Pain in my axle - please help!

Alright... I have searched and searched. Talked with people and, also, I have watched countless skilled individuals simply use their hands to seat their axle's into their FWD vehicles. I have not had ANY luck with this. I attempted to do this - to no avail. I have two new axle's and have not had any luck getting either side of mine in. Already tried the rubber mallet on the wheel assembly side of the axle shaft. I even wrapped one of the those chain linked vice grips around the inner joint (past the band so as not to damage) on the drivers side and proceeded to hit that body of the vise grips with a ball pein hammer to try to seat it. I used that instead of those WHALE-MOUTHED looking vise grips because nobody had one in stock at any of the 6 stores I visited. I put new tranny seals in each side, they looked great, seated just right... The splines are lined up - one side moves the other. But, I cannot seem to get the last 1/4 inch for proper seal. Anyone ever had this trouble? HELP, please. I replaced the torque converter, main seal, tranny seals, new axle's, etc. The old axle's would not seat either... Popped right out with minimal pressure from large flathead. UNBELIEVABLE how much this is frustrating me - just want to run the engine to get the WEBER carb tuned and turn my sons' car over to him so that he will stop driving mine! LOL. sorry - been a long rode. Please help.

I know what you mean. I couldn't get mine to seat with manual pressure. I whacked it a couple of times with a standard 16oz claw hammer and that did it. Try to have the axle as straight as possible so your impact energy will not be vectored off through angled CV joints. And, don't hit it too hard! I think I hit it about three times.

Now, take this for what it is, a theory. I think if you take a file to the inboard side of the circlip and take down the sharp edge a little and put a small amount of lithium grease on the clip itself it might snap in just a bit easier. I am going to try it next time myself.

thank you for your reply Mike... I will try what you indicated and let you know.

i know its not recommended, but i've always used a hammer on the inside of the shaft and the axles last for years. just be careful where you hit it and how hard, and like mike said, be aware of where the energy from the hammer will go.

You could also try removing the clip from one of the old axles to see if that helps. That would at least tell you if the clip was causing the issue.

C|

^^Great idea!

Yeah I have hit the inner joint housing with a hammer and a block of wood.

I did ruin a shaft hitting the spline end. it messed up the inner CV making it bind.


wp

It sounds like you are having trouble getting the outboard CV joint seated in the wheel hub assembly. There are no circlips on that side, so they won't help you. What happens is that road salt, time and neglect conspire to make the splines rusty, rough and difficult. Often, you have to beat the old axle out of the hub because they rust together. When reinstalling, I usually use a 4# sledge hammer and a big socket to beat the wheel hub onto the joint. You don't have to go gonzo on it, just a few light raps. Hit it just enough to get the spindle nut on a few turns and then use the spindle nut to pull it home.

What I usually do is I set the inner joint in the tranny. Not all the way in but so the splines mesh. Then seat the outer side in the hub/knuckle. If the outer side is also having trouble due to rust or whatever, I do the same as the inner and just get the splines to mesh. Then I use the knuckle kind of like a battering ram by lifting it (knuckle) enough that the axle is parallel to the ground and sort of swing the knuckle towards the center of the car. This always seats the inner side and atleast get the outer in enough to get the hub nut threaded.