I am replacing my right axle. I undid the three bolts that hold the axle in but the damn thing will not come off. I have had both hands on the end of it trying to yank it back and forth but it appears corroded into that mount in the middle and no amount of yanking is freeing it. The tranny is already drained and it would be suuuuuch a pain to have to put this back together and pay a shop $150 in labor (which is what they want) to do it, especially since I have to do the next side next

It's hard to get PB Blaster up in there, but I've never been impressed by that stuff anyway. I need some mechanical solution to this.

EDIT: It seems there is something called an axle puller. Now, realize I am trying to remove the entire axle, not just the outer cv section, so would one of these be prudent? I hope that advance auto parts has one to rent. It would hook onto the shaft and then I can hammer this little bugger detached, right?

 

use pry bar with quick snap action it has a snap ring in there to hold it in place.

 

hes not talking about the axle from the tranny but the passanger axle mount, I usually use a dull chisel and carefully bang it to the side so it turns loose, then try to get it to move either with a pry bar or bang it with a hammer and chisel from the other side, be very carefull not to damage the "ears" or the thread. This can be very difficult to remove, there were a couple of times where i had to take off the bracket WITH the axle and take it off of the axle on the work bench. It is held on by 3 14mm bolts IIRC.

 

i used a flat head screwdriver, a hammer, some wd40. always worked for me.

 

Either get a bigger hammer, or take the entire carrier off of the block.

Personally, I always choose the BFH approach, works every time. A punch, screwdriver, whatever (brass drift is best, but...yea, no) and a few nice hits with a decent size hammer (mine is 16oz, I believe) and it always comes out.

 

Now, unless the bracket is removed from the car, per nsnrider, what else are you doing with a hammer? I did bang on the bracket with my hammer a few times to try and shake things up, but that didn't help me and there's nothing to hit on the axle to force the hammer's velocity in line with the axle away from the axle mount, hence the wonderig about the axle puller...

Oh--wait are you guys talking about using a punch by hammering it from the other side (with driver side axle out, too)?

I just looked at it again. It's impossible to get any clearance behind the axle where it's in the bracket, to hit it from the rear, so in terms of hitting the "ears", are you saying to smack where the screws go through so that it will pivot within the mount, and then it could be pulled out?

 

yes, thats what i do sometimes, put alot of penetrating lubricant in there and go at it.

never tried hitting it from the LH axle with a punch though.

 

Cool. I suppose with that, worse case is I over do it and smash off one of those three ears, but since I'm replacing the axle, that's no biggy.

While I'm at it, what do I need to take out the driver's side? I was trusting that would be much easier. It doesn't have this bracket, but it does have the c-clip inside the tranny and if I'm going to the auto store anyway, I may as well buy anything else that could be of possible use to help get it out.

Thanks

EDIT: Neither advance auto or home depot sell a brass punch, but I did get a good sized chisel. I'll try a piece of wood or scrap metal first, though. I will update with results tonight/tomorrow morning

 

just unbolt it from the block, it takes like 3.5 minutes

 

The whole bracket the bugger is corroded into? That would get it out of the engine, but given that I am replacing the axle, I'll still have to somehow unhook the axle from this bracket anyway. I'm stoked to get home and either break the car and or break that connection With my luck I'd not be able to get my breaker bar in the right area to disconnect the bracket anyway!

 

I just whacked at those ears hard enough to risk caving them in where the screws go in but absolutely no budging whatsoever for this axle. I've given up on that side and may or may not try hammering it through from the other side if I am able to get the driver off, but I already broke a socket just now trying that. Removing the mounting bracket is not possible due to clearances and the fact that the bolt is in at the correct orientation that I am not able to get my breaker bar in without it "wiggling" in the middle as opposed to having enough distance to get any torque into it.

I remember so clearly now why I absolutely abhorred changing the axle last time. @*#(!

Any ideas on where to buy a brass punch long enough to fit through the tranny? Home depot and advance auto parts do not sell them. Advance also knew nothing of axle pullers which I still feel the use of one may assist in removing this, but no idea where to get it.

 

Since your replacing it, you could use a torch and get it nice n hot. Then try hammering on the ears again till it rotates. Once it starts rotating, you can usually get a prybar or flat head in there to help. If a torch isn't availiable, do as others say and get a bigger hammer.

 

I couldn't really get to the bolts on the block. I took a dremel cutting wheel and made a 1/8" deep slot along the seam in the bearing housing and used a chisel to hammer the slot open. PB Blaster helps a lot, once you budge it it's pretty straightforward.

 

Didn't even see this.

Passenger side has no circlip, only the driver's side. Passenger side is solely held in with the three-bolt mount being discussed here.

 

I came upon a fellow on the net who welded some kind of a right angle fork that he was able to get to the back of the axle at the bracket/mount and hammer it with a big sledge from the driver's side in the direction of the axle. I can't do such a thing, but am going to see about getting a pry bar at the correct angle with its S-shaped end, to try something similar. Certainly some kind of solid metal hook or shape that allows the force to be generated parallel to the shaft is really what would be ideal in this scenario. I'm almost surprised there isn't such a thing.

 

I GOT IT! I ended up removing the bracket from the engine. I did manage to get at the three bolts and knew that undoing them was harder than doing them up because the bracket would go back in easily with lots of room once the axle was gone.

After 10 minute sof hammering to remove the axle from this mount I can bet my life on the fact there's no way anybody could have removed it without taking the bracket out. It was in there _very hard_, absolutely ludicrously hard and took a ton of hammering to get out.

Thanks for the help. I've broken two bits trying to undo a bolt for the other side, but I think it was just over-stressed parts.

 

Took mine out while attached to the car with the mount, however, I have air tools and used an air hammer to do it. Without the pneumatic tools, this would have been a huge pita.

 

i just get an acetylene torch and blast all the bearings through. 2 mins job haha

 

Yeah, that wouldn't have worked in this case. It took me quite a while to get it back in (had to use an 8 lb dumbell acting as a hammer against an iron rod and then tightening the 3 screws to pull it back in), even with the fresh axle and wire-brushing the mount and lubricant. It was simply too tight and ill-fitted. If it ever comes out again I'll sand the inner ring on the mount because there's just no reason for it to be so stiff.

 

you should have put on some copper slip or antisieze in between so it comes off easier next time

 

I did But when I was putting it on realized it's so damn snug that I wouldn't even bother trying to do it next time--I'd go straight for the mount. It really ought not to be so stiff!

 

Plenty of people have removed the axle without removing the bracket.



My mechanic used one of those. The big one, about 2.5 feet long. Couple whacks on the end to get it in there, and some weight to pry it out.

 

Indeed, in the majority of cases removing the bracket isn't necessary.

I did come up with a $10 crowbar that has the same end as those orange tools and it was perfect for removing the driver's side. One good pull and it popped right out

 

A tool wasn't even needed for the driver's side. I just yanked in a couple motions, as if it was a slide hammer.

 

Not surprisingly, I tried that first and it didn't work. I'm quite strong and got as much momentum with both hands as possible but it wouldn't budge without the leverage from the tool.