Well.. as a result of my romping around offroad... (ie: offroad section).

So the story... after playing in the dirt/mud/rocks the roo' got a funny shimmy in the front the... you know, no big deal, i play it off as just an out of balance tire... a few days go by lots of driving to work & back... i head north to upstate vt (~150 mile drive) and about 8 miles from my destination (st albans vt) i hear a 'pop' and the whole car shakes like crazy when i push the gas... so as any person who loves their car would do, i kept driving the 8 miles, shaking all the bolts out of the car

get there... stop... think a bit, and look under the car, and yup, just what i had though... inner axle joint didn't like life anymore. So no big deal... run over to advanced auto, get a new one (GCK baby ) and meet up with the girl, and we head to the camp ground... now.. i forgot to mention the part where i didn't bring any of my tools...

So i think.. eh.. no big deal.. make some phone calls... (good to have friends everywhere)... the next day (saturday) in the rain we have an adventure swaping out my axle in the rain.. needless to say, the 3lb mini-sledge is most likely on of my favorite tools now but wait... we don't have a good jack.. (i hate scissor jacks..) so i find a stump next to a hole... back up (read romp) onto that setup.. lift the front drivers side up.. continue to work on her.

So yeah, everyone here hates reading, so here are some pics of the axle (none of the setup :-\ )

 

3lbs sledge.. meet the end of half shaft... it really didn't want to come out of the bearing.. so we showed it who was boss

 

So in this picture... the only thing really keeping the joint together is the remainer of the boot on the back side there.... later on we pulled the joint apart... just because we could

 

So, if you were at lake carmi campground this past weekend.. i'm sorry for all of the metal-on-metal noise coming from us beating the snot out of my axle... So once we got the new axle in... found out that when we were beating the axle stub... someone nicked on of the studs... so one of the lug nuts wouldn't go on.. no big deal.. just have to fix that someday

So all in all... if you're going to bust an axle like that... find somewhere where you have good friends with tools... and 3/4" drive sets

So...

Most valuable tool of the trip: 3lbs mini-sledge

Most sucky thing of trip: pouring rain & scratched windshield from crappy wiper blades :-\

Looks like your core is bunged up a little...

Sounds like heaps of fun was had.

 

About 5 weeks after I got my first subie I pulled the axle out to change the inner boot. I put the race casing back in the wrong way round. Went around a really sharp left and put my foot down and it popped out. And the joint wouldn't go back in. Had to fix that at a mates place cos I was 2 hours from home.

Isn't it just fun working on cars with limited tools and in the wet and cold? My bro has a garage with a pit now.. Makes life so much nicer

Sounds like a classic trip !...and you made it back in one peice...!

changing axles in the rain sucks:banghead:

 

st. albans is nice though