By now you probably already sorted it out, but yeah the bar you are pointing to is commonly refered to as the north/south bar and if you remove it you should be able to get to the half-shaft carrier bolts you need to remove easier. If it has a half-shaft that means it is AWD, so you will have to remove the transfer case also to get the leverage to pop the axle out with a prybar. Come to think of it, the T-Case might be tough to get to without letting your down pipe down though. Soak the bolts in Sili-Kroil, or PB Blaster, or similar if you are seeing a ton of rust on them. You can use a torch to apply a generous amount of heat to them and then try while its still hot too.

DiSeM said:

By now you probably already sorted it out, but yeah the bar you are pointing to is commonly refered to as the north/south bar and if you remove it you should be able to get to the half-shaft carrier bolts you need to remove easier. If it has a half-shaft that means it is AWD, so you will have to remove the transfer case also to get the leverage to pop the axle out with a prybar.

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And you’re sure i have to remove the transfer case, not saying you’re wrong but i just haven't read it anywhere else. But also i feel like ive had a hard time looking it up and getting the right information

Kettlar 91 laser rs said:

And you’re sure i have to remove the transfer case, not saying you’re wrong but i just haven't read it anywhere else. But also i feel like ive had a hard time looking it up and getting the right information

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I am not under the car right now, but that is generally the procedure I go through. If you can see where the axle goes into the transmission and can pry on it with a prybar, you should not need to remove the T-Case.

I used to tear these cars down for my brother so my objective wasn't necessarily doing the least amount of work necessary, I'd be pulling the engine and drivetrain entirely. So I could be wrong with the most efficient method to changing the axle.

Someone else might chime in you are correct that you don't have to remove the T-Case, and if that is the case the exhaust would also be able to be left alone, so if you got those two bolts out holding the halfshaft in, and you can see where the axle goes into the transmission, you should be able to take a prybar to it. You could potentially pull it out without using a prybar if you could not see where it goes in, but that presents the risk of damaging the seal.

DiSeM said:

I am not under the car right now, but that is generally the procedure I go through. If you can see where the axle goes into the transmission and can pry on it with a prybar, you should not need to remove the T-Case.

I used to tear these cars down for my brother so my objective wasn't necessarily doing the least amount of work necessary, I'd be pulling the engine and drivetrain entirely. So I could be wrong with the most efficient method to changing the axle.

Someone else might chime in you are correct that you don't have to remove the T-Case, and if that is the case the exhaust would also be able to be left alone, so if you got those two bolts out holding the halfshaft in, and you can see where the axle goes into the transmission, you should be able to take a prybar to it. You could potentially pull it out without using a prybar if you could not see where it goes in, but that presents the risk of damaging the seal.

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And does the intermediate shaft have to come out with the driveaxle as one whole assembly then separated later and put back together with the new axle?

Kettlar 91 laser rs said:

And does the intermediate shaft have to come out with the driveaxle as one whole assembly then separated later and put back together with the new axle?

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I've always pulled it as one unit. It would probably be tough to knock the intermediate shaft off with it still in the car, and again potentially hurt your axle seals in the trans. You can use a small sledge to seperate them from eachother.

DiSeM said:

I've always pulled it as one unit. It would probably be tough to knock the intermediate shaft off with it still in the car, and again potentially hurt your axle seals in the trans. You can use a small sledge to seperate them from eachother.

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Copy that, i just bought a milwaukee right angle impact so hopefully i can just go in from the top of the engine bay and hit the bolts without removing much.

There is no circlip in the trans. Once the bolts are out the entire unit shaft and all can come out. Assuming yiu have clearance you don't have to remove exhaust and tcase. Can't remember if bearing housing will clear. Change the axle after you get it out then slide the assembly back in as one whole unit. If you want to change the seal almost 100% you need to drop down pipe and tcase.

pauleyman said:

There is no circlip in the trans. Once the bolts are out the entire unit shaft and all can come out. Assuming yiu have clearance you don't have to remove exhaust and tcase. Can't remember if bearing housing will clear. Change the axle after you get it out then slide the assembly back in as one whole unit. If you want to change the seal almost 100% you need to drop down pipe and tcase.

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Copy that going to try my best to get it done tonight hopefully the passenger goes much easier in the coming days!

