Second time is a charm..

I'm in the process of doing the CV boots and this is the latest thing to hold up my progress. So, far I've disconnected the axle nut, inner CV joint bolts from the differential, and removed the ball joints from the wheel carrier (that was difficult enough). Now, I can't get the axle out of the hub. I've banged on it with a hammer and a block of wood and it's budged may a couple millimeters, but that's it. Any ideas? Should I just hit it harder? Is it going to be difficult to get the axle back in?

I always seem to do these long projects when it's sunny out. Need to have this done before it's starts snowing. Thankfully, none in the forecast.

Kermit

to the effect to "loosen the shaft inwards with taps on a copper madrel".

There's more: "For unfavorable tolerances, the drive shaft must be pressed out of the wheel hub toothing using a wheel hub extractor."

Your car's rear hubs probably have 'unfavorable tolerances'...

There's a note on using optimized axle nuts, version B. A part # is given: 999 084 640 02. But always I repeat what I've been told that parts are tied to VINs and the parts should be ordered based on the car's VIN and what the Porsche parts system comes up regarding the right part for your car.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Thanks Marc. I just got home from work and hit it a few more times and got it out. I used a harder piece of scrap wood (Red Oak) and had sprayed it with WD40 this morning. Was about to take the whole wheel carrier out with the axle intact but figured I'd try hitting it a few more times.

I'll do the boots and see how the installation goes. Any advice on installing the axle again? I'm hoping that if I just clean it up and grease it won't be too much problem.

Kermit

i bought some brass fittings from a plumbing store and used them instead of wood. the brass will still deform before the steel, but are hard enough to get the axle out. when putting it back in, i think you can count on the 306 ft-lbs of torque required on the axle nut go get it back in place ...

You shouldn't have a problem with your installation. You might even want to consider a slight coat of grease on the axle and hub to ease installation and keep from having the same problem next time. All you need is a few threads through the hub. Tightening the axle nut will pull it the rest of the way through.

I cheated and used a small air hammer and the my axles were out in about 2 seconds!

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

I agree with dghii. I used an air hammer to vibrate the axles out. Took about 5 seconds. I used the pointy tip bit in it and stuck it in the little hole in the end of the axle so it wouldn't jump around.

Air hammers are relatively cheap at discount places like HF

P

Thanks for the help guys. I cleaned it up and put a little grease on the axle and I was able to get it in. Should have it back on the road tomorrow. This project took me about twice as long as I thought it would. The passenger side should take about a third as much time.

Kermit

the job going twice as fast because some crucial step is omitted.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

Second time things always seem to go faster, unless you're like me and add a wrinkle to the project! When I did my CV joints, I did the drivers side first. Like you say, the job took me a little longer than I thought it would but basically it went ok.

A few weeks later I decided to tackle the passenger side....and do the wheel bearing at the same time. Now given that I did the drivers side rear bearing last November, I was still confident I could do the job easily. Well, the axle part was a piece of cake, and getting the wheel hub off to press out the bearing was no biggie.

The darn parking brake cable ate me alive! I could not pull it out the back of the hub to save my life. I had not encountered the same problem on the drivers side. I had the cable loose from the parking brake handle but still could not get the cable free of the hub without inserting a screw driver through the front of the hub and pounding it out.

During reassembly, the cable would not go back in the hub, even with a little grease applied to the surfaces. I ended up having to file the cable end down slightly in order to insert the cable back in the hub.

So as usual, the second time was easier for the axle and bearing, but I bet I spent on extra hour or so messing with the dang parking brake cable.

It's always something.....

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles