Thread: How to: Remove an axle

First off, to set the stage, I'm nearly 41 and don't do this for a living. It's literally a hobby that spiraled out of control because I had the tools and garage.

You doing the driver or passenger side? If you use that tool and a slide hammer on the paasenger side, you are making it harder on yourself. Crawl under and whack it from behind. It's super super eaaaassssy.

On the brakes and caliper.. if you are slow, then it was an extra however long that can be avoided. I'm trying to help you finish sooner. Then..FWIW, if you find a step missing from one of my write up's, please say so. Cause a guy that lists socket size etc etc thinks he's got all the steps,. If one is missing..I need to add it.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

First off, to set the stage, I'm nearly 41 and don't do this for a living. It's literally a hobby that spiraled out of control because I had the tools and garage.

You doing the driver or passenger side? If you use that tool and a slide hammer on the paasenger side, you are making it harder on yourself. Crawl under and whack it from behind. It's super super eaaaassssy.

On the brakes and caliper.. if you are slow, then it was an extra however long that can be avoided. I'm trying to help you finish sooner. Then..FWIW, if you find a step missing from one of my write up's, please say so. Cause a guy that lists socket size etc etc thinks he's got all the steps,. If one is missing..I need to add it.

Ur not missing any steps bill. The wrote ups worked great for me. He's just asking questions so he doesn't mess up I guess.

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I think he wishes it was a little easier, like you said ...it's cake once you've practiced it about 10 times.

Originally Posted by Burbman

BINGO...I've never had to change an axle so doing it for the first time. I'm changing both because I can't tell which side is bad, the boots look fine, no grease spraying, etc. I was on here and also Googled till my fingers hurt, the symptom of vibrates on acceleration, smooth on coasting, and gets worse accelerating into a right turn. I found a half dozen posts on various forums with that exact symptom, and the cause was the same every time: bad axle, replaced it and vibration went away...but nobody said which side!!

I'll stop overthinking this and dive into it tonight. Will follow your instructions to a tee and post back.

Good. If u run into any problems shoot me or bill a message. I'll have my phone on so I'll see it. I've done these on my car and someone else's and its very easy. I have faith in ur abilities

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I'm usually offline w/o notifications after 3pm.

For what it's worth thought..that's the passenger side. Vibration when slightly taking a left was the left side axle. Hardest part of my instructions is popping the balljoint. It's kinda funny even watching friends that have helped before..it's like they don't hit the side of the BJ quite right.

un bolt the strut. and pop the tir rod. chances are the struts are not slotted and dont have anywhere to go. you can make some marks to make sure its back where it started as well.

Burb, while you are buying tools. Here's a few you'll want to ensure that you have if you are going to work on a GM 3800 vehicle.

10mm, 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 18mm, ensure you have deep sockets and wrenches both.
3/8", 19mm deep sockets only.
7mm nutdriver
Med phillips and med flat blade screwdrivers

When I say socket, I'm talking 6 point only. With that stuff, you can almost completely disassemble your car.

Turn the wheels in the direction of the side you want to work on. Poof... perfect access. Extra work is just extra work.

No 18 must be one of the craftsman sets where they felt it was important to make you buy the key wrenches seperately. Yes..I have had that.

Get the clamp tool, you'll love it.

i would only use them pickel fork on parts your going to change, they tent to tear up the boots. a good hit with a hammer will pop the tie rods free. and a long pipe on top of the lca, and then under the car, then someone jumps on the bar, popped ball joint with the boot intact still.

I run napa axles in my car and havent had an issue, but thats not to say your new axle you bought is a bad new part.

If it was me, I would replace the other side aswell, just to see if that one is the cause. Then if the problem is still there, I would get a new one for the drivers side.

Also make sure your motor mounts arent blown out or smashed from age, that can throw off the axle geometry.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

I run napa axles in my car and havent had an issue, but thats not to say your new axle you bought is a bad new part.

If it was me, I would replace the other side aswell, just to see if that one is the cause. Then if the problem is still there, I would get a new one for the drivers side.

Also make sure your motor mounts arent blown out or smashed from age, that can throw off the axle geometry.

I was planning to do both CV shafts but expected after changing the shaft with a known problem (torn boot) to not have a new issue. Engine mounts might be a contributing factor and most likely need to be replaced. I visually checked them today after the test drive but didn't spot anything obviously wrong. With the vibration only starting after installing the new left side CV shaft and only happened under acceleration, not when I'm off the throttle... I'm not inclined to replace the right side CV shaft until this has been resolved. Be it motor mounts that have impacted engine alignment.... or at least not until I've confirmed the inner hub snap ring is actually engaged in the groove on the stub spline (it appeared to snap on pretty easy), or rule out the shaft has a defect, maybe the manufacture simply put the wrong shaft in the box marked for the 99 with a 3.8.

Anyway it works out, I appreciate the reply.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

I run napa axles in my car and havent had an issue, but thats not to say your new axle you bought is a bad new part.

If it was me, I would replace the other side aswell, just to see if that one is the cause. Then if the problem is still there, I would get a new one for the drivers side.

Also make sure your motor mounts arent blown out or smashed from age, that can throw off the axle geometry.

Thanks for the advise, looks to have hit the problem dead on. Sunday I removed the drivers side axle again, but found nothing wrong (inner half spline is identical to the removed OEM CV part, measured with a vernier caliper) so I re-installed it. Removed the passenger front tire for access to change the filter/oil and got a great visual of the engine mount. Its blown. Since the trans mount appears to be sound but the engine mount has failed and suspect the new CV shaft install further disturbed an already existing engine alignment problem, I'll do all the mounts and passenger side CV, starting with replacing the failed engine mount and hope that corrects the vibration issue.

Any advise on parts preference... OEM vrs aftermarket from ?? or typical auto parts store stuff from Anchor, Westar, DEA which all have less than stellar reviews. I also see they can be purchased as solid or hydraulic....