my friend and i replaced the pass side axle on my vg today. on an inclined driveway. what a b!tch. we started around 10 and the car was back on the ground at 6. pulle the lower control arm apart by the 3 lower ball joint bolts. not the best idea. had to end up both of us under the car, one with a punch and the other with a hammer to get the old axle out of the carrier bearing. and then we had to raise up the other side of the front end to take weigth off the sway bar to get the ball joint back together. my friend is a honda guy and i had never done one of these axles before. so other than the axle cost there was a roll of shop towles a pizza a six pack and a 2packs of smokes added to the cost. but it was a fun day. just hpe i dont have to do it agian for a long time.

o and vans were u racin through pine hill today?

 

jeez man.. 8 hours? that's a 30 min job!!

sucks for you.

usually I unbolt the two strut bolts and then stand on the lug studs to shove the control arm down enough to get the axle stub out.

 

It seems like that is an awful long time.

I suck at teh mechanics, but I think in the two times I have been involved in taking out my transmission(s) the axle was about the least of the concerns.

The good news is, next time you will probably do it in half the time or less.

 

I hear you man. That carrier bearing is a real ***** if it's had years and years to cement to the axle.

 

I did my driver side this past monday, luckily driver side is the short axle, had it done in about 1 hour cuz the axle wasnt poppin out of the tranny and plus my g/fs dad was somewhat buzzed so it slowed things down a bit, I'm glad I know how to change it now as he was tellin me how and what to do. How much harder is it to change the passenger side?

by the way we did the same method as Matt described, he said it would make things faster and it did, would've worked if he was a bit more sober and lighter outside

 

I can't believe that you guys do stuff like this in the driveway with jack stands. That is how my father was killed when I was four. I always use a lift. I know a lift is not available to everyone but getting under a car or truck on a jack or stands gives me the creeps.

 

newer jackstand designs are MUCH safer than the old stamped steel ones. The only time I've ever had a car fall off a stand was when it was a 20 yr old stamped steel one and my fat sister was leaning on the side of the car. other than that, I've never had an issue with working under a stand as long as the car is supported properly- even done engine and tranny swaps on a pretty steeply sloped driveway- just chock the wheels well and double check everything before you get under the car.

 

heh, nice. i dunno about that 30 minute comment though. maybe if you can pry that bearing joint apart easially, but i spent hours trying to get that damn axle out and finally gave up and just pulled the tranny from the axle which i should have just done in the first place. removing the passenger axle was easially the most difficult and stressful part of the input shaft bearing job and the kicker is you don't really even need to touch the rh suspension

 

why did you see me????? how far away do you live???




when changing the passenger side axle, since the axle is bad anyways, you mind as well hit it out with something.... like a screwdriver or a small prybar.. makes things alot easier.. expecially if you dont need that old axle

 

im in bellmawr, i thought i saw u flyin through the intersection on erial rd where the wawa is at the top of the hill. and we did use a punch and a hammer to knock out the old axle from the carrier, but it was pretty well frozen in there

we had a stand under each side and a jack on each side the car was very stable. i do wish i had acess to a lift.

 

I've changed many an axle on these cars and it usually takes me less than an hour for the pass side and about 10 min for driver side.

if the pass side is frozen in the carrier bearing, use a torch to heat the outer shell, and then whack the outside part with a hammer and try to turn it. Also have someone on the outside of the car giving it a few good pulls and it usually comes out in a matter of seconds.

 

yup.. it was me.. i live right down the street, and im down that road about 10 times a day.. i probably saw you, but didnt notice you b\c there are so many old ladies with 3rd gens around here.. you should come to the deptford maxima meet on march 25!

 

Im sure all of you have a blast with the seals. I know I did. That took most of the time on the axle job.

And about the jackstands failing.. I was wondering if that was possible everytime Im under there. Those things do fail, huh.. Anybody know if the "new" designs ever failed with proper support?

 

im sure ill be bashed for this, but i dont use jackstands, my car is too low and i dont have a tall enough jack.

I just jack it up
and get under lol
ive got an awesome jack, so im sure its not going to fail


Btw, whats the best way to get the axle out if its stuck and wont seperate from the tranny.

 

To answer that question (which I suggest you use ? marks once in a while)
btw no matter how low your car is you should have stands to back up the jack I dont care what kinda jack it is at least get them damn ramps for 12 bucks each.

 

Seems your just asking for a good ol' fashion bashing, and something far worse.

 

[QUOTE=backNblackj30]im sure ill be bashed for this, but i dont use jackstands, my car is too low and i dont have a tall enough jack.

I just jack it up
and get under lol
ive got an awesome jack, so im sure its not going to fail


I'm sure my father felt the same way. He died and left a wife and five kids.

 

My car was lower than yours appears to be (Intrax) and I had no problem at all putting jack stands under it. It has nothing to do with the height of the car anyway...just on how high you can jack it up.

I am not going to flame you for not using jack stands at least but you never know what will happen. It wouldnt take much to rock the car off of the jack (pulling and rocking on stuff that is stuck) and then you have a 4000 lb car falling on you.

I would think your life is with the extra minute it takes to put the car on jack stands.

Of course you have to put them in the right place as well to be safe.

 

I always rest the car on cinder blocks under the rocker panels right behind the wheels. Do that and your car is not going anywhere.

 

For the record I have seen EVERY manner of lifting a car fail.
whether it be a $350 snap on jack (seal failure) to a 2 post lift drop a car on it's side (pulley bolt sheared and the safety failed)

 

I haven't seen any cinder blocks crack yet!

 

Help it's fallen and I can't get it off

 

Yea, its not how low the car is, its how high you can lift with the jack. Now if you have such an awesome jack, simply keep the handle twisted clockwise and jack it up a couple more inches til you can fit a jack stand.

 

i know someone who was under just a jack, and when the car fell, somehting punctured his lung and almost died because he couldnt breathe..... or yell for help b\c of the lung..... stay smart man.. it dont matter how good your jack is, **** fails man!

 

haha, so now it's "under and hour" but that is a better solution than a guy underneath there with a prybar and mallet. i got it about 1/2 way out and seemed to be completely stuck after that. at which point i said fck it. after removing the tranny, it took about 6 hard whacks to the butt of the axle to get it to break free. i'll be sure to get a torch and another person next time.

j30-get some gad damned jackstands and enjoy your skull!

 

Air tools will get that bad baby off. Make sure its no cheapy either. I remember using an air hammer w/ cheap punches & chiesel. The aftermath wasnt so great looking

 

Help

My right side axle is stuck. Excatly what should I wack and where to knock it out. I tried a air hammer chisal between the mid way holding bracket and the axle. No luck... I have tried a 24 in pry bar between the braket and the holder still nothing. I comes out maybe a 16th inch then nothing.....

Help me

 

Have you removed the center support bearing bolts????

 

try matt's suggestion. go grab a torch and burn it to bloody hell oh wait, no heat it up and bang the knubs with a mallet and a long piece of something. i never heated mine up but from what's been said in this thread it works well.

 

I loved reaching the one thats hard to get to. I'd feel bad for a guy with fat hands.

 

Can you say dumb *** ......

Note to self remove all bolts before beating the hell out of it...

Well I removed two out of the three carrier bearing bolts and completely missed the third. Once that bolt was removed it came out easy peasy japanesy. With in another hour I was adding oil and I am off. I added Amsoil GL4 75-90 and the cold 1st and 2nd shift thing is almost gone. Way too cool and it is shifting really sweet.

Thanks for your help

Remember all three bolts

 

lol..thats funny cuz I've had something similar happen to me except I only wasted 15-20 minutes before I caught on lol...well thats how you learn

 

Glad you got it off. I had a battle with the same axle shaft. I took a pipe and a 5 pound sledge and beat one of the 'ears' on the bearing side until it rotated past the bracket. Then I could get a large screwdriver between the bearing and the bracket and pried out the axle. It is a tough job due to the lack of space under there so you can't really generate enough force with each swing of the mallet. I am not looking forward to that part of the job when I do the tranny swap next week. Thanks for the tip using the torch, I will give it a try if I run into trouble.

 

It took me four days to replace two axles, a really nightmare.

 

In my opinion, the hardest part of the job was getting those damn seals in. How have ya'll done it? I know the answers will vary greatly.

 

Pass side bearing.... EASY!!!! Airhammer. 2.2 seconds= frozen bearing un-stuck.

 

got to do one of these myself (soon).

i'm looking forward to it now, as i've read a number of threads that have given some really good direction.

 

Yup, you gotta love this forum..learn just about anything as long as you understand the posts

 

That reminds me of the time I was in the boneyard and got my hand stuck. Took me about 5min. to get myself outta that one.

Never wear your watch when working on your car either.

 

or necklaces or rings or bracelets