1G axle stuck in transmission

[91tsi_awd]

As I posted a while ago my car had a ball joint failure. In turn I shredded one of my tires and bisected my passenger side axle. I have everything torn down, however, I can not seem to get the part of the axle that is stuck in the transmission. It's in a tight spot so it is difficult to get any kind of tool (that I know of) on it to pull it out of the trans. My question is has any on had any experience with this, and if so how did you go about removing the remaining portion of the axle? I will try to upload a photo later the pics on my phone are apparently too big. But to paint a mental picture it is split At the nearest cv joint to the transmission.

 

[xuberantz]

Pry bar/Flat head screwdriver. Wedge it between the transmission and the axle cup to remove.

 

[Dsmkauai]

Get the car up on jacks as high as you can or feel safe to, this way you have room to pry with a big bar. Make sure you rotate the axle while you pry. The reason being is every c-clip has a sweet spot and you just need to find it. Once you do the axle will/should pop right out. Be careful not to pry against the seal, if you slip or have in the wrong spot you could easily damage and might end up fighting a leak for the rest of your life . Just try to pry on the axle more than the case side that's all. When you reinstall use some multi purpose grease on the splines to help them slide in and out easier for the future.

 

[tmoney20g]

I had a terrible time with mine too, just when I thought I'd break my face on the fender, my hand on a subframe part, or the breaker bar would snap in half, that's when the axle finally popped out.

Rather than applying pressure to it, just give it a good hard snap-jab, as if you're trying to break off half of the transmission with it. That's when it pops out.

Keep trying that and rotating the axle around each of those 3 big bumps that you're leveraging on. It'll pop out eventually.

 

[Jon91TSi]

A chisel and a rubber mallet work a million times better than any pry bar. Get it between the axle and trans case and give it a smack (not hard enough to gouge the axle) and it will pop out easily every time. I've had a few cars that a pry bar works fine, but others that a pry bar would not, so now I use the chisel trick every time to avoid the aggravation.

 

[pauleyman]

Ive never pried. I put a square shank screwdriver behind it and give it a twist with a crescent wrench.

 

[synthetek]

Ive never pried. I put a square shank screwdriver behind it and give it a twist with a crescent wrench.

+1 twisting works way better than prying. I do it the same way , big screwdriver and a crescent wrench and it pops right out.

 

[91tsi_awd]

Thanks for all the answers guys after many attempts and a few choice words I did get it out with a pry bar and vice grips. I wish I would have seen the chisel method and been able to give that one a shot.

 

[Jon91TSi]

There will be a next time... haha

 

[ErikTande]

Ive never pried. I put a square shank screwdriver behind it and give it a twist with a crescent wrench.

THANK YOU. I was just struggling with my 1g driver side axle for an hour and finally started searching and found this. Screwdriver and twist popped it right out, thanks!