Buddy of mine's wife's obw had a cv going out. They took it to a transmission shop to have it replaced. Shop called the next day said the couln't get the axle out of the hub, they had been working on it for four hours. They put it in a press, that didn't work, now they think they may have buggered the splines. What's the problem?

that's bizarre. i assume this is a front axle.

 

how did they "put it on a press", did they remove the hub?

 

i assume they removed the axle nut? if they did then your buddy just has some horrible luck and it has a bit of the rust bug. this is "fairly" common on older stuff - i'm talking 80's and 90's, particularly in the rust belt areas. ideally you get some penetrant (real penetrant, like Liquid Wrench, not WD40) on there without getting it in the bearings.

 

on a 2003 it's very odd, but obviously it got contaminated somehow. has that hub ever been worked on before? struts, axles, bearings, etc? that would be my guess, it was previously worked on.

I have an '03 OBW and and my independent Subie shop had this same issue when they went to replace my inner cv boot--I think they detached the control arm and somehow did it a different way.

 

Interestingly, they say they experience this problem much more frequently with the newer Subies compared to the 90s ones. Their therory is that perhaps tolerances are tighter on the '00 and newer models making them more susceptible to this issue.

 

Brian

They can seize. If they have tried a press and no go, then heat or torch.

I should suggest to source a new-used hub assembly, that's what I had to do on my 92 when the axle was seized and no penetrant, press etc could budge it.

can axle boots be replaced by leaving that inner joint in the hub? remove boot, remove clip, disassemble then reassemble? pretty sure i've seen that done before by detaching from the trans. would removing the inner boot too, but in this case might be worth it and inner boots tear easily as well (closer to the exhaust heat).

Thanks to all who replied, it was just a stuck axle it seems. Replaced the whole assembly, all is well.