Axle nightmare - How to remove them the easy way

[sanfelice]

it's relatively recent, and there is a whole lot of backstory to tell another time, but the Cardone Premium axles have been good on the 04 XC70 for about 1000 miles. no telling how they will hold up, of course, but very smooth right now.

[sharpnhart]

I spent a day and a half with various recommendations found on the internet; pry bars, chisels, slide hammer, bolt through housing hooked to slide hammer then to 2 ton winch, push in and rotate and try prying again to move retaining clip around to better spot. What finally worked was to cut two pieces of steel bar that are 3/16" thick by 1 1/4 " wide and maybe 6 to 8 " long. Cut the end of one of the bars at a slight angle so it won't hit a flange sticking out from the transmission on the front side of the axle. Taper the ends of both bars so they don't cut into the transmission housing. Drive the front bar in vertically from below and stop when the end of this bar is just to the top side of the axle or a bit further (the picture shows the angled bar driven further than what I actually did). Then, drive the second bar in until the axle comes loose.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional mechanic and this is the first time I have replaced and axle/cv on a Volvo.

[theWIFES_S70]

Just did a driver's side axle on my brother's V70. Thought I could do it in an hour last night before the dark set in. Nope. The Robert-DIY-nail puller trick (which worked on our car) did not work on my brother's V70. Rummaged through tool boxes for a cold chisel and found one after a while. Tapped all around the inner axle cup before tapping it hard enough to pop it out... Success! This is my third Volvo axle swap thus far! Cold chisel is not for the faint of heart... I really hope we didn't bust an axle seal. But at least we "should" be able to pop this one off easier next time around.

It is scary though, I think I had nightmares last night of cracking the transmission housing!

Surprised at how much fluid came out. I'd say a good cupful of liquid came out. We also took the time to do a drain a fill. The last of four for now.

We'll drain it with an oil change next summer.

Hope everyone's having a great Sunday!

[erikv11]

Using a nail puller is far more likely to crack the housing than using a chisel, that's one of the chisel's advantages. See the post right above yours, which is basically just a modification of the chisel method. That axle was stuck and required placing excessive force along the "chisel" surfaces, but no cracking.

Also, to keep things in perspective: fortunately, there haven't (well, lo my knowledge) been any reports of cracked housings.

[theWIFES_S70]

Hey erikv11, yeah, I didn't see any "documentation" of broken transmission cases so I went for it. But it did feel a bit, how do you say, rough!

I think I'm going to purchase an axle puller, one of those plates that attaches to a slide hammer.

[erikv11]

Sorry but while I agree new tools can be fun, I don't get your point at all on this one. Maybe you are getting tripped up by the "sample size of one" issue. There is basically zero to worry about using a chisel. If you are really careless you could perhaps damage the shaft with the chisel point, but the case and the seal are completely out of harm's way.

[theWIFES_S70]

I like the idea of "pulling" an axle instead of prying it out. It just seems better. I know these Volvo cases won't break easily, but now that I find myself working on other cars I don't want to take any chances! (And anything to make stuff faster nowadays is worth it.)

Edit:
Although... maybe a long hard plastic wedge my allay some of those fears.. I wonder if this is long enough! I'm sure it'd hard enough!


https://www.amazon.com/Oregon-23565-Fel ... 00004RA7Q/

[erikv11]

You can also cut a triangular wedge out of wood, people have reported that works well. Most axles will just pop right out with the tapered wedge, the stuck ones obviously require more work. Also you aren't prying, more like pushing in both directions. Tap the wedge straight up until the axle pops out. No prying allowed!

For an axle puller are you taking about something like this? http://www.tooltopia.com/otc-tools-7509.aspx? That looks totally safe, I agree.

[jimmy57]

That slide weight looks WAY too wimpy to me. Maybe you could attach the puller shaft to a chain and leave a little bit of slack in the chain when you attach it. The push the car off the jack stands and have that snatch the axle out.
Seriously, the last time I had one I thought was going to break me or the trans before it came out, I put the little straw thingy on some penetrating spray and tapped a chisel in and then stuck the straw in there and sprayed a good squirt of the lube. Rotated a half turn and repeated. I waited a few minutes to allow my BP and heart rate to fall to normal and then pried and it popped out. The spray had gotten in. That car had more than 200K miles and had never had the axles out. Plenty of powdery rust in the splines to keep the circlip from being able to move inward to release.

[RcarChoctaw]

Im down with the wood wedge..as a machinist,and welder on pressure vessels, Im kind of trained to think the worst.. and tread lightly ,especially when I'm working on a 100 year old steam locomotive......I always use wood...a medium grade poplar,or yellow pine...locust or oak would be the same as a cold chisel,In my opinion