I am (was) trying to replace the ball joints on my 95 impreza. Thought it was gonna be easy but some how the axle pulled out of the hub and the steering is now locked up. ... I was following the instructions and when i separated the ball joint the whole axle just like pushed out towards me ..and the wheel was turned towards me i guess from getting the joint loose....now what do i do? I put the new ball joint in....now do i need to pull the hub i guess and re clip the axle back in?....or should i dissconnect the steering linkage and then get the ball joint in and then the axle? any help would be most appreciated.

 

 

update: ok i turned the key on to turn the wheels back straight.

Edited July 19, 200916 yr by 952.2LX

The axle just needs to be pushed back into the hub, their is no clip it is held in with the axle nut.

 

However if you are saying it pulled loose from the front diff. their is a clip there, you need to buy a new clip and snap it onto the axle and push it back into the front diff.

 

I let the old clip of mine stay in the the bottom of the front diff. and it has caused no problems, I was worried about it but the local transmission shop said it was fine to leave it, some here will disagree so if you are not comfortable with this advice remove the drain plug and go fishing for it.

yea i just got it back in. Thanks for the info. So there is no clip holding the axle into the wheel hub? oh well it looks like its all back in. Now for the other side.

yea i just got it back in. Thanks for the info. So there is no clip holding the axle into the wheel hub? oh well it looks like its all back in. Now for the other side.

 

No clip, but there should be a a big locknut on the outer endc of the hub? Didn't you remove that for the axle to come out intially?

 

Or do you mean the Axle pulled out of the outboard CV joint?

 

Or do you mean the Axle pulled out of the outboard CV joint?

 

i had one do this, there is a clip on the splined end of the shaft that slides into the outer joint thingy?

i couldn't get the axle out of the hub and i was removing the hub to take it to be pressed out, and the axle shaft popped out of the joint thingy. i swapped the axle out. the boot was torn when i bought the car and i saw no reason to reuse the axle.

 

better safe than sorry. i guess if you cleaned it up and put it back together it might be ok.

The axle came out of the inside hub without removing the outside axle nut. The steering locked up, so had to turn key on and then I aligned the axle back into (outboard CV joint)bearing housing. and added grease and rebooted. It went well except for breaking a separater. The ball joint came out with the wedge and the new one went in fine. The other side went smooth as butter. I test drove her and she is TIGHT!!!:banana: thanks all.

Edited July 20, 200916 yr by 952.2LX

I test drove her and she is TIGHT!!!

 

When you got back did you walk around the car and count the number of wheels? (There should be 4.)

 

j/k

The axle came out of the inside hub without removing the outside axle nut. The steering locked up, so had to turn key on and then I aligned the axle back into (outboard CV joint)bearing housing. and added grease and rebooted.

 

Good to hear all went well.

 

As a note.....What you are reffering to is not the hub, it is as you note(?) the outboard CV.

 

The hub is what the wheel is bolted to and the bearings inside it, known as wheel bearings.

 

The only other thing I can think of is that you're bearing may have seperate and the inner race come out? still there is no way if it was bolted in on the outer end.

did it come off the transmission stubby shaft or out of the hub (the actual thing the wheel bolts to)?

 

it is impossible for the axle to come out of the hub...well, unless something is broken or wrong.

 

you should figure this out, something is not right at all. just "putting it back" means something is still wrong with it.

It just came out of the wheel hub(outboard cv joint) not the transmission stub.

 

And all four wheels where on her when i drove her home ! !

What you're saying is not possible on a properly put together vehicle, so something is wrong with it or your terminology is wrong. Doesn't sound like you care so I guess I won't explain anything.

What you're saying is not possible on a properly put together vehicle, so something is wrong with it or your terminology is wrong. Doesn't sound like you care so I guess I won't explain anything.

 

i think the outboard CV joint came apart.

Well I do care. So, apparently the outboard joint came apart....if you (Gary, John?) care to explain, I would be most appreciative. Its driving fine right now. What do i need to do to fix this?

i don't mess with CV joints, i always replace the entire axle, so i'm not sure what would cause that. maybe it's fine to leave it like that but i'd probably replace it, i'm not well versed in cv joints.

 

so it came apart but the boot was still intact? that's why i'm confused, i didn't think this was a cv issue, because you never said anything about boots?

Yes the axle came out and the boot stretched to its limits as the entire hub and brake assembly just swung out away from the car. So, I had to remove the boot exposing the loose axle. I couldn't get it back in outboard joint cuz the steering had locked up. So i turned key on and got the steering free. Then I positioned the axle back into the outboard cv joint and slighty rotated the brake rotor to get the axle splines lined up and it sliped right back into the joint. Next I put more grease into the joint and put the boot back on with clamps. I rotated the hub slowly to see if it was going to turn ok and see if there was any weird sounds or clicks of something out of place. It seem smooth as the other side so i presumed it was good to go.

i've never taken one of these apart, but from the diagram in the haynes manual there is supposed to be a "ring clip"? on the end of that shaft. it either popped off or pulled through whatever the shaft fits into. i can't imagine the clip bears a lot of force when driving since the inner doj has 'slip' (inboard / outboard) built in to it. but if the inner were to freeze up then the outter may in fact slip out while driving.

 

loosing power in one front wheel at speed would probably not be fatal, but certainly inconvenient and maybe damaging to nearby stuff if the half shaft was flopping around under the car.