1990 Legacy AWD, rear half shaft removal

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- alaskashields
  
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posted
14 years ago

Mon, Jun 1, 2009 12:29 AM

I have 3 Subaru's and have replaced the front half shafts on all 3, no problem. Now the driver's side haf shaft needs replacement. Pulled my Chilton manual, which of course does not give me the detail I need. One of the first steps is says to do is remove the lower control arm-to-rear housing bolt and nut. I found a picture of this for a Justy, and it appears they are referring to a long bolt that passes through two pinched-sleeves. I got the nut off (driver's end) but no matter what I do, I can't turn the bolt head or drive the bolt out by putting the nut back on the end of the threads and hitting it very, very hard.

It seems that I have to remove the entire rear axel in order to get the half shaft out. I have removed the roll pin (spring pin) from the transaxel, I have the rear strut nuts and bolts out and it looks like removing the trailink link and its retaining bolt (Chilton language) should not be a problem.

Anyone have any experience with driving out or removing the lower control arm to rear housing bolt. I got on this puppy with a 1/2" breaker bar with a pipe for extra leverage (nothing). Before I attempt with my 3/4 drive socket set, I want to make sure I am not attempting to turn something that is not meant to be turned.

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posted
14 years ago

Tue, Jun 2, 2009 5:48 PM

Rust.

If there is much present, you will find it extremely difficult to remove that bolt. A heavy-duty air impact and lots of WD-40 will sometimes get it to turn, which is half of the battle. From there, use a pry behind the head, or push on the threaded end with whatever seems likely while you spin the bolt with the impact.

You might find it easier to disconnect the strut from the hub, or even disconnect the arms at the inner pivots ; the object being to get enough slack in the system to extract either the outer shaft from the hub, or the inner shaft from the differential. If you do loosen the inner arms, mark the eccentrics so you can recover the alignment settings. Use a pry-bar to get the shaft out of the diff. IIRC, there is a bolt head in a handy spot so you don't have to risk damage to the case or bearing retainer while prying. Shouldn't take a whole lot of force to accomplish this.

If there is a lot of rust present, save yourself time, frustration. and bloody knuckles by picking up a complete rear hub/arm/axle assembly at a salvage yard, and installing it as a unit. When in doubt, set the alignment to maximum rear toe-in for the drive to the alignment shop, or use the old "string on jackstands" method to get it set as close to 0 toe as possible.

Hope this helps.

ByeBye! S. Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

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- weelliott
  
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posted
14 years ago

Tue, Jun 2, 2009 7:47 PM

I had a battle with getting that bolt out. I banged on it enough that I coudl then get an open end wrench in there between teh knuckle and the bolt head, then pried with that, then put another open end wrnech in beside that, then pried, and so on and so on. I found some pipe to slip over the bolt head and sit against the knuckle to pry against later. It needs to come out a good ways since it is so long. Putting it back in I used an angle grinder to taper the threaded end.(be careful to have the nut on it when you do this, the back the nut off to clean out the threads. I greased that hole up well, then beat the bolt back in and it wasn't as bad going in as I feared it might be. I wouldn't want to do it again though.