Thread: Axle removal problems...please help!!

I really didn't want to bring this on the board, but I suppose since I haven't heard back from Zooom in three days, I have no other choice

About a year ago I purchased a set of stage 1 axles from ZZP, everything installed smoothly and after about a week one of the boots went on me. I contacted ZZP and they stated they had put the wrong size boot on the axle, and were sending me another axle to replace it. The boot was rubbing so bad that it wore through the ABS sensor wires.

So right before I put the car away for the winter (september 07) I was winterizing, and saw that the two passenger side boots also had gone bad on me (wrong size boot was on the driver side).

I have contacted ZZP to see what could be done about replacing the axles, and I haven't heard anything.

Now the latest, and the reason why I'm posting. I'm trying to remove the driver side axle, and its not going anywhere. To the point that when I do get the axle to disengage, the whole output shaft disengages, not the axle. I'm wondering maybe the slot inside the axle where the slip ring sits was machined too deep, therefore not allowing the slip ring to disengage............ GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, I'm not a happy camper right now.! Any suggestions as to how to get this damn axle boot to disengage from the output shaft would be highly appreciated!!

BTW: I have changed the axles a couple times on this car and a couple others, and I've never had such a resilient axle before!!!

Not sure, probley just going to have to take a blue tip wrench and heat it up and see if it loosens up that way.

That seems REALLY odd, and maybe Trannyman might shed some light on this. But if the output shaft is coming with the axle, you would have to be breaking loose the snap ring in the differential and the passenger side axle and Im not seeing that happen without there being some other issue.

You have to use a wedge like a chisel to force the differential off the snap ring of the output shaft so if your out put shaft is coming with the axle on the drivers side, that would scare me a bit. But also keep in mind, on the drivers side, the axle is a female end whereas on the passenger side it is a male end on the axle.

Im sure you know this since you stated you had pulled a few sets, but I just wanted to point that out as well.

Unfortunately I have seen this before as well as a local friend that ran into this, or we'll just say the aftermath of this. The output shaft has the same snap ring on both ends, but if the ring was expanded too much on the outer end where your axle goes in and the inner machined groove for the snap ring to sit in has a very rough edge it is really going to fight you. Worse cause the output shaft is going to have to come out with the axle and be put in a vise and then have a party with a mini sledge trying to crack it loose. The big concern about the output shaft coming out is that the snap ring on the diff end will want to drag over the plastic lube dam inside the trans and can easily break it if forced, so taking the diff out and removing that snap ring may be necessary to do at least as a safety measure. The trans that my friend saw this on had some really messed splines on the end because someone tried using vise-grips on the end of the shaft and destroyed it which made removal the next time near impossible just like what you are running into.

Two words: Slide hammer.

Mine has always popped right out the first time.

Two words: Slide hammer

As odd as this sounds it really does work well. About 5 years ago when I worked I was wrenching at a repair shop one of the techs had a pair of Vise Grip locking pliers that had a threaded end on the handle specifically for use with a slide hammer. I have never seen these available anywhere but they sure worked good and I had a few stubborn axles when pulling out trans's. Unfortunately you have to take the axle apart to do this so you can clamp on the inner hub but it did work good. But then you are back to if the whole output shaft wants to come out with it then there isnt much you can do other than remove the whole thing and dissassemble it outside of the car

Yea, well, for now the inner hub isn't going anywhere, I removed the inner boot, then installed the new axle and inner boot on the old hub. Thanks for the advice guys!!!

You can make a ****ty bracket for the slide hammer to attach to that goes "behind" the axle in the space between the case and axle. Should be able to pop it right out then.

Originally Posted by Tengis

You can make a ****ty bracket for the slide hammer to attach to that goes "behind" the axle in the space between the case and axle. Should be able to pop it right out then.

That is called the "FWD axle removal adapter" from autozone its exactly what you just said, and this is the tool that works so well, it takes out my output shaft instead of my axle