PAJ

It's alive! A few rotations of the axle and love taps with the 5 lb gizinta on the end were all it took to lock er back in. It took longer to find my old drum brake tool than to slap everything back together and run her down the road. It's nice to once again hear only the faminiar differential hum back there. Thanks again.

thanks for the advice. I'll let ya know how it works out when I get the damn axle to lock back in place. (see my "axle follies" post)

Thanx G, Now that you mention it I can see that when it's all slapped together there's inward pressure on the axle and so it and it should stay put under normal circumstances. Now I can wonder if I knocked that diff gear outa joint and about getting dirt in the diff if the axle occasionally pulls out a millimeter or so. I was planning to finish up this evening while there was lght but had to do grave digger duty for a dead cat. It's always sumthin.

It bottoms out just like....well... it bottoms out. I wouldn't say an 8 punder but a 5 pounder for a few times before I regained my sanity. I started to get educated in the U-Pull it yard by playing around with looes axles and bearings lying around. All of the axles I tested snapped in and out of joint like clockwork, regardless of whether the circlips were on the axle or in the diff. I'll love tap the axle like you suggested. If that doesn't make it I'll stick my clean little prybar in there and see if it has play and if it'll give back a scosh or something like that. Maybe in the end I'll finally learn everything about Subie differentials. Here comes that puke feeling again.....

I've posted recently about my trials with a 99' OBW right rear wheel bearing, a broken ABS tone ring and and axle circlip inside of the diff. So now I'm finally on the ez installation half of the project when I only need a torque wrench and not a can of PB Blaster, a torch and a 3 foot cheater bar. Just one thing. The circlip was retained in the rear when the original axle came out. When I put the replacement axle back into the rear it won't lock in! It just won't lock into the axle groove. I can slide it way too easily. I fit the original back in and got the same result. I can see the ring is still in the groove. It's not broken but I wonder if it got damaged somehow. Or is it possible that I knocked the receiving diff gear back a bit when I tried to "tap" in an axle that had too few splines?? Crap. I'm going to see how it'll work with it like that. What's the worst that can happen???

Jumpin Jehosephat! Now when I put the axle back into the rear it won't lock into the snap ring! It's still in the groove but I wonder if it got damaged somehow. I'm going to see how it'll work with it like that. what's the worst that can happen??? Ponderous man ponderous.

Excellent advice dudes. I found that my replacement was already cracked in a fortuitious spot so the hatchet job was half done before I started. Dab a little Pig Putty behind the joints and let it harden overnight....... I'll bolt the beast back together this evening and see how she flies. Stay tuned.

Damn damn damn... While using my favorite persuader to bang the axle out of the Rt rear spindle on my 99' OBW I glanced off a smidge and hit a lug which came loose and of course broke the Aluminum ABS tone wheel behind it into 3 pieces. Naturally right after that the axle literally fell off of the spindle. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to replace the tone wheel with the one I took off of the original hub that I dissected. Any ideas other than smacking the hub out and then having it pressed back in at a shop or going back to the yard and pulling off another assembly? I was going to try and saw it in two and just bolt it on the spindle. Any comments or alternate schemes??? Tankz.

Well I compared the two business ends and it seems I didn't learn nuthin from Sesame Street cauz "one of these things is not like the other". One old one has 24 splines and the other has 22 and looks nuthin like the original. Crap. Back to the drawing board. Tried to fish the snap ring out with a hook but it does seem to be in a groove at the end of the gear and wants to stay there. i'll try to ease the replacment shaft in (once I get one) and engage it. I wonder if I can pull the CV joint apart and swap the ends.....

The old one popped out nicely but without the ring. The U-pull it one still had the ring attached. Uh-oh, don't tell me this is going to be one of those "they changed the diameter of the shaft or # of grooves in mid-1999" type of discussions... I've got to do some serious measuring and comparing.

How the heck do you get a stranded axle circlip outa the diffirential? I had a bad rear bearing on my 99 OBW and had to pull both the knuckle and axle that were rusted and going to be just inseperable without the patented puller. The axle didn't look so great anyway so I got a nice U-Pull it replacement for both and thought it was going to be a breeze, especially after fighting with that rear control arm bolt. Not. After it wouldn't go in nicely and then trying more muscle and a few whacks with the persuader I cooled off before I damaged anything (hopefully) and did my homework. Seems that the old snap ring is stuck in place the diff and beyond my reach. I'd like to avoid popping it into the differential so how pray tell do I fish it out? thankz. .

I just did mine on my 98' and it was a real bugger. I used PB for the first 2 days and whaled on the nut end just as Fairtax suggested. Still nuthin. Finally I heated it a bit with a propane torch and it begrudgingly turned with a 1/2" breaker bar and cheater pipe. Felt like 200 ft-lbs. Gotta watch that you don't get the flame too close to the rubber boot or you'll be replacing it. I wasn't worried about annealing the bolt since I'll find another at the U-Pull It yard. Of course I then discovered that the CV is also frozen stiff. After waiting another day with more PB and breaking my favorite gear puller I finally removed the knuckle and axle together. Life is good.

Ahhhhh.... I pulled the wheel and checked the caliper. The pads have nice even meat and they slide fine. The caliper itself seemd fine also. I looked again at the lower control arm (or whatever you call it) and could be that the bushings are worn out. Alas, you're spot on about things wearing out. I shake & rattle more than roll these days. Perhaps it's time to pick up a Subie from the new millennium with a blown engine/trans and breathe new life into her. The hard part will be thinking up what to name her... : )

Ahhhhh.... I pulled the wheel and checked the caliper. The pads have nice even meat and they slide fine. The caliper itself seemd fine also. I looked again at the lower control arm (or whatever you call it) and could be that the bushings are worn out. Alas, you're spot on about things wearing out. I shake & rattle more than roll these days. Perhaps it's time to pick up a Subie from the new millenium with a blown engine/trans and breathe new life into her. The hard part will be thinking up what to name her...

I did wonder about the vac hose but it seems tight and it's just that right front. She no pull to da left or to da right on braking. Only da normal slight shaka shaka shaka dat many of us experience. I've never had a peep from the ABS. It'z just gotta be somewhere in the suspension, but why the bloody pedal drop? Nipper would probably have something to say. I crawled under her today and found only tight bolts. That and a trans drip from the one pan bolt that got sheared off when I over torqued just a bit... I'll pull the wheel tomorrow and see if there be anythin up with dat chumpie. Perhaps I missed something at the ball joint. If all else fails I'll lash a kid to the fender to directly observe the phenomenon when I do a terminal brake check at 70mph. Thankz.