Tips on freeing INNER CV from trans

ldeikis · Oct 21, 2018

Title pretty much says it. 04 BEW manual. Several years ago I tried to remove the axle to clean and reboot the outer CV, and after removing the triple square bolts I found the inner end of the axle determinedly stuck to the trans. On other cars I've had them pop out of there by accident when the outboard end is loose for some reason, but this little guy was stuck. PB Blaster and a rubber mallet did nothing. At the time I worked around it by disassembling the outer CV on the car and doing the r&r in the wheel well, which was annoying and required an alignment b/c I had to disconnect the balljoint etc.

Fast forward to now, I have what I strongly suspect is either a failed pressure plate or DMF, which means the trans has to come out = axles have to come loose. Are there any tips out there for this? All I can find on the internet is destructive; my axles are good and I'd like to keep them that way. Car has a little over 300k and has lived in the northeast its entire life. It's pretty clean given that, but that is a big caveat.

Thanks for any guidance... I'm dreading having to squeeze this job into a weekend already knowing I have a SNAFU in store.

Luke

mr.loops · Oct 21, 2018

Luke
A rubber mallet