Okay so the axel and intermediate shaft is out. Do i really need a specialty tool to get the old axel from the intermediate shaft? Would this be the last step before reinstalling?

Nice work, to seperate them, you just need to use a small sledge hammer to knock the intermediate shaft off. Tap the carrier bearing, it will come off with the intermediate shaft. It doesn't take a lot of force, dont aim for the ear either, just tap the lip until it comes off.

DiSeM said:

Nice work, to seperate them, you just need to use a small sledge hammer to knock the intermediate shaft off. It doesn't take a lot of force, dont aim for the ear either, just tap the lip until it comes off.

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F*** yeah, older brother was quite mad and scolded me on how i need to do more research which i definitely do(he is totally right) before i start a project on my car. Glad for the most part its worked out tonight, definitely couldn't do it without y’all and him. Thank you for all the help is there anything i need to watch out for on the reinstall or is it pretty straightforward just reverse the process. To get the carrier bolts out i actually just bought a Milwaukee 90° Impact. We were able to go thru the engine bay just had to take the battery and tray out and then just reach in like changing the starter and my brother had the Milwaukee 3/8 inch electric ratchet which helped as well once the bolts were loose since the 90° impact wasnt small enough to get the bolts out and have the clearance. If that makes sense. So if the exhaust pipe is not an option to remove and you also dont want to remove the north/south bar. Then that is an option as long as you can afford it of course.




Where exactly is the lip i should be tapping?

Glad we could help! Putting it back together is basically the same thing in opposite.

Be careful putting the axle back in, you do not want to break the seal. Then, if you have an AC Compressor nothing to consider, but if you don't you are technically supposed to put spacers between the half shaft to compensate for that lost space. If there weren't any you should put some washers or shims between the block and the carrier bearing.

And in your video, the first time you touched it and called it a lip.

The carrier bearing goes onto the intermediate shaft as far as it physically can. By tapping on the carrier bearing you are pushing both the carrier bearing and the intermediate shaft off of the cv axle together.

So we are having a tough time getting the axle back on the intermediate shaft, is there a special way to do that?

Kettlar 91 laser rs said:

So we are having a tough time getting the axle back on the intermediate shaft, is there a special way to do that?

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Honestly I have never had to do that step before.

My job was to take them apart. I would imagine it should just slide back together though. I wonder if the replacement CV was the correct part?

It appears to be the same part, but here is the part i bought. I also bought the matching front right fron gsp thru rockauto

Maybe just give it more finessing to try and settle it into the grooves by spinning it while putting pressure on it?

Idk why my video didnt post earlier but here is the part and it matches the old part 100%

Kettlar 91 laser rs said:

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I wasn’t suggesting you ordered the wrong part, all too often the wrong part gets sent out when ordering.

Make sure the part numbers on the box match what you ordered.

Hopefully someone else can chime in if there is a known trick to reseating the cv axle to the half shaft.

The passenger side is much easier at least!

DiSeM said:

I wasn’t suggesting you ordered the wrong part, all too often the wrong part gets sent out when ordering.

Make sure the part numbers on the box match what you ordered.

Hopefully someone else can chime in if there is a known trick to reseating the cv axle to the half shaft.

The passenger side is much easier at least!

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The old and new axle both match in amount of splines and length i just double checked, idk maybe just a deadblow will help, just scared and dont want to mess something up. I didnt mean to come off rude if i did! Happy to hear that about the passenger side!

I wonder if you could use some grease to help guide it in

I've always held the cup and tapped the shaft by banging down to the ground onto a block of wood. Kind of like driving in a fence post.

DiSeM said:

I wonder if you could use some grease to help guide it in

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I am still couldn't get it but i still haven’t tried to use a hammer type method or the below method yet

pauleyman said:

I've always held the cup and tapped the shaft by banging down to the ground onto a block of wood. Kind of like driving in a fence post.

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will try it tomorrow after work! Thank you fellas, have a good rest of the night!

pauleyman said:

I've always held the cup and tapped the shaft by banging down to the ground onto a block of wood. Kind of like driving in a fence post.

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That's how I did it as well. Your just trying to compress the c-clip to fit.

This experience isn’t DSM specific, but if I was reinstalling this assembly without asking the forum first I would have installed the half shaft back into the car then stabbed the axle onto it after.