Half shaft wont come off!!its never easy!!

Soooo ****ed off right now!!

A simple job is never ever easy!!!

Decided to check the rear wheel bearings, start with the right side, one of the bolts that holds the halfshaft snaps.... i thought, right put it back together, cant be fked with it...

had a couple of smokes and decided to give it another go as it has to be done as I have a stupid noise when I lift off the accelarator and I think its the wheel bearing

so this time I start on the left, easy...easy on the halfshaft bolts.. one snapped.. fkit!! 2...3.. 3 frikin bolts snapped!!

I thought, right, no problem, I'll take the halfshaft out and then I'll have the bolt sticking out the hub and i can use molegrips, weld something to it, etc...

the half shaft wont come off!! been wacking it with a blunt chisel between the hub and halfshaft and no luck.. it wont come apart!
then the little screw that holds the drum brake cover was stuck but got that out in the end..

Also looks like i need new brake shoes...

Havent even started on the other side yet!

what are my options here? how the hell am I going to get this halfshaft out?!?

Nightmare JP

Guessing either:

- Remaining bolt(s) slightly bent
- Ends of bolt threads burred/bent stopping hub coming off
- Hub assembled with sealent rather than gasket
- Lock thread adhesive on threads glued to hub

Options:

- Hit harder
- Try heat
- Grind sticking out bits of bolt flat

Chances are you'll bugger the hub whatever you do


PS - just relooked at you picture - different hubs to on mine - is there a circlip/locknut or anything under the rubber cap that needs to come off first, or should it normally all pull out together?

think the latter but thought I'd ask!

noise on over run sounds more like diff nose bearing rather than wheel bearing, as sh said grind ends foush and foece off with sharp chisel sharpened screw driver etc,even if you damge drive flange there peanuts ,there is circlip behind cap but shaft will come out with flange,might be good time to get another axle ,breather kits even if fitted dont keep water out it goes in through seals

yes, there's a circlip in there, you can leave it or take it out, if you leave it then when you pull it off, the halfshaft will come out with it, if you take it off, then only that bit im trying to get, will come off, leaving the halfshaft in.

but I took the circlip off.

the bolts snapped clean, there's nothing left to grind off...
I think sealent has been used as i can see there's something white on the joint.... is there a way, with chemicals or something, to weaken the sealant?

heat ,but should prise/chisel off i never failed yet

jamesmartin said:

noise on over run sounds more like diff nose bearing rather than wheel bearing, as sh said grind ends foush and foece off with sharp chisel sharpened screw driver etc,even if you damge drive flange there peanuts ,there is circlip behind cap but shaft will come out with flange,might be good time to get another axle ,breather kits even if fitted dont keep water out it goes in through seals

Click to expand...

Oil in the axle was fine, so I guess no water has been getting in...

I also thought it was the diff pinion or something like that, but as checking the wheel bearings is so easy and as there was some play when I jacked the wheel up and push/pull on the the sides..I thought, well, I'll just check the bearings.

jamesmartin said:

heat ,but should prise/chisel off i never failed yet

Click to expand...

right, im using a blunt chisel on the bits where the bolts are as it sticks out a bit off the hub face...

I'll try the sharp chisel, I think that's probably what im doing wrong... actually, thinking about it, that's how i got my mate halfshaft off when I did the wheel bearing on his..

There is nearly always some play in the bearing area due to the size of the wheels on most of them, plenty of leverage etc ... this is why many MOT testers put wheel bearings down as an advisory when there's nothing wrong!

2 words.... Disco Axle.

Gotta be the best thing in the long run?

Mseries3 said:

2 words.... Disco Axle.

Gotta be the best thing in the long run?

Click to expand...

too much hassle, brake discs, calipers, swap axle, etc, etc....

the braking power on mine is enough, only has last resort I'll change for a disco axle

actually, thinking about it... do I need to replace the brake lines? or can I just connect it to the brake calipers and job done?
if that's the case, then its not too much, just undo suspension, trailing arms and job done..... ha no, there's the A frame too.., right, might be a real pain to go down that route, maybe in the summer

btw... another quick question...

I have a stock of Timken bearings from when I had my 200tdi disco, will this fit the 90's rear hubs? i think its all the same isnt it?

the bearings rtc3429 are the same in all vehicles upto disco 2 and p38 including series after 1980

thanks for clarifying that James

Im now armed with a chisel, tomorrow I'll fight another battle with the halfshaft!

I had two shafts that would not come out for me years ago. I used a 5-6 foot bar in the end, even then they were happy to stay in place. Rather you than me, but best of luck.

5-6 foot bar? for what?

there's nothing there that you can "catch" on to push/pull it?

dont understand what you mean or how you done it lol

Ugh, I hate 24 spline hubs. I have had 2 jobs break bolts on me in the past couple of weeks.

10 spline hubs don't break bolts, must be cheap metal in the later hubs.

Anyway, once that drive flange is off you can drill the bolts out with 8.5mm drill and clean the threads with an M10 x 1.5 tap. Ideally hub off and onto a pillar drill.

I did 4 bolts successfully in one sitting the other day.

Doesn't really help I know, jus wanted to rant.

im hoping that once that halfshaft is off then I can just weld a nut on the end of the stud and get the studs out.... hopefully!

Yeah, I don't know what makes them stick, either hub threads or drive flange.

Bit Of heat on drove flange sounds good

Weld nut on, wiggle wiggle and finger crossed!

weld a sacrificial lump of steel onto flange so you have summat to lever on, grind off afterwards.
another issue, dont know if its related but worth bearing in mind-
splines on halfshaft at diff end may have got worn resulting in a "step" where the drive takes up from the sun gear. pulling the shaft just results in it getting stuck on the step and a clockwise/anticlockwise wiggle while pull thing has to go on.

other alternative is weld a couple of decent size nuts opposite each other on flange, then jack it off using bolts.

best of luck and keep us updated!

Had the exact same problem, here's how we sorted it;





Oxy-acetelyne for the win