First off, I’d like to say that I’ve searched and tried everything I’ve found (well, I haven’t tried a ball-joint puller yet)
Anyway I’m changing my driver’s side axle (using a chiltons as my guide). Got the spindle nut off, took the wheel off, took out the cotter pin (it broke tho…I need to replace it), lower ball joint nut, and seperated the lower ball joint from the hub. Pulled the axle out of the hub, and yanked on the axle, whoops I seperated the inner boot (oh well its getting replaced anyway)…so for the last hour I’ve been prying, hammering, sweating, prying some more, spraying some WD-40, everything, to try to seperate the axle from the int. shaft but I can’t get it! There is just a very small gap between the two (where I’ve been putting the pry bars and screwdrivers) but I can’t get it. I’ve even broke the tip off of a small prybar!
The axle was replaced in November 2006 so I didn’t think it would be too bad (I had a shop do it because it was too cold outside for me, and I needed the car in a rush). Luckily I have another car to drive, so my only rush is the apartment people on my ass for having my car on jackstands…please help!! Thanks!
Don’t suppose you have any pictures? So you pulled on the axel and all that is left in the transmission is part of the knuckle, part of the boot and the male end with the thread’s?
You need a large crow bar so if you are working with something small…upgrade. You are goinng to need to insert the crow bar into the samll area and wack it with a hammer. Mine was stuck (though not in pieces) and it did take some time but after I got the crow bar deap in there and gave it a few good whacks it popped out.
The problem is usually that the splines bind, so wiggle it like its your weener at a strip club while you’re prying. Its true about the crow bar too, you’ll need something with some beef and length ( ) to get the leverage you need to get it out.
Here’s 2 pictures…yes I scanned my phone with a scanner, sorry its the only way but seriously if these aren’t good enough I’ll try to get better ones. First shows the axle and intermediate shaft, second shows where I am sticking the prybars, screwdrivers, etc. But the gap between the two looks bigger in the pictures then in reality. The gap is just big enough to stick the prybar into.
Oh when I meant I pulled on it and “seperated the inner boot” (now I realize that makes no sense, sorry) is that now the innermost joint is disconnected, just the boot is holding it on.
OH MY GOD THAT IS AWESOME! I can’t believe you scanned a picture on your phone.
You are doing it right you just need to put a lot of elbow grease into it. The first time I did mine I thought it would never come out. If you can’t get good leverage on the prybar you may not be high enough of the ground.
I’ve been trying this for a few hours now with still no luck. Whenever I put a lot of pressure nothing happens, and I’ve started to bend the ring that looks like it joins the two shafts (the ring to the right of the prybar in my second pic). It just ain’t coming out!
I tried spinning it while prying and that didn’t help (actually if the bar is in there I can’t spin it at all), and as far as wiggling (left to right, up and down) since the innermost joint is broken, I really don’t have anything to wiggle on…maybe I shouldn’t have broken it at all (well, obviously :D). Am I screwed at this point?
I was thinking about getting a really big flathead screw driver, beating it into the opening, then hitting it from the driver’s side (pushing the axle away from the intermediate shaft). I can’t seem to seat my pry bars in far enough (they are curved, meaning no place to hit them to seat them in there), with enough pressure they slip out of the opening.
If worse comes to worse I can have it towed to where I work (heh, yeah, might be scary but I am a service tech - I just suck without air tools) and hit it with an air hammer where they meet. That’s how I usually do them (so fucking easy that way)…but the cv joint broke turning out of my development so I just pushed it back home…
i had the same problem with an axle and intermediate shaft just a couple days ago.
the lock ring is probably siezed. not necessarily a huge problem. i had a cold chisel laying around (1") and it was thick enough that it just barely fit in the crack between the two. i started off hitting VERY VERY LIGHTLY and increased the force of the blows (2-pound ball peen) until the two separated. it didn’t take a lot of force with the hammer and thick cold chisel, but all the prying in the world wasn’t budging them. as soon as the chisel was able to force the lock ring out, the axle pulled out like buttah.
give it a try and see how it works, but remember to start out tapping lightly and just increase slight amounts of force at a time. this may or may not work for you. if you find yourself thwacking it pretty hard, i’d recommend taking a break and trying to find something else, like a balljoint separation fork and see if that works at all. i’ve had luck with those as well (just couldn’t find it the other day and figured i’d give the chisel a try).
and tried everything I’ve found (well, I haven’t tried a ball-joint puller yet)
) to get the leverage you need to get it out.
but seriously if these aren’t good enough I’ll try to get better ones. First shows the axle and intermediate shaft, second shows where I am sticking the prybars, screwdrivers, etc. But the gap between the two looks bigger in the pictures then in reality. The gap is just big enough to stick the prybar into.
