help with driveshaft reinstall

[peeenl]

Getting the car put back together, and am finally at the point to reinstall the driveshafts. I'm starting on the drive side. I go to insert it, and it just won't go in. I haven't beat the crap out of it, but I gave it some pretty solid pushes. Its like I'm pushing against a brick wall.

I've looked at it a couple times, and don't see anything preventing it from going in. What's the trick? I did see the not from the manual to have the gap in the c clip up, but that didn't help either.

I didn't put anything in the trans with the axle out. I read some posts about the spider gears potentially falling out. I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what that means, but their isn't blocking the hole until much deeper, and I'm not getting the shaft in there at all.

 

[MrGiggles]

Turn the shaft until you feel it slip into the splines just a little ways, then give it a solid push inward. If this doesn't work for you, try rotating the axle a little and try again. Generally if they don't go, the clip is getting pinched and misaligned.

You can shine a light into the transmission to see if the spider gears are lined up. I don't know if they can fall out, but it may be possible for them to misalign, especially if both axles are pulled.

 

[peeenl]

I did get the passenger side in very easily. The isn't a clip on that side though. I tried for a solid hour on the drive side. Nothing looks wrong to me though. I even tried bolting up to the suspension to get more leverage. Still won't go in.

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[MrGiggles]

I did get the passenger side in very easily. The isn't a clip on that side though. I tried for a solid hour on the drive side. Nothing looks wrong to me though. I even tried bolting up to the suspension to get more leverage. Still won't go in.

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When I run into a stubborn one, I'll put the axle into the hub (with it only bolted to the control arm) and start the splines in the transmission. Then grasp the rotor will both hands and give it a good shove.

If it still doesn't want to go in, you can try pulling the clip off the end and squeezing it tighter. I've done that a time or two with some success.

 

[pcb]

One guy wrote in that he crawled under the car and held the axle perfectly straight then got his wife to give it a solid hit with a sledgehammer...

That worked for him.... (although he took a couple of hits himself.... his wife wasn't too good with the sledge)

 

[Maroon]

I had the same issue. Passenger's side was easy, driver's not so much. I probably spent a 2 hours on it over a day or 2. I tried taking the clip off and bending it, but the thing about that is that you have to bend it back to get it on the shaft. It doesn't really get you anywhere.

In the end, I hit it with a block of wood and it popped in. Just do that.

 

[pcb]

I

In the end, I hit her with a block of wood and it popped in. Just do that.

(that's what's he said... )

 

[peeenl]

I did get it in. I bent the clip a little tighter, bolted the hub, and got it in. Thanks for the help.

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[RatLabGuy]

One guy wrote in that he crawled under the car and held the axle perfectly straight then got his wife to give it a solid hit with a sledgehammer...

That worked for him.... (although he took a couple of hits himself.... his wife wasn't too good with the sledge)

that was me ;-)
The trick was removing strut tower so that I had a perfectly straight shot. Then whacked it good w/ the mallet. Yes I held it while wife hit it.
The key is that the force has to be perfectly straight as it travels down the CV. If that sucker is bent at all it won't push all "sides" of the c-clip evenly.

It may help to try and compress the c-clip a little, problem I had was that if I compressed it while on the axle, it didn't bend much and just popped back to original size. If I took it off, and crimped it tihter, then in teh process of putting it back on it would just bend open again. Doh.

And FWIW - do NOT try just removing the C-clip and run it w/o it! I did after getting frustrated... in 1/4 mile of driving the axle compressed/slide enough to disengage from teh differential... no drive, lol.