Aspire CV axle removal

[TominMO]

Been doing it for hours, not a few times.

[zoom zoom]

That's kinda interesting that the new inner bearings are bigger than stock.. sucks you can't get it out.. the slide pull hammer would do the trick tho. Once the inner axel sweats itself inside the transmission gear it doesn't want to move, your talking 100k++ miles worth of heating (expanding inside the gear filling in all the voids) and cooling on the same axel/gear, so of course its not going to want to come out. The inner clip just makes it that much harder! If you feel froggy and want to drive to Ohio ill pull it for you..can't gurantee you'd leave with blue gauges tho! :p

[ericsmith32]

One a couple I also used a harmonic balancer puller wedged between the axle and transmission housing. Only takes a little pressure. Sometimes it just pops right out other times you can turn it with pressure applied and tap with a hammer. The puller has a groove that will allow you to turn and apply pressure at the same time.

[Pu241]

....Once the inner axel sweats itself inside the transmission gear it doesn't want to move, your talking 100k++ miles worth of heating (expanding inside the gear filling in all the voids) and cooling on the same axel/gear, so of course its not going to want to come out. ...

ZZ, I've never seen an axle weld itself to the gears inside the transmission.
If your transmission is running that hot you have other issues.
Besides those gears are sitting inside of 2 Qts of ATX, a pretty decent pentranting fluid, which would easily keep metal from welding itself together.
He just has a particularly, stubborn C clip and it takes a lot of force to flex or break it so the axle can be removed.
Worst is he must balance the applied force so that he doesn't break the aluminum tranny housing. Something that does occur if force isn't properly applied or too much is used.

[91_festy_Gl]

ZZ, I've never seen an axle weld itself to the gears inside the transmission.
If your transmission is running that hot you have other issues.
Besides those gears are sitting inside of 2 Qts of ATX, a pretty decent pentranting fluid, which would easily keep metal from welding itself together.
He just has a particularly, stubborn C clip and it takes a lot of force to flex or break it so the axle can be removed.
Worst is he must balance the applied force so that he doesn't break the aluminum tranny housing. Something that does occur if force isn't properly applied or too much is used.

Yep. I had to patch the diff casing because of a gash on my tranny.

[zoom zoom]

I didn't say it would get hot enough to weld together, but it will expand and contract from the heat, even with fluid it still gets really hot. It doesn't take 1000 degrees to heat a piece of metal to the point it expands. For instance, I work on the river, I'm very familiar with steel, in the summertime, some doors don't want to shut because the metal expanded and there's not enough clearance between the edge of the door, and the door frame. During the winter there could be 1/4" in that same gap, and that's just from the ambient air temp. Now think about a shaft inside a gear running for thousands of miles at temperatures well above room temp. It can only expand so much, but it will seize itself in there.

I'm not saying its the biggest problem with removing the axel, once it breaks loose the first time there's no problem...undoubtedly, the c clip is the PITA here, comming out and going back in.

[Pu241]

^^^
yes, I have and to "sweat" copper pipe you also have to clean the metal of GREASE/OIL and flux the metal or it will not stick together when you fill the space with melted metal.
So it is not the same principal.
If the gears get hot the axles get hot and they both expand, and contract when they cool.
Unless the steels are hugely different in there thermal expansion rates, and the steel used in gears is not that much different than that used in the axles (different alloys but very similar thermal expansion rates), they do not bind.
Not here to argue, if anyone has ever had the axles shafts bind themselves to the gear in an otherwise healthy tranny please let us know.

[kartracer46]

Update: cold chisel didn't work. Just wasted another four hours trying that and some other stuff.

Disassembled inside CV on new axle. Tried to use old cup and new tripot bearings. That didn't work because the old cup is too small--new bearings and cup are slightly larger.

Going to Advance Auto to buy two new outer CV boots (pass. side needs it too). Gonna just pack the old axle w/grease and hope the clicking stops or at least lessens.

Maybe someday I'll try the slide-hammer approach, but for now I'm tired of f***ing with this stupid axle. Terrible design.

I ended up just purchashing a service set that had the C looking clip that you slide up in there and use a punch and a Bammer to get it out.

Hope you get it soon, if not you can actually remove the outer CV joint and pop a new one and a fresh boot on to get you going.

[GenevaDirt]

I ended up just purchashing a service set that had the C looking clip that you slide up in there and use a punch and a Bammer to get it out.

Hope you get it soon, if not you can actually remove the outer CV joint and pop a new one and a fresh boot on to get you going.

must of missed it....he tried just using the new outer cv joint but the bearings were slightly larger.

[kartracer46]

must of missed it....he tried just using the new outer cv joint but the bearings were slightly larger.

They pop off with a circlip off the end of the axle on splines similar to the shaft in the trans. He could have just used the whole end off the shaft and the bearing size has no effect.

Just took 6 old Festiva used axles and built a good set for the wifey's 93 to get it going for a while till I can afford new one's.

[georgeb]

The outer CV joint doesn't come off. Don't ask me how they assemble/rebuild these things. Also there are two different kind of inner joint. 3-ball and 6-ball. You can't put the innards from one into another.

[kartracer46]

The outer CV joint doesn't come off. Don't ask me how they assemble/rebuild these things. Also there are two different kind of inner joint. 3-ball and 6-ball. You can't put the innards from one into another.

Really? I'll be happy to post some pics to show you how they do it.

[GenevaDirt]

The outer CV joint doesn't come off. Don't ask me how they assemble/rebuild these things. Also there are two different kind of inner joint. 3-ball and 6-ball. You can't put the innards from one into another.

not sure which ones you have been working with but I have had them apart before.

[TominMO]

For clarification, what I tried to do first was use the new shaft and inner and outer CV, with the inner tripot bearings installed into the old cup; but the cup was too small for the new bearings.

Then later on I tried removing the new inner tripot bearings from the new axle, thinking I could put the old tripot bearings on, so they would fit into the old cup. That didn't work either, because while I could easily get the old inner bearings off the old axle, the new bearings wouldn't easily come off the new axle after I removed the C-clip.

So, Plan C: reuse all the old hardware, after putting on a new boot and greasing the heck out of all the bearings. Repeat on the pass. side. Hope I didn't fubar the driver side seal in trying to get the cup off. Both of my inner CV boots are good, with minor cracking; I just hit them with some Armorall to moisten the rubber so they'll last longer.
Plus I just put on a new generic cat and B-pipe (both had just rusted thru), and refurbed the muffler; and I'm also doing the timing belt/tensioner, agua pump and camshaft seal. Then I get to do some bodywork on the rad support and other little areas in there. I'm actually enjoying the whole thing, except for that cup issue.

Some questions:
Is it possible to stick a new timing belt on by threading it between the pulley and oilpan? Or does the pulley definitely have to come off? If so, what's the best way to remove it, i.e. get the bolt loose? I have the Aspire double pulley, because it has A/C.

[91_festy_Gl]

To get the bolt loose just put the car in 1st gear and rip the E-brake so the car cant move at all. Use the compression of the engine, the trannies 1st gear, and the Ebrake to give you enough leverage to break the bolt loose. I think at one point I tried to fish the belt through and couldnt get it because of the pulley. Not to sure but you can try.

EDIT- just noticed you said you have the A/C pulley.... Might have to take the side engine mount bolt out and drop the engine down in order to get a socket on the bolt.