Can't get half shaft out of transaxle!!!!!

[JH32552]

Hey Guys,

The CV boot was torn on my 94 Camry. Since everything is original on the car, I felt replacing the half shaft was the way to go. My Nephew who is a mechanic unhooked everything but cannot get the 1/2 shaft to come out! He has tried everything! He even used a brass hammed and was smacking it figuring he was going to put a completely new assembly back in. Well, after about 4 hours he gave up and just put the outer CV joint and boot on. Now, here is where the problem starts....... evidently from smacking it with the hammer, he bent the shaft causing the car to shimmy under load. Now, we HAVE TO get the old half shaft out, but it's not budging!!! Has anyone had this problem or could give us an idea what to do? It's the passenger (right) side. The car is a 94, has 143k, but is in excellant shape.

HELP!!!!!!!!
Jackie

[davemac2]

I assuming it is the driver's side half-shaft? Did he buy the full shaft where you have to actually remove it from the differential, or the partial halfshaft where you just bolt the inner cv joint onto the inner mating hub?

There is a C clip apparently that holds the shaft in the differential. To get it out, you need to apply leverage between the differential casing and the half-shaft.

I think someone on here just recently recommended using a pry bar on either side of the shaft and applying leverage to both sides to pop it out. When you get it out, you will see what I mean by the clip.

dave mc

[JH32552]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to help!

It is the passenger's side (right side) and we purchase the entire axle on that side. (inner and outer CV joints with all shafts) Would this be the same as the left side where you remove a clip? Honestly, I do think that he removed everything that he could find, used pry bars, and brass hammer.... it just will not budge. I had to leave my car at his home, but I will call him with your ideas shortly. This was to be a quick fix and it has turned into a nightmare! We are soooooo frustrated! GGGrrrrrrr!!!!!

[davemac2]

For the passenger side, there is an intermediate shaft and a bearing which needs to be removed also. The bearing is held in its pillow block by a bolt. These bearings are notorious for seizing and are very difficult to get out. Heating them with a torch sometimes helps, as well as the technique I already mentioned with the pry bars. If you want to make your task simpler though, you can always just unbolt the shaft at the inner CV joint and replace the shaft only, leaving the intermediate shaft in place. This is fine if you feel that the bearing is OK and you are not replacing a shaft seal at the differential or anything. There should be 6 hex head bolts at the inner CV joint which you can unscrew. Do the same with the new shaft. Just be careful when removing the intermediate shaft from the new axle assembly that you don't let the joint ball bearings fall out from the joint.

dave mc

[ProMan]

I am not sure why it won't come off. And I am not sure if you are taking off the intermediate shaft too. I replaced the passenger side drive shaft couple times on my 88 Camry, never run into this problem before, pretty straight forward for me.

From my experience, you don't need to take off the IS. The DS and the IS are joined by 6 bolts/nuts. Remove the 6 nuts and the 2 shafts are separated.

Here is a trick I used to take off the DS without IS that saved me a lot of work and time : pull the DS inner joint back (toward the wheel) to clear the bolts while rotating the whole thing (wheel + DS + IS). There is one orientation the DS will slip away from the IS. Then you can pull the DS out from the hub (you even don't need to take aprat the hub from the lower control arm, just need to break loose the spindle nut).

Installation is similar, just be careful that although the 6 bolts are symmetric, the actual shafts are not. If I remember right, there is one thin boss shaped protrusion on the DS and a recess on the IS (or the other way). Before you tighten the nuts, make sure they match up, or you will damage the shaft. Good luck and let us know the outcome.

[JH32552]

IT'S OUT!!!!!!!!!!! and the new shaft is in! It took two days of hammering, heat, swearing, tons of PB penetrating spray, and a few prayers, but the job is done! I hope this shaft and CV joints last the remainder of my cars life, because I don't want to go through this again! I wish I had done a search on this forum before starting this job. If I had read all the complaints about this job, I would have just cleaned the CV joint, regreased it, and replaced the outer boot. What a BEAR of a job!

Thanks for your help guys!
Jackie

[RIP]

Originally Posted by JH32552

If I had read all the complaints about this job, I would have just cleaned the CV joint, regreased it, and replaced the outer boot. What a BEAR of a job!

Yup. Leave the axle assembly on the car, clean the joint, regrease it, and install a new split boot to avoid pulling the shaft. I've done that 5 times in the last 10 years and all are still going strong. Did two in a college dorm parking lot once. Great fun. Only works if the joint isn't clicking. Got a click, change the axle.