Front drive axle wont budge

[AWDGUY86]

Changing out my clutch in my new 2g eveything is ready to go its just that the passager side drivers axle will not budge from the hub. Ive tryed eveything including, hammer and wood, gear puller, a gallon of wd40. ive taken the brake off and even tried iun bolting the hub and that wont budge. The lower ball joint has been unbolted as well. Any idea as what I can do to get thte axle out?

 

[Gary 420A RS]

couldnt you remove the drivers side and push it through? ive never heard of it not coming out... i just pry it out.. sometimes its harder then others but eventualy it always comes off.. with a pry bar

 

[johnk]

Are you talking about the axle not coming off at the hub? or the tranny? I leave the nut on the end of the axle and hammer it to get it off the hub and you will have to unbolt the hub at the top and slide the hub out towards you then turn it to one side with the steering wheel and slide the axle out. At the tranny just use a pry bar, it's easier to get them out of the hubs first.

 

[Nanan]

Unless you are also looking to replace the wheel bearings while your doing your clutch I would suggest taking a shortcut on this step. Disconnect the upper arm at the balljoint, then pull the bolt out of the lower arm. Doing so allows you to pull the hub out as a full set and will give you enough room to pull the tranny.

 

[AWDGUY86]

Thanks for the input guys but i tried unbolting the hub as a unit and it wouldent budge, so what I had to do is heat up the area around the axle ( on the outer ring were the wheel would line up) with a torch. It took about 10 min and with 2 hits of the hammer it poped right out. The trannie is now out and about to be going back in soon. Thanks again.

 

[oldman]

I had to soak it with pb blaster for four nights in a row before I got it out, spreayed it 2-3 times each day. Good luck with it, it was one of the hardest thing I had to do with my car.

 

[dave99gst]

when i did my axel swap i had to beat the $hit out of it with a BFH ( sledge )
and yes it mushromed the heck out of the end

 

[unior]

i have one that was pissing me off lately - i even broke a hammer trying to get it out

a torch is the trick - but i didnt have access to one at this garage

so i just unbolted the entire hub so i could pull the trans

 

[graf703]

We just unbolted everything from the knuckle so that you can pull it out as far as possible. We beat on the thing for two weeks straight and it wouldn't go. But now the caster is too far out of alignment to bring back.... oh well. thats just what we did.

 

[AMS Eric #2]

You guys are making it harder than it has to be when doing 2g clutches. I unbolt the lower strut mount from the A-arm, then unbolt the A-arm from the inner mount. This allows you to swing the suspension and axle out Much further than you ever need to. Using this method also keeps you from having to pop any balljoints off, not risking slicing any balljoint boots, or removing any axles from their hubs.

 

[graf703]

that would work well too... i paid eight dollars a piece for four ball joint boots!

 

[unior]

that would work well too... i paid eight dollars a piece for four ball joint boots!

i dont quite understand why people have such a problem with ball joints

i have yet to mess one up removing ball joints

never used a pickle fork either

just hit the thing at the right spot with a hammer - don't miss!