jnaught Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Fellow Wrenchers: Is there a trick to removing the transverse link ball joint fron the axel housing? I removed the bolt and beat the @#%* out of the link and it will not seperate. Any more heat and I will melt the boot on the joint. Any help out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 The ball joints can be a pain if it's corroded into the socket. I remove the two bolts (upper eccentric, lower regular) holding the strut to the wheel bearing housing. That gives me enough room, at least it did on '00obw, to get the axle out. If you pay attention to where the upper bolt is set before removing it and put it back there then you shouldn't mess up your camber. This method does however risk messing up the tie rod end boot; mine squirted a little grease when I did this. Some people also remove a bolt from the sway bar end link to let the transverse link drop down some as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru360 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 If you take the strut bolts out to do an axle, paint a line across the upper bolt head and onto the strut. When you put it back together, line the paint marks up and the camber will not change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Something like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 EJ axles are cake, if you're pounding and separating suspension parts you're doing way too much work. with the wheel off all i do is remove the top strut mount bolt - that's it, one bolt. it's eccentric, so mark it like in the photo and make sure it's orientation is the same when you install it - that's how they adjust camber. i don't even remove the bottom strut mount bolt, just loosen it so i can rotate the hub out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2X2KOB Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 EJ axles are cake, if you're pounding and separating suspension parts you're doing way too much work. with the wheel off all i do is remove the top strut mount bolt - that's it, one bolt. it's eccentric, so mark it like in the photo and make sure it's orientation is the same when you install it - that's how they adjust camber. i don't even remove the bottom strut mount bolt, just loosen it so i can rotate the hub out. When you re-tighten that top eccentric bolt, don't torque it to the book value of 120 foot-pounds. I did that and stretched the bolts and had to get new ones. Never did get to 120 ft/lb. I'd say about 80 or 90 is more than enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnaught Posted October 7, 2007 Author Share Posted October 7, 2007 Thank you all, I'm headed to the garage now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnaught Posted October 8, 2007 Author Share Posted October 8, 2007 Your tip in removing the hub from the strut worked great, and the tranny end dropped right out but you're not going to believe this: I can't get the shaft out of the hub. I rented a hub puller to press the shaft out but to no avail. I had so much torque on it I was worried about snapping a wheel lug. Any thoughts on that one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 Your tip in removing the hub from the strut worked great, and the tranny end dropped right out but you're not going to believe this: I can't get the shaft out of the hub. I rented a hub puller to press the shaft out but to no avail. I had so much torque on it I was worried about snapping a wheel lug. Any thoughts on that one? You did remove the nut, correct? Spray with pblaster, leave puller in place with some pressure on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 Right, if the axle nut has been removed, and the axle will not come out of the hub with a few taps, then it probably has some corrosion in there. Penetrating oil good. The splined part is pretty long so you may need a lot of penetrating oil and some time to let it get down in there. If the axle nut has not been removed, the shaft will not come out of the hub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnaught Posted October 8, 2007 Author Share Posted October 8, 2007 Right, if the axle nut has been removed, and the axle will not come out of the hub with a few taps, then it probably has some corrosion in there. Penetrating oil good. The splined part is pretty long so you may need a lot of penetrating oil and some time to let it get down in there. If the axle nut has not been removed, the shaft will not come out of the hub. I aint too smart, but smart enuff to take the nut off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 Ok sounds good; just figured would ask the silly question on the off chance it was still on there. I was prying away on my oil pump one time....and whoops forgot to take out a bolt...put a nice little curve in the pump though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 My Forester was a @#$%^& to get the hub out of one side. The other came out with a hub and drum puller and a couple whacks with a six pound sledge. The drivers side took me most of a day and the puller was grinding chips off the axle and distorting when it finally came free with a four foot pipe on the puller nut. I think without the sledge hammer I'd still be there. Somebody may have gotten some of those Forester axles in with a little too tight a press fit. I suppose it could have had some corrosion but everything else was pretty clean. A really good puller would help like a professional job with hammers on the end of the puller. The cheap Chinese auto parts on I used nearly died on the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2X2KOB Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Strange it should be so tight. On the 2000 Outback, both sides just slid out easily. I think the configuration is the same or at least very similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Hm yes could be clearance differences of something between vehicles then. I have '00obw too and the axle slid out with two light taps of a ball peen hammer. Putting grease or antisieze or something on the splines before installing the new one might help if it ever needs to come out again, esp if the issue is corossion. Even a little bit of corossion in there can make it bear to get it out. I think the service procedure does say to grease the splines but I don't recall for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Boy does geaseing or anti siezing splines make a difference. After all that effort to get my axles out I had a defective one changed in the shop that rebuilt my tranny. The guy hit it twice with a plastic hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2X2KOB Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 I checked the factory service manual and I didn't see where greasing the splines was specifically called out, but my personal practice is to ALWAYS use grease or anti-sieze on these or any other splines. On the axle nut, the torque is 137 foot-pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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