Why is my axle not in my trany?(skeeter wreck) UPDATE 3/23

[skeeters_keeper]

ok, the story will come later.... lets just say it HAS NOT been a very good day :evil: :evil: :evil:

here are some pics:










basically front right side accident, bumper/frame behidn the bumper is rather pushed back, as you can see (i had like 40 or somethin feet to go from 55-0 and didn't make it). as soon as i got out of the car i could see ATF going all over the place... after looking at it a bit i found that the pass side axel is sticking out an inch or so. The frame isn't really damaged at all behind teh strut tower, and the tower is in good shape. lower controll arm looks good, tireod ends are good... drove it home (yes w/ the axel sticking out) drive fine, no shimmies and went straight down the road even when i wasn't holding the wheel....... what the heck??? i'm going to try to pull the bumper metal and stuff out some, mabye the sway bar is pushed back and that caused the axel to come out, but it doesn't look bent.....

I'm confused,, any ideas??? if i can get the axel back in i think i can be on the road again by tomorrow afternoon or so...... all i realy need is a headlight


its been a bad day
:evil: :evil: :evil:

thanks

[ajb999]

sorry to hear it. you've had some bad luck lately. hope it's nothing major.

[Damkid]

ouch, at least your all right, you really haven't had that much luck lately
for me it's kinda hard to start guessing why the axle would be out like that, hopfully nothing to serious

[b3 madness]

My guess is that the jolt from the accident popped the axle just enough to pull out past the retaining circlip on the axle end. The play in the CV joints has absorbed the now shorter axle allowing it to still function. If the frame and strut tower are indeed unharmed from the collision, then you should be able to unbolt the lower control arm and push the axle back into place and once again reseal the tranny to axle union. Good luck. I hope that this is a simple fix and that you can be back on the road soon!

[25Horseplay]

Wow :shock: ! I am glad you weren't hurt, imagine the damage if you had the stock brakes still! Do like 3 madness says and pop the axel back in and see what happens. You do still have the Festiva control arms on there.......right?

[skeeters_keeper]

sweet, i'm gna go try it now. i tried to pop the axel back in w/o removing the LCA (yes i have the festiva ones on), but it makes sense now why that wouldn't work...

i've been out there for the past few hours w/ a chain and hoist hooked to a tree trying to pull the front back out, but if i can get the axel in i think i'm set... most of the damage is to internal parts that i can cover up w/ the fender/bumper cover just by drilling new holes...

i came in just now to grab some dinner because i'm HUNGRY, i'll be back in a bit and see if that works... i really hope so


...18 is deff not my luckiest year...

[packrat427]

WOW , sorry to hear that Skeeter , It does not look to bad form the outside .
That car has been thru heck lately .

[mattswabb]

I'd look at the sway bar mount at the front. When you hit the front end it may have pushed the lower core support back a bit which pushed the mount back which pushed the control arm and popped out the axle.

A quick check to see if the car isn't bent would be to measure from the center of the rear wheel to the center of the front wheel on the drivers side and then compare to the passengers side. This will tell if the front passengers side wheel is till in the proper location.

[htchbck]

Yeah, they're right, as long as the frame and suspension is fine, all ya gotta do is pop the axles back in. I had this same problem when me and my buddy had a little bump between the little blue and his ranger, and I was freaking out, but Dj just told me to put my axle back into the transmission... I did and I've been driving it just fine ever since (after putting on a new fender of course)

[GenevaDirt]

I had mine pop out after I replaced it a while back. I was able to pop it back in by just taking off the shaft nut and then using a 1/2 inch extension and hammer...popped it back in and then pulled out the outer part of the shaft till it popped through enough to get the nut back on it. Tightened it up and been fine since.
Just make sure you turn the wheel so the shaft is pretty much in a straight line before you smack it....if you go that route that is.

[skeeters_keeper]

axle's back in
pull the ball joint and strut off and gave it a few good shoves and it popped back in, filled it up with some new ATF and that part should be good to go i hope, thanks guys!!

didn't get very far w/ straitening the frame... the lower mounting points for the headlight are still like 1" back from where they should be... tomorrow i will work on it more, i have the fender on but it doesn't look quite right, its pushed out a little from the frame being bent but i think its about as good as it will get w/o professional help on a frame machine and what not.

oh well its been a long tiring day and i want to sleep,,, i will have a long morning trying to get skeeter back on the road in time for my 12:20 class

not sure what i'm going to do about a new headlight yet, don't really want to drive w/o one but the local yard charges like $50 and that seems like a loot...

[Guest]

Pretty much had similar damage to Techno a few years back.. After I straightened it out the best I could and popped the axle back in I had the problem of the pass side axle popping out. I replaced the c/v, still popped out when cornering. It got to the point that I could reach underneath and just push it back in.. But when I went to a residential job at a 900k home and it leaked tranny fluid on their pretty new looking driveway, that was it. That's when we moved the joint to the end of the shaft and tigged it.

Nate if you have problems like that later, let me know. I pulled that whole drive train for the B6T/G25 swap. And it's sitting in the garage. Oh yeah, I think I have about 6 pass side headlights as well.

[skeeters_keeper]

wow DJ you've got the goods, lol.

would you take a donation to the site for one of those headlights? i'd rather give my $$ to the site than to the old guy on crack @ the JY that will over-charge me just b/c their all stupid around here... i figure i'll be OK with only 1 headlight for a while but let me know asap i can paypal you whatever you'd like+ second day mailing or something...


well i just got up a lil ago and am eating some breakfast not too succesfull getting things back together yet, if anyone has tips for trying to pull that frame out i'll take ideas i've exausted mine! i'm going to try to get the bumper cover back on it now tho...

thanks all.

[Guest]

the way I did mine was with a come-a-long and a short sledge..smack smack smack increase tension repeat as needed..

Here is how mine looked before I fixed it..

[skeeters_keeper]

UPDATE:
ok... back on the road again sorta. DJ thats a good idea i should have tried using a mallet or something, when i pull my engine i think i'll try that and see if i can get it any better... for now here's how it sits:

You can see i drilled new holes and put screws/washers in for the bumper cover so it looks sorta normal:


My ghetto temporary headlight till DJ's comes in on monday i hope... i'm just going to try not to drive @ night too much, however it does light up just prolly doesn't work quite right i have like 3-4 washers on the top bolts, and like a .5" spacer on the new, longer bottom bolts so taht it sits sorta where it should be in relation to the bumper cover...


Re-assembled... the grill broke a little, and the tabs won't fit in right any more, after i get the new headlight on i'm going to make some mettal tabs to hold it in place, for now i have it tied on.. also i cut off the metal trip peices from below the headlights b/c they were both very messed up..


And another shot from the front



well thats it for now... time for some HW before i drive it to class. i hope that headlight stays on on the highway, i havn't driven it yet.

thanks for the help all...