Driver side front axle - yet another thread

[EtienneGignac]

So I read pretty much everything on the subject but I still need one clear answer.

In order to pull the driver side front axle, which bolts do you need to take off on the suspension to allow enough room for the axle to come out ? Almost all the threads I've seen have ended up with almost everything unbolted for trial and error but none clearly say which bolt are sufficient.



Thanks !

[hks_gtr]

the passanger side you need to unbolt from diff, driver side all you do is unbolt the axle from the hub, disconnect tie rod, and its a slip ring on the end of the axle a little pry and it pops out, there is no bolts to remove it...........

[Turismo]

in order to make enough clearence to be able to pull it out from the diff. take off the tension rod and turn your steering wheel all the way to the left and lock it there somehow. (seatbelt?) then when the nut on the hub is undone you can pull that end out the back of the hub as you pull the hub/rotor outwards away from the car. then as said the diff end will just slide out, as long as you undo the CV boot clamp so you don't rip it.

[hks_gtr]

in order to make enough clearence to be able to pull it out from the diff. take off the tension rod and turn your steering wheel all the way to the left and lock it there somehow. (seatbelt?) then when the nut on the hub is undone you can pull that end out the back of the hub as you pull the hub/rotor outwards away from the car. then as said the diff end will just slide out, as long as you undo the CV boot clamp so you don't rip it.

It's faster too remove the nut on the bottom of the tie rod and remove it then too move steering wheel so on so forth, what about cv boot clamp? Get a flat blade behind the axle and push on the lip and it pops out, grab the hub and moove it out of the way, of if you have too remove lower ball joint nut, all of this should take max half an hour

and no you don't need an alignment because your not messing with any of the alignment angles, camber is adjusted through upper controll, toe, through tie rod, caster through upper controll, removing the nut on the bottom of the tie rod wont mess with the toe, unless you undo the nut behind it and spin the tie rod...

[EtienneGignac]

I don't know much about suspension...maybe that why none of this makes sens to me...

I was hoping to just move the entire hub assembly far enough so the axle would be able to come out.

How much of the axle is actually in the diff ? 3 inches ?

I only took off the upper bolt on the wishbone so far according to a thread on gtr.co.uk



Apparently that is not enough.

[EtienneGignac]

I guess I don't know what a wishbone is....nevermind. I'll try something else.

[hks_gtr]

oh wow don't need to remove upper controll, only lower ball joint tie rod axle nut and that's it

Axle should be 3 too 4 inches and you need to remove the axle from the wheel bearing, remove axle nut first then lower ball joint nut then tie rod nut

You can move the entire assembly out of the way and the axle slides out

[EtienneGignac]

I need a special tool to pull the ball joint right ?

Unless I remove the 2 bolts that bolt the whole ball joint instead of the ball joint itself...

Here's what I have so far:



Tie rod is off. Upper wishbone nut is loosened. I guess I only have the lower ball joint left.

[hks_gtr]

no i use a big hammer, and hit the ball joint, the side of it, enough so it shockes the metal and it pops out, not the spline part of the ball joing, but the side were the lower controll arm goes, you want to hit metal, not ball joint cause if you f...ck the threads, NO GOOD

[EtienneGignac]

Ok I got the axle out....well kinda. I only took out the part with the 3 rollers that make the joint with the inside half. You probably know what I mean.

I don't think the rest of the axle will clear the frame so I'll have to do something about it tomorrow.

I can't seem to find an angle to use a prybar. It's either too steep to leverage or there's nothing to put the bar against.

[hks_gtr]

trial and error, you just need to get a good push on the back on the axle too get it out.... but good congrats on some real progress

[mcfly]

you shouldn't unbolt the bearing carrier

[EtienneGignac]

you shouldn't unbolt the bearing carrier

That's what I figured out after. Another thing not mentioned in any of the other threads I've read.

But unbolting it makes it easier for the pry bar.

[nismo-152]

If you remove the front diff cover you can pop the axle out of the diff with ease.

[EtienneGignac]

If you remove the front diff cover you can pop the axle out of the diff with ease.

I tried that also but the cover was stuck on and a rubber mallet wasn't enough to make it come off so I abandoned that.

But that's ok using more leverage I popped the thing off:



and finished pulling the engine out:



If anyone needs help doing this, shoot me a pm.

Thanks everyone.