Cant get front axle out

[JimL]

This thread is similar to another but I didnt want to hijack.

I have the nearside front axle disconnected and ready to remove but I just cant get it out (feel an oil filter moment coming).

I got past the cone washers with ease thankfully and beat the 54mm nuts off although the inner one was loose anyway. The six nuts on the inner CV were tight but not really a problem with a 2nd spanner against the wishbone to stop the bolt itself spinning.

With all loose now I pulled the inner flange from the bolts and got the inner CV joint down out of the way. The outer one however doesnt just slip out. I opened the shock bolt with a 22mm socket and removed the bolt and moved the shock too. Now it seems the anti roll bar link bar is in the way of removing the inner joint.

Any tips?????

[Koi]

Undone bottom bolt on shock, slide shock over and drive shaft will come out with a little moving around.

Oh and tips yes, don't drive across narrow bridges when your p****d outta your mind

[Delboy]

Jim. Best to disconnect the sway bar, then raise the wheel up. By disconnecting it you enable full articulation on that side and can get the lower control arm almost horizontal. I do this now by driving the side i'm working on up onto a ramp thingy.

[NiftyNev]

Jim

I had to remove sway bar link to remove my drive shafts.Just undo the nut under the control arm and swing it out the way.

Neville

[JimL]

I finally got it out. What I did wrong was that I tried to squeeze the booted inner joint out past the shock and roll bar link before I removed the shock bolt and it got jammed.

The roll bar link: I removed the bottom bolt alright but it wouldnt come up out of the bottom wishbone too easy so I removed the 2 12mm bolts holding the roll bar onto the chassis rail and pushed the whole lot backwards opening the gate for the axle to be removed.

I even got a bit more room to remove the axle by winding down the torsion bar about 5 turns anticlockwise, got lots of room from that.

Getting the 'new' axle in was tight and you have to be a bit more gentle in case you damage your new boots. I found I had to play around with the jack and torsion bars again to get the wishbone at the correct angle.

Torsion bars are the EASIEST thing to adjust. You need a 24mm socket and wrench. Turning clockwise raises the suspension by forcing the wishbones downwards and anitclockwise to lower the suspension by raising the wishbones.
I had no worries about messing with them coz I'd be half suspicious that the reason my boots had both torn and CVs worn may be down to some previous owner winding them up too high. I'll reset them to the 13.5 inches from rim to fender that I believe they should be.

[DroveRunner]

Just had the offside driveshaft out to do both gaiters and thought the following info might help anyone searching to do this job on one side or another.

Folks talk of using two 17mm spanners on the inner flange nuts but these were so tight they needed a socket and ratchet. See the image where it shows two extn bars together reaching through to the bolts.

I could see the inner boot would pass the shocker OK once the roll bar drop link was unbolted from the lower arm, rotated upwards...and that the roll bar was supported levered up an extra inch or two from its static position. See image for the bar and wood block arrangement.

Did manage to get the shaft off but a right pig getting exactly the right angle of wishbone and steering hub.... then compressing the shaft to minimum length. The inner flange only just cleared the axle drive flange studs. In struggling to lever it all out the large end cap popped off the inner joint and it ended up a greasy struggle.

So.... To replace the driveshaft I thought it better to split the lower hub balljoint to enable the hub to be pulled out for more clearance. This made the replacement loads easier and next time I would do that at the start of the job.

See attached images.

David

[mumphjam]

CV Joint Removal

How in gods name do you get the old CV joint off of the shaft?

[Jonny77]

Holy dead thread revival batman!

Its held on with one snap ring. Hold the shaft in your hand and hit the CV with a dead blow hammer on the face of the largest diameter and it will fall off, probably landing on your foot.

[KERRSURF]

You can stuff a rag into one end of a suitable pipe (to prevent damage to splined end of shaft) remove the tri-bearing (a circlip) from stub axle end of driveshaft and then put shaft into pipe and bang on a hard surface. the circlip for CV joint may break, just make sure you still have it on shaft or retrieve it from inside CV joint.

Most of the time it's cheaper to buy a complete driveshaft from a scrapper than buy a new CV joint.

wee tip: when your removing/fitting driveshafts it's easier to simply knock out one of the splined captive bolts from axle drive flange to get more room to maneuver the shaft out. A sharp hit with a hammer (leave the nut on the last couple of threads to prevent damage to bolt) and they pop out easily, just make sure when tightening up that it seats in the splines properly again.

I'll see if I can find a vid of CV joint removal method.

[KERRSURF]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTooPkTAmIk