axle down...

[skitzo_inc]

So my axle shaft finally broke. Ray told me it was going to, and I knew it was going to. I was moving it from the street to my driveway and it snapped. How difficult is this install going to be? I know I have to go from a two part to a one part time shaft, but what kind of fix am I looking at? I don't really work on my own cars, but with this new loan out I cannot afford to take it to a mechanic to get worked on.
(Aside from the axle replacement, this car is not road worthy. need new motor, and since I'm doing that, it's going to a be converted to a t2 car, so that will come in the latter months of summer I think...just making it so I can drive it every now and then around the block, to fuel my addiction to boost...)

[Turbo224]

If you dont wrench on your own cars then you would probably consider it an involved job. I pulled a set of axles from an Omni in the junkyard in fifteen minutes last week. I am certainly no master mechanic, so I am sure you could figure it out.

Goes something like this.

-Remove large axle nut
-Remove brake caliper and rotor
-Remove bolt going through ball joint
-Remove two intermediate shaft bearing support bolts (passenger side only)
-Use long pry bar to seperate control arm from ball joint (dont tear the ball joint boot)
-Pull the whole strut/spring/tierod to one side untill there is enough room to slide the end of the axle out

This is how I do it. Doesnt take long and as long as you dont mess with the bolts for the strut, you shouldn't have to have it re-aligned. Out of curiousity, why aren't you staying with the equal length shafts?

[nBALLS]

You shouldn't need to pull the caliper and rotor, I never do(the caliper makes a great handle when pulling on the assy), but I do pull both sway bar retainers on the lower control arms, and swing the sway bar down to make it easier to pull the arms down.

[tryingbe]

Don't need to remove caliper and rotor.

Do remove the 4 bolts for the sway bar and sway them out out of the way before removing the ball joint bolt.

[skitzo_inc]

Out of curiousity, why aren't you staying with the equal length shafts?

They no longer make them, at all the stores I contacted.
Plus Ray said it was a good idea, he's my car guy to talk to locally, well, him and Kaleb.

I think I'll attempt to tackle this, good learning experience, and if I screw it up completly, then I'm still not walking.
YAY for second cars! :thumb:

[88_pacifica]

So what really broke, the axle or the int shaft?

[minigts]

I'm not sure about the whole, "not making them anymore". I have an axle shop I go to and I can get as many as needed, rebuilt of course. Maybe some vendors don't want to stock them or something.

[skitzo_inc]

...as far as which one broke, I'm not sure. I was thinking it was the axle shaft. I thought this because Ray said it was in the process of breaking down, I don't know what anything looks like. Right now I'm at work and it's raining, so I don't wanna go crawl underneath my car to see. I will tomorrow possibly.
Everywhere I called said that they had the one piece replacement for it, and no longer had the old ones. If you can get them, how much are they charging you? I can get the one here for 85 dollars, but wish it was cheaper..

[minigts]

Well, I stand ALMOST corrected. The place I go to now will only do a rebuild as there are a few different lengths of that shaft, I'm assuming because of the different transmissions that came with equals that were different lengths. And just thinking about that, have you considered rebuilding the shaft? Unless it's the inner side, those are a piece of cake to rebuild. A kit will have the clip, grease and something else. Takes all of a few minutes to do it, just be sure to clean everything first with brake parts cleaner and then wash with soap and water to clean out any residue.

[nBALLS]

It sounds like the splines in the intermediate shaft stripped(where the axle goes into the I-Shaft), that happened on my LeBaron, and I threw in a 1 piece axle 'cause it was easy, and I had it laying around.

[turbovanman²]

I'm not sure about the whole, "not making them anymore". I have an axle shop I go to and I can get as many as needed, rebuilt of course. Maybe some vendors don't want to stock them or something.

They don't make them anymore, you can't buy a new intermediate shaft and you can't buy the hanger bearing either. Used is all you get.

You can only buy reman axle shafts or new HD axles from a few speciality axle shops.

[skitzo_inc]

-Remove large axle nut
-Remove brake caliper and rotor
-Remove bolt going through ball joint
-Remove two intermediate shaft bearing support bolts (passenger side only)
-Use long pry bar to seperate control arm from ball joint (dont tear the ball joint boot)
-Pull the whole strut/spring/tierod to one side untill there is enough room to slide the end of the axle out



You shouldn't need to pull the caliper and rotor, I never do(the caliper makes a great handle when pulling on the assy), but I do pull both sway bar retainers on the lower control arms, and swing the sway bar down to make it easier to pull the arms down.


Don't need to remove caliper and rotor.

Do remove the 4 bolts for the sway bar and sway them out out of the way before removing the ball joint bolt.

Conflicting answers...is this something I should attempt to tackle, or pay my mechanic 40 bucks to install with his lifetime guarentee it will work? My mechanic is awesome...

[Turbo224]

Don't need to remove caliper and rotor.

Do remove the 4 bolts for the sway bar and sway them out out of the way before removing the ball joint bolt.

I stand corrected. You dont need to remove the brakes. I still do it though.

[88_pacifica]

pay my mechanic 40 bucks

bingo...

[raccoon]

I totally agree, your mechanic changes too little.

[nBALLS]

Yes, pay your mechanic, sounds like a deal to me. :amen:

[mcsvt]

But what's the cost of getting the car to the shop? Or does he come to you... Can't drive with one axle...

Axle swaps are easy, I'd still do it on your own. Gets you more familiar with your car.

[turbovanman²]

I totally agree, your mechanic changes too little.

No kidding, he's too cheap, lol! :o

[skitzo_inc]

But what's the cost of getting the car to the shop? Or does he come to you... Can't drive with one axle...

Axle swaps are easy, I'd still do it on your own. Gets you more familiar with your car.

He comes to me. :D Costs ten bucks more, I think, but either way, super cheap! There are certain things he won't do, clutches, A/C stuff, transmissions, a few other things. He drove to my fathers house, Aurora, NE to O'Neill, NE (map it, it's about three hours) for twenty bucks to do the motor mounts and a few other things on my fathers truck. He's awesome.

[Orangetona]

I stand corrected. You dont need to remove the brakes. I still do it though.

Cheap insurance to make sure the brake hose doesnt break or start leaking... makes sense.

I just checked, they are NA I have a part # for the other one however. 958122 through napa. We dont list anything else available in the book.

[86Shelby]

It sounds like the splines in the intermediate shaft stripped(where the axle goes into the I-Shaft)

That is EXACTLY what happened. When I did his HG I noticed that I could turn the two shafts about 45* independantly and informed him of the impending failure.

[skitzo_inc]

YAY! Ray to the rescue! He can explain all of this better than I can...

[mock_glh]

They don't make them anymore, you can't buy a new intermediate shaft and you can't buy the hanger bearing either. Used is all you get.

True but they (the large spline ones) can be easily found on cars that have the 3.3 and 3.8 V6 engine, which are plentiful in the junkyards right now. The bracket is different but the shaft is the same as the ones in the turbo cars.

[chilort]

Pulling an axle isn't that bad. But I agree with the others, if you've got someone that'll do it for a 4-spot, I'd take 'em up on it.