the CV axle in place - the CV axle on most FWD vehicles is load bearing, it is an integral part of the wheel hub/bearing assembly, if it's removed the wheel cannot be refitted, some 4WDs are built  this way, for example the third gen GVs, but first gen & second gens have full float front hubs where the CV axle's only job is to transfer power, you can remove the CV axles and still have a useable 2WD vehicle, in fact, that's how the 2WD first & second gens are built. - leave the hubs & front suspension and just remove the bits that drive them.

INSERT FOOT IN MOUTH! that is my task for this AM. public shaming on full display! I had a look at few old Honda axles I had and of course they have no circlip or groove to allow 1! A real head scratcher... I'm not COMPLETELY  loosing my mind..am I? . In angst, I took a look at an old Chevy dana 44 front axle and yes, it has a groove and no snap ring. Is that what triggered my thought? Considering that axle probably has 200K miles on it and has been taken apart countless times with no snap ring I will gave myself some reassurance that my mind was not totally lost - - a few items just got misfiled.
  Thanks for the prompt reply - rj

I've never seen a Dana 44 so I googled it, what came back looks like a solid axle with UJs rather than CVs - it's a slightly different scenario there, there's no plunge occurring so you might be able to get away omitting the circlip, but I wouldn't risk it with an IFS and CV axles.

Although I learned to drive on a RWD car, the bulk of my experience is FWD, and I've never quite understood who a single UJ per side can be used in a front axle application, I've worked on vehicles with double cardans at the wheel end of the axle, and also solid axles with CV (or birfield) joints, but not those single UJs