Rear axles

#1

Anyone have a really hard time getting the rear axles back in the hubs? Any ideas?

#2

A few things you should do:

Thoroughly clean the splines on the axle and the hub. Small wire brush or fold up medium sandpaper to get into the grooves. Flush away all the residual grit/dirt.

Put the axle in the freezer, overnight is best. Might need to wrap it up to keep the domestic tranquility. (What the Heck Is That Thing In My Freezer???)

If it’s the drivers side axle, will probably find that the exhaust system is in the way. May need to drop the rear of the exhaust so you can get work clearance to route the axle under the diff. Removal of exhaust may be required depending on what system you have.

When ready for assembly, wear decent gloves (frozen metal axles are decidedly unpleasant to handle with bare hands), and have some good anti-seize compound handy.

Also needed, a short length of 2x4 and a 2 lb hammer.

Generously lube up the splines in the hub and the axle with the anti-seize.

Get the axle started, far enough to make sure it’s going in square. Angle the axle down under the diff housing so you can put the 2x4 flat against the inner flange.

Note that you are going to hit the extreme inboard flat-ish end of the axle. Don’t hit on the crimped-on fittings or you will ruin them. Don’t hit anywhere on the inner CV joint assembly, or you will ruin it.

Now, Whack it. Whack it again. Again. Crawl out from under the car and inspect the amount of threads poking through the hub. Hopefully you’re making progress. Crawl back under and whack some more. Repeat as needed.

#3

Nice write-up, Chuck.

#4

Add excitement to the re-assembly. Heat the outer spline/bearing hub prior to the arrival of the frozen axle.

Not too much heat, there’s grease and seals above the bearing hub.

Regards, R Patton

#5

Thanks for the help. I was thinking this is way tooo hard. They were in the freezer when you gave my your write-up. They went in, I guess I didn’t have a big enough hammer before. Maybe there was a reason I had to find a 30 ton press to pop them out originally. Dosen’t seem like a job for the track. Thanks again.

#6

I have done it at the track several times…but I have also had them that would not come out under any circumstances…definately one to do at home. Oh, I did one on Travis’ car in his office parking lot in the middle of the summer, he had blown the axel out doing doughnuts in a vacant lot during lunch…what a redneck!

Al

#7

I picked up some remanned axles last year and I had to eventually take a file to each spline to get it to fit. They apparently dipped the splined end in a galvanized something-and-another too many times. I little work with a 3-sided fine file and a wire brush and cleaner and it slid in by hand.

#8

Don’t beat heavily on the axle getting it out either. You can distort the splines and make the axle next to useless. They should slide in and out with light force, basically small taps from the hammer. If you beat on them hard getting them back in can be much more difficult.