Front axle cup removal, any ideas?

Hi all, new poster here!
I'm currently elbow deep into removing the Jatco box from my 04 freelander and I've hit a snag...front axle 'cup' (ird side) is stuck in the ird! axle is out but I can't work out how the 'cup's comes out of the ird? Haynes is next to useless and I can't seem to find anything on here that explains how to get the bloody thing out so I can remover the ird!
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Generally a larger screwdriver is used to pry it out.

You say the axle is 'out', I presume you mean its released from the hub. IIRC you need to do this (by removing the 2 bolts holding the hub to the strut and pulling it away) first to give it room to pull out of the IRD.

I'm hoping you've not pulled the inboard spider joint apart. The splines are held in by a C ring, which will need to unclip from the IRD. A couple of large screwdrivers used as levers will do the trick.

Thanks for the replies guys
I've attached a pic of where I'm at so far
The 'cup' I mean is the bit that goes on the right end. That's the bit that's still in the ird that I'm stumped by

The spider or tripod joint will need to be assembled with the same orientation to ensure that the bearings each (of the 3) sit on the same surface that they came out of. There is no need to break the joint there anyway.

Don't allow the driveshaft weight to sit on the end outer joint either as it will be damaged, support the weight of the driveshaft. Also the rubber boot will pop off, as yours has, and you will need to renew the clip.

As above, the inner joint is held with a circlip into the IRD and simply prises out. Either lever carefully to avoid damage to seal or joint or apply a piece of wood to the IRD end of the joint and give it a sharp smack with a hammer.

boot-neck59 said:

Thanks for the replies guys
I've attached a pic of where I'm at so far
The 'cup' I mean is the bit that goes on the right end. That's the bit that's still in the ird that I'm stumped by

Click to expand...

You are making a right dogs dinner of that!

Which is easy to say from here and I can sort of understand why you've ended up there, but you should have asked first!

There's no need to create all that work for yourself splitting and then having to rebuild the drive shaft.

The cup will pop out. The first one I did came out super easy (which may explain why I was luck enough not to create a dogs dinner), 2nd one needed a lot more persuasion. Luck of the drawer it seems.

Incidentally that first one popped straight back in using the same circlip and has been running fine for 10 years, but I think the suggested line may be to replace the clip that holds it in.