Impreza axle shaft removal

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Del Rawlins 23 years ago

Hello, I'm looking for suggestions for what to do next... I'm attempting to replace the right hand front halfshaft on my wife's '95 Subaru Impreza and I'm having an extremely difficult time getting the old shaft out of the hub. According to the manual (chiltons) that I have, everything that needs to be removed for this to happen has been removed, but the shaft will not budge. The book shows a special puller which Subaru has and I'm sure can be bought for a hefty price, so I welded up my own using some 1/4" steel and a 2 ton bottle jack from lowes. Here is a jpg of the tool in place and ready to be used:

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Unfortunately, the axle shaft will still not budge even under the full hydraulic pressure that the jack can supply (including use of a 4 foot cheater handle). Is there something else that I am missing, like a snap ring or something else holding it in? My understanding is that the only thing holding the shaft to the hub is the axle nut, which was the first thing that I removed. So far all I have accomplished is to tweak my puller at the flange where it is held to the hub/rotor by the lugnuts ( installed upside down).

For all practical purposes at this point I am too far along to put it back together and take it to a shop and I'm not sure that they would be able to do any more than I have, since the "correct" puller only uses screw threads to apply pressure. I suppose I could pull the entire hub and spindle and try to separate it with my full size hydraulic press but then that opens up another can of worms with alignment and ball joints and I don't really want to go there if I can at all avoid it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

---------------------------------------------------- Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email. Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:

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Carl 1 Lucky Texan 23 years ago

If you feel it is due to corrosion, you could try seriously heating up the bad part (since it's being replaced anyway) and then hosing it down with water. The thermal shock MAY free it up.

good luck and let us know what works.

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

Del Rawl> Hello, I'm looking for suggestions for what to do next... I'm

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Ed Rachner 23 years ago

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Del Rawlins 23 years ago

On 09 Jul 2003 04:39 PM, Carl 1 Lucky Texan posted the following:

Since the car has spent the last few years on the Alaskan coast, corrosion could very well be a factor. Unfortunately, for heat to do any good I'd have to heat the hub, which I don't really want to replace. At this point I may just take my big sledge and pound on it with the jack under pressure and see if that might break it loose, but I am going to wait a while to see if I get any better suggestions first.

---------------------------------------------------- Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email. Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:

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SuperPoo 23 years ago

Take the brakes off and smack it with a sledge hammer a few times.

Steve

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WRXtreme 23 years ago

That is what I would recommend as well.

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M 23 years ago

OK so you may think I am crazy, but here goes... You did remove the lower ball joint or control arm right? You look like you may be pushing the anvil of the jack into the disk and hitting the splines therefre no push on the shaft... take the jack off and just pull the disc toward you in an arc - the shaft should fall out - nbut you have to pullo up on the steering knuckle to make the knuckle move out away from the shaft. I just did this two months ago.

Mike

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Carl 1 Lucky Texan 23 years ago

If you keep the heat under a dull glow( On 09 Jul 2003 04:39 PM, Carl 1 Lucky Texan posted the following:

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Belgian 23 years ago

have you sprayed lots of penetrating oil over the splines ?? I usually do that when i get this problem, spray some over and wait a few hours.... if yours is jammed that bad. I would heat up the thing, if you cannot find any other ways ,but.......you will have to heat it up bad...!!! That is no good for your front wheel bearings ..... Good luck .

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J999w 23 years ago

I guess if it was me, and I've had this much trouble so far, not wanting to do it again for a l o n g time, I'd whack the thing silly to get it apart, then replace the bearings, ball joint, and shaft ... just to be done with it!

:^]

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dave 23 years ago

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Del Rawlins 23 years ago

It's out finally:

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What worked was hitting the back end of the tool with a sledgehammer, and then pumping the jack handle between hits. Slowly the axle came out of the hub, and luckily the rebuilt unit slid back in easily.

I didn't go into it any deeper to replace the bearings because that is a can of worms I will let somebody else open up if/when it becomes necessary. Thanks to everybody who shared their input.

---------------------------------------------------- Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email. Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:

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Gilles Gour 23 years ago

I'm willing to bet the meccanic's coverall helped a lot also :)

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Impreza axle shaft removal

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