Bluestreak

I know... I know... in a perfect world, I'd be yanking the POS out and putting a 12-bolt or a 9" in its place. Alas, 'tis not a perfect world and my purchasing power is a far cry from what it used to be... therefore, $100 in bearing beats the heck out of the cost of replacing the whole shebang.

But... 90 minutes into working, I got stuck.

Problem No. 1: My rotors appear to have rusted onto the axle shafts, and I can't get them off. The car has only 60k miles and the rotors have never been changed... the darn thing's been garaged its entire life... I'm not sure how this happened. I soaked the ends of the axles with PB Blaster before quitting tonight, so I'm hoping they'll come off tomorrow morning. But the way they look practically fused on there, the prognosis doesn't look too good.

Any advice for getting them off?

Problem No. 2: I'm not sure if it's caused by the rotors being rusted onto the axles, but I can't push them in far enough to get the C-clips off the passenger side axle. Using a tiny bit of fighting and gentle persuasion, the driver side c-clip fell right out and that axle is free. But... the passenger axle clip is still in there, and no matter how I rotate the diff or push the axles into the housing, it refuses to give enough to let the clip come out.

So... anyone got any ideas for getting past this? I've quit for the night because I feel like beating the hell out of the whole f*cking thing with a hammer at the moment.

Thanks...

-Roger

bigj2717

iTrader: (15)

To get the rotors off get a rubber mallet and give it a few hits on the edge of the rotor to help knock them loose. For the c-clip you can either get a magnet or some needle nose pliers and push in on the axle and pull it out

Bluestreak

I beat the living daylights out of them with a 4-lb. DB hammer. I felt much better afterwards, but the rotors haven't budged. I'll try again in the morning and I keep going into the garage to hit them with PB blaster every 30 minutes.

I can get a screwdriver on the axle notch, but I don't want to pry too hard because I'm leveraging against the diff housing, and I don't want to screw something up or slip and nick or damage a spider gear. Even using the maximum "safe" force with a screwdriver, I can't get the axle to come in enough to get the clip. It's close, but it's just not coming in far enough. I even had my neighbor putting all his weight against the axle while I tried to pry the clip loose, but the little bastard won't play nice.

It's majorly frustrating.

I'll try again in the morning with a fresh head and let y'all know how it ends.

-R

bigj2717

iTrader: (15)

You might have to remove the traction control sensor to get the axle to move in enough

FirstYrLS1Z

iTrader: (4)

hate to ask,parking/e-brake on ? rotors could be held on by e-brake,just a conventional shoe brake on the inside of the rotors.

Bluestreak

No sensor in the center of the Zexel Torsen... the TCS sensors are on the ends of the axle housing.

E-brake's off, calipers are removed and zip-tied up out of the way.

It's soaked with so much penetrating oil that they ought to come off tomorrow. I'll have breakfast, break out the dead-blow and get my anger management therapy on. Then we'll move on to the clip. Hopefully that'll solve the problem.

DaddySS

put the lug nuts on loosely to protect the stud and rap the face of the rotor hub between the lugs, a few raps and they will pop loose.

Remove the speed sensors and the axle will go in far enough to get the c clips out.

fleetmgr

I've got an old king pin that I use with a BFH to whack the snot out of them right at the hub.

SS SLP2

iTrader: (8)

Bingo x 2
Johnny

massls1guy

iTrader: (9)

If you removed the 4 channel sensors and one axle is harder to remove than the other, problem could be those 'axle seal repair kits'. They stick out a little past the end of the axle tube compared to the regular seal & bearing.

Bluestreak

This worked. I put the lug nuts on a bit and whacked the hubs. Once the rotors were loose, the axles pushed in far enough to let the last c-clip fall out. It still took a bit of persuasion.

The axle bearings are out. Driver side was okay, passenger side was in pieces. The driver-side carrier bearing was beginning to eat itself, too. Backlash was at .032"! Gears are okay by some miracle. They appear to have maintained a clean mesh pattern.

Now for re-assembly.