Does my transmission needs to be in Neutral when changing axles?

Yesterday, I got some tools and prepared to change my driver side axle. It has been changed 2 weeks ago but its a NON abs and I have ABS so I decided to swap it myself.

So I put ebrake on and by habit put the car in 1st then kill the engine and let the clutch out. So I loosened the axle nut, jacked up the car took the axle nut out, then unscrewed the 2 strut bolts. And got the axle out of the hub. Then tried to pull the axle. I pryed it, pulled it as hard as I can and it wouldnt come out. By end of the day I put it all together and getting ready for next battle. Talked to my friend today who is good with cars. He said that axle wont come out if the tranny is in speed. Which kind of makes sence.

Can anyone confirm this? Im so dissapointed I never got this thought yesterday :>

I searched on the web and the forums, couldnt find any info. Thanks

 

It doesnt matter. The axle is actually held in my a clip. You have to pull real hard to get it to come out. It just doesnt slide out. Gotta use some force.

 

I think you can just put an ABS ring on that current axle. No need to swap it out again.

 

what is an abs ring? what does it look like? oh and I have done lots of changing axles and have never paid attention to whether I left it in gear or not...its pretty unlikely everytime I didnt this it was in neutral or in gear. It doesnt matter. I have had to push in then pull out and pry on the back side of the driver axle to get it out. make sure you have a bucket under there to catch the gear oil.

 

dosent matter. i always leave it in neutral.

 

ohh.. I tried as hard as i could. I pulled that bish soo hard it still wouldnt come out. I tried prying it. Maybe it wasnt good enough. Will give it another go soon. Thanks for the responses

 

I've had to pull out my drivers side axle, i used like a 12 inch "forked" pry bar, it came off pretty easy...putting it back in on the other hand proved to be...difficult with the clip...thats the point you really should be worried about.

I never heard of just putting the ABS ring on your current axle, but if you can get away with it, it would save you a pretty decent headache.

The teeth he is talking about is how the ABS component works, as far as I know like this: the ABS sensor is right off the outer portion of the outer CV joint (I think there is 2 right?). What this sensor does is read "teeth" on the axle the teeth look something similar to this -_-_-_-_- (looking at it from the side).

Also, in case you aren't aware, when you pull out the axle be prepared for your manual tranny fluid to come out (unless you drain it before hand?) I was unfortunate enough to start the job and when I took out the axle, got a face full of tranny fluid..... ugh that day sucked.

I hope this helps in some way.

 

Like I said, not 100% sure you can do that, but I have put ABS axles into a non abs car before and just popped that ring off. I dont see why if you had your old one you could just pound it onto the non abs axle.