I'm trying to get an axle off my rear diff, and it's wicked stuck. Roll pin came out with a mammoth amount of force, but now the axle is stuck right fast.

 

What is the secret trick to getting it off?

First try a BFH, If that dont do it heat it and then hit it with a BFH.

First try a BFH, If that dont do it heat it and then hit it with a BFH.

 

How though? There isn't a good way to get a BFH to the cup though. The diff does a good job blocking getting a nice direct blow.

I had to heat mine up and spray some PB Blaster (pen. oil) and let it set for a few hours to soak in good.

Seeing as your in Maine, it's going to be rusted together more severely than most people on this site are used to seeing. I have beaten them until the cup cracked and not have them come off. If you heat them on the diff you have a good chance of ruining the differential seals, but it's worth a shot.

 

The last resort is to take the inner CV boot off, remove the wire ring clip in the inside of the cup, pull the joint out, clean the grease out of the cup, and take a chisel to the sheetmetal plug in the bottom of the cup. Once you get the plug out or destroyed enough to fit a socket through, you can remove the bolt that holds the stub into the diff. It's an E10 torx socket I belive, but I've had luck using some undersized metric socket that I've forgotten.

 

You may need to use an impact gun to remove the axle stub bolt.

 

Once the cup and stub are out of the car, you can heat the cup with a torch and pound the stub out of it with a drift punch.

Good idea about just pulling the stub out. I think it's an E8.

How do I jam it up from turning with it all removed from the car?

 

I'm not sure if it's possible to fix all the rust on the car, so likely I'm going to strip it all to swap to a new body.

So I'll probably end up having to do it off car.

 

And yes, working on cars in Maine takes a different level of abuse.

The rear LSD I built for my BRAT was just an 8mm bolt inside the diff stub. Had to have a skinny long 8mm socket to fit down in. And I used a ratchet and kept whacking it with a hammer and eventually after breaking a couple sockets, it cam loose.

one of mine was absolutely fused together too. I tried everything! heat, oils, BFH, pry bars, etc. I even torched off the majority of it and welded a 5/8 nut on as an adapter for a slide hammer. nope. so I torched it off completely and then refurbished both sides with new bearings and seals. and some nickel anti-seize on the splines! what a PIA

one of my axles is currently stuck in the rear diff. if i do happen to remove the bolt from the stub, will that alter any of o rings or seals in the rear diff?

 

just a little weary of removing stuff from the diff. looks like it may be my only option tho.

 

thanks,

 

lee

You shouldn't hurt anything by removing the stubs if you're careful. Diffs on the newer cars essentially have have the stub built into the axle, so whenever you remove an axle it's going through the seal. I haven't had a problem being careful with those.

 

I haven't gotten to mine yet, I've been more worried about getting body work done and painted while the weather is good, I can still work on this if it's a bit rainy.

 

Why do you need to get it out? I'm going to try rebuilding mine with the cup still suck on the diff, I'll let you know how it goes...

well im trying to do a dual range swap from an 87 GL, but the rear diff from the the donor car had axles that were shot. i have the rear diff out of the car. and now only a cup attached to it. figure i've come this far might as well take the damn stub off. i thought about taking it to a machine shop and seeing if they had something to separate the cup from the diff. i just dont want to heat it until i have the cup off. then i feel like i could bang on it with a drift punch or what ever.

so i take my rear differential to a machine shop in town. ask if he can get the axle cup out, he says he can sure try. today i get a call that he got it off, but he broke the effing stud doing it! i should have just removed it myself i guess. hindsight is 20/20. now im trying to find a replacement stud. probably better off just jacking a differential of something else.

 

any ways if any one has a rear diff for a dual range and want to trade something i have two 87 wagons for parts!!

 

lee

so luckily there is a subaru shop right infront of the machnine shop i went to. got a new stub on there, and no damn axle cup. YES!! now i can move forward.

I just rebuilt the axle with the cup still stuck on the diff. It was a little bit annoying, but whatever. The stub shaft on the outside end is stuck too, so I put it through the hub first, then wrangled it into the inner cup. Not ideal, but it is what it is.