drive axle remove question

[86subaru]

i am stripping out a 86 4wd 5sp wagon , trying to remove front axles , but it will not come apart from the tranny side ? i got the pin out ,axle nut and all bolts , i know there is a trick to this ?

[hooziewhatsit]

so you just don't have enough room to get the cup off the tranny stub?

 

unbolt the lower control arm and the sway bar; that will you give you enough room to get the cup off the stub, then you can pull/push the axle out of the knuckle.

[86subaru]

ok, i guess i forgot to remove something , give up for the day , superbowl ,+ dinner on table ,thanks

[idosubaru]

on the XT6 i unbolt the top 3 strut mounting bolts and that gives it enough room to get the axle out. it's tight, but that's the easiest for me as those 3 bolts are never rusted and a pain to get off like the suspension bolts can be.

[86subaru]

already removed 3 strut bolts , thinking about it i did not remove the control arm or move it out of the way ,thanks

[fbh]

dirty cheat: cut off the inner CV boots and pull the joint apart :D:D

[86subaru]

well one of the inner boots is bad, but the other side is good sooooooooo going to remove control arm / sway bar

[GeneralDisorder]

dirty cheat: cut off the inner CV boots and pull the joint apart :D:D

 

That's only going to work if the joint is frozen to the stub - I think his problem is getting the clearance to pull it off the stub... taking the joint apart would actually need more clearance than slipping it off the tranny.

 

That is a nice trick that I have used before to replace boots. Drop the y-pipe, and then drop the axle off the tranny - take the inner joint apart and slide new inner and outer boots on. Great if that's all you need to do. Gutting the cat helps to keep the passenger axle boot cool so it won't split too.

 

GD

[wesley willis]

all i did was unbolt the lower control arm, and loosen the strut mounting bolts. that gave me just enough play to slide the doj off the stub with a little persuasion.

[torxxx]

you guys sure make changing a axle a big deal. This is ALL you have to do. take the tire off, take the castle nut off, take the caliper off, the rotor and the brake pad bracket off, take the two lower strut bolts out fo the knuckle assembly. Thats it.

 

You dont need to unbolt the top 3 strut bolts, or unbolt the control arm. There is no reason to do it. You will have more than enough room to pull the axle off the stub axle.

[Brumby Boy]

the easist way to go about it is to remove the bolt that holds the ball joint in the hub and lower the control arm then pull the axle out of the hub then of the stub axle simple total of one bolt one nut and a roll pin. trust me i do it every other day at work.

[86subaru]

thanks , remember i am stripping the 86 wagon , soooooo going to keep struts etc...... , going to try and drop motor / tranny out in 1 piece from underneith , miles fox has done this several times ,but miles is much faster than i am .

[DaveAP]

the easist way to go about it is to remove the bolt that holds the ball joint in the hub and lower the control arm then pull the axle out of the hub then of the stub axle simple total of one bolt one nut and a roll pin. trust me i do it every other day at work.

That's what I do.

[seanliu]

the easist way to go about it is to remove the bolt that holds the ball joint in the hub and lower the control arm then pull the axle out of the hub then of the stub axle simple total of one bolt one nut and a roll pin. trust me i do it every other day at work.

 

You need to separate the ball joint from the hub before you pull the axle from the hub, right? Also, the Sunaru factory service manual also calls for removal of stabilzer link to the lower controll arm in addition to the ball joint separation from the hub. Is this step unnecessary for a Forester? I found that separation of the ball joint from the hub was difficult without demaging the ball joint boot.