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Front driveshaft stuck

3K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Adrian4X4 
#1 ·
Hoping for some wisdom from someone as I'm beat :headbang:

Replacing both front wheel bearings; front offside goes fine with no issues.
Front nearside however; the driveshaft refuses to budge out of the hub.
I used a hub puller with a powerful Dewalt impact wrench which managed to snap the wheel hub flange so now I'm really in trouble.

A bit of searching on YTube and I see that these can be all but impossible to remove even with hydraulic equipment!

If I can't remove this then I can't think of any other solution but to replace the driveshaft and hub carrier; all for the sake of a damned rusted driveshaft :bigcry:

So, if anyone has any experience of this then I would be grateful.
 
#4 ·
Cheers guys.
So, still up to my elbows in grease and frustration :bigcry:

Driveshaft well and truly stuck so resorted to buying a new driveshaft with the intention of cutting the old one off.

However the hub bolts are obscured by the outer cv joint not accessible unless the driveshaft can be removed from the hub :headbang:

Ok I'll just remove the swivel hub to get it on the bench and grind/cut the outer cv joint away to get access and then put it all back together.

No chance; the bottom ball joint is seized solid.

Not to be beaten I'm now grinding and cutting the old hub away to get at least some access to the splines of the remaining bit of driveshaft to hopefully get some heat and releasing fluid in there and pray that's enough to loosen it. Who am I trying to kid!!
 
#5 ·
Oh dear, definitely not nice. Let us know how this ends up (with approx cost!!!).

When changing my shock absorbers I had rusted top central strut nuts and I had to use grinder to cut away nuts / central shafts so I could get springs off to reuse those (after applying spring tensioners of course). I hadn't intended replacing mounts but it was impossible to grind those bolts off without also destroying the mounts themselves. Then the drop link bolts were seized so I had to cut the drop links in two with grinder to separate them from the shock absorbers and then replace those too.

I am paranoid about rust now. Once every year now I get underneath my car and spray WD40 on every single nut / bolt / metal connection of any kind. When that has seeped in, then by hand I smear (or spray if innaccessible) every single one of those parts with protection grease. Of course I try to avoid getting the grease on any rubber bushes - I spray those with a silicon lubricant.
This job takes two or three hours once a year but so far has proved very useful as everything comes off now easily when I want. I wouldn't do the above only I wish to keep the car for as long as possible. It is my perfect car, normally very reliable and easy to work on, and there is no car available today that ticks all the boxes for me.
 
#6 ·
Ok so a quick summary.

Finally got it all done despite losing my sense of humour several times.

Persevered and got the bottom ball joint bolt out by firstly spraying with plenty releasing fluid, prised open the bottom of the swivel hub a bit then put the impact wrench on the bolt to spin it whilst hammering it out, still a struggle but it did come out which meant I could cut the driveshaft and pull out the swivel hub with the outer part of the driveshaft in situ.

Heated up the hub/ splined part of the driveshaft and tried a hydraulic press to see if I could press the driveshaft out; no chance. Had to grind away the splined end of the shaft and the hub until I eventually managed to press it out.

Hub bearing bolts came out after a bit of heat/ releasing fluid and impact wrench so was pleased about that as the rear ones cost me 8 quid each bolt (£64)!

Replacing everything was simple and all in all the extra cost of this was down to having to buy a new driveshaft at £134 and 2ltrs of gearbox fluid which I already had.

All in all I'm glad I did it but never again!
 
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