cv axle shaft replacement - SUCCESS!
 

Any tips on how to get the driver's side axle off the transfer case? I've been prying on it all day long and it does not want to come off!!

come on nobody's done this before? I was hoping to find a write-up but the only one i found was for a grand prix. There is no room to pry on anything, nor is there room to fit a puller so how do you get this thing out?

A big crowbar worked for me.

thats what ive been using for 3 hours! All it wants to do is move back and forth but the axle wont come off the retaining ring. I went and got a slide hammer with several attachments but none of them will hold on or reach around the "cup" of the cv joint. If i had some sort of a fork that would wrap around that "cup" and attach to the slide hammer things would be gravy.

I hate cars sometimes...

ok so after reading the tech info write up it looks like you have to separate the ball joint to get this thing out. Is this the case? If so how does the strut assy. work on these cars? In my grand prix if you separated the lower control arm it was very difficult to re-align everything. If i can get the outboard part of the shaft separated and removed I can then use the slide hammer to remove the tripot.

I didn't have to seperate the ball joint. I undid the spindle, left the ball joint attached, popped the outer end of the CV joint out of the spindle, and swung it aside. I then had a crap load of free room to pop it out of the tranny.

Except for not having the correct sized hub socket, I was done in about 1.5 hours.

IIRC, getting it to pop out was a helluva lot easier than getting the lock ring to seat correctly and pop back in.

ok great what do you mean by spindle exactly?

this is what i have undone... I took all this off because thats how you do it on a grand prix.

The brake caliper and rotor are removed.
The wheel hub/bearing is removed.
The boot over the inboard joint on the axle is revoved - so i can get to the grroves that allow you to pull it.


What I see - apparrently I will need to remove the rest of the shaft up to the inboard tripot in order to get a straight shot at it with the slidehammer.

Please help - if I dont need to remove the ball-joint it will make my life alot easier!

ok I have been trying to get the cv axle out for going on 6 hours! there is not enough clearance to remove the shaft with the weels straight or in either lock position. The only way i see to remove it is by dropping the ball joint. I am wondering though...

If I remove the ball joint is the strut tower going to extend downward? Is there anything I need to do to limit that or can I just pop it out and let it go. Also how do i get enough clearance to get the ball joint out when the control arm is pushing up so hard.

Thanks

I have never done this before, but I'm trying to help.

OR:

Smack the end of the axle where it comes through the hub with a rubber mallet (leave the nut on there for this to break it loose).

Rotate suspension crap out of the way, and use a large prybar behind the tripod (big 3-winged aluminum thingy part of the axle) with leverage against the tailshaft housing to pop the axle loose.

I had this same problem with mine last year. I ended up making a horse shoe shaped yoke to attach to a slide hammer. After a couple of very heavy hits, the whole splined shaft within the transmission came out. The spring clip on the opposite of the shaft released before the spring clip within the cv shaft. I about crapped because I feared that if I continued to pull the drive shaft out of the transmission, the differential spider gears would fall off inside the tranny. A good friend of mine works for Allison Transmission and someone he knew there had a complete manual for this transmission. I was able to determine from the prints that the shaft could indeed be completely removed from the transmission without any internal problems. I pulled the whole splined drive shaft out of the transmission with the cv shaft still stuck on it. Then I was able to put the shaft in a vice and finally remove the cv shaft. All of this because the spring clip expanded to much to allow the cv shaft to be removed with "moderate" force. The splined shaft inside the tranny that the cv shaft is coupled to is approximately 24" long, so this shaft with the cv shaft still attached will be at least 36" long.

If you can't get it to release, send me a PM and if I still have the yoke, I can UPS it to you.

SUCCESS!!

I finally got this thing off! For anyone in the future who does this be advised the driver's side axle can be EXTREMELY stubborn. Aslo for future notice it is not necessary to remove the brake caliper, the rotor, or the hub. It does make it a little easier though.

In order to get the thing out I removed the boot from the inboard joint to separate it from the other half.

It is ABSOLUTELY neccesary to separate the ball joint. This is accomplished by buying a 36" wrecking bar at Lowe's and iserting the end into the little 0 shaped hole on the control arm. You then must pry jump and curse until the thing comes apart or you can use a pickle fork and FUBAR your ball joint boots.

After they come loose you can sit on the wrecking bar to apply leverage and use your free hands to push the strut assembly out of the way and get the end of the shaft out of the wheel hub. Half of the axle shaft is now free and you now have a big grease mess to clean up wohoo!

You can now go rent a FWD axle shaft puller KIT #5 at Checker/Shucks/Kragen/Advance and use the three claw attachment for the slide hammer to pull the tripod/pot whatever it is out. There are three grooves hidden under the boot for this purpose. A couple taps will pull it free or in the case of ZR1*** pull the center shaft out too.

Now it all easily goes back together.

The passenger side is much easier as there is room to tap the back of the cv axle with a hammer. I did that side in about 20 minutes!

Thanks for the help -- now I have to figure out why my car is still vibrating at highway speeds. Probably one of the two accidents ive had in this poor car. Drunk drivers can go to hell :evil: