Tercel driveshaft won't pop loose from tranny housing

The outer CV joint boot on the driver's side of our '99 Tercel is beginning to crack, so I thought I'd replace it.

Everything was going well... until I tried to remove the inner CV joint from the automatic tranny's diff. This is the A242 automatic, in case that helps.

The factory shop manual makes it look easy: Just pry according to the diagrams and it will come out. Well this one won't.

Any help?

Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@e86.GTS:

It's an unequal-length setup. The driver's side shaft (the short shaft) goes directly into the diff housing.

The diagrams in thre factory shop manual show the technician using a hammer handle to protect the aluminum of the diff housing, then using a pry-bar to pry on the joint. The diagram actually shows the technician's fist striking the pry bar with some force. I tried that and it didn't work. The joint wiggles a bit in the diff housing, but shows no sign of wanting to dislodge.

I did consider leaving the inner joint housing in the diff and just pulling the tripod out of the joint along with the boot, but things are awfully tight in that area. I'm be afraid of dragging dirt into the joint housing when reassembling the boot to it.

These are the OEM shafts, by the way; they've never been removed.

My Acura has an intermediate shaft, so I'm familiar with those.

Sometimes the snap-ring that holds it in can be a real bitch to release, so that's when I grab the BIG prybar (4ft long, 3/4" thick) from the boss's cart, and really reef on it. As your manual shows, it often takes a sharp blow to release it, rather than a strong smooth pull. Try rotating the axle a bit between yanks. You may find a "sweet spot" where it seems to

Going back together will be the same way... get it part-way in, then use the axle itself as a piledriver to overcome the snap-ring's resistance.

Yep, some of them REALLY stick in there. Rotate it if possible, Usually when they really stick your on the back side of the snap-ring. They don't flex well from that side. Also use 2 bars if you can. Put them across from each other and then give them a good solid blow. Ive had some pop free easy enough I had to check to make sure they would stay installed and others where I was sure the transaxle guts were coming out of the case with the axle!

"Steve W." wrote in news:h6a8jr$5t4$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:

This is encouraging, actually. So thanks for that.

I was afraid I might be risking damage if I beat on it any harder (and I never thought of rotating the assembly). That's what you get for being a newbie at this sort of stuff. How often do you see rookies break things because they didn't know what they were doing? I didn't want to fall victim to that.

I ended up having to put it all back together the way I found it. I ran out of time and the car is needed for the morning. Will try again, probably next weekend. Will report back here when I do.

Thanks to all for their replies.

Try to use quick jerks on the pry bar while pulling on it instead of gradual pressure. Sometimes those lock rings can be a bitch.