Diff rebuild, got a question on it?

[Mulisha]

How the hell do you pull off the front part of the differential. Im trying to rebuild my diff and I cant get it apart. Do you have to pull out the axle? I have already pulled off the pinion flange and tried to get out the pinion bearing but the bearing would not come out.

[Mux213]

Mulisha, I'm not sure what you mean but does this help? :

http://forums.club4ag.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=96120

[SutteR]

You have to pull out the axles since their inner end is _in_ the diff. After that you will still need a lot of force to remove the diff housing because of some type of gasket used for it. Use a hammer and a lot of patience...

[Mulisha]

Thanks, I almost succeeded on pulling off the front of the diff with the axles still in. It's amazing what a pulley puller can do.

[Mux213]

Mulisha,

Ooops! good thing you checked then huh I hope you didn't damage anything by putting so much stress on the axles and bearings...

btw, my moto when tinkering with the car:
If something doesn't come off easy then either:
- I'm doing it wrong
- I'm not using the right tool
- Something rusted like hell
- Someone fastened it with some glue stuff
Only the last two reason warrent the use of accesive force.

9 out of 10 times something seriously stuck will come of very easilly when you figure out how it should be done. I never apply great force until I've doublechecked with a manual or a person that I should be doing it this way. So far the only things I really needed to use accesive force for where:
- getting my half axles out of my axle for the first time (and in part this was due to not using the right tool namely a slide hammer, in part because the bearings were stuck due to a little bit of rust)
- taking the rear suspention appart on my RX7 (the bolts on the calipers where locktited and rusted and needed to be drilled out, and for the rear hub I used the wrong tool. an airwrench does mirracles on a car, best thing I've ever bought)

[Mulisha]

thanks, I have taken off the rotors and removed the four nuts. Now I cant get the axles off. Ive used a slide hammer, maybe I just need to go to the gym. Is there anything else I am forgetting.

[Mux213]

Mulisha sounds about right...

It does take alot of force to take the axles out. The bearings can get very stuck..

Mount an old rimm on the axle, and bang the hell out of that. What I also tried is to mount an old disk brake up side down and bang the disk brake. I broke the disk brake eventually though but that was after I had removed 3 axles with it

[Ivan141]

I used a good piece of wood, put it against the hub or a crappy old brakedisc and smack the hell out of that. The wood cushions the blows a bit. Just remember to bring out your FBH..(Fucking Big Hammer).
I eventually got my axles out after approx. 45 minutes of bashing. Putting some heat into the axles with a torch also helps a bit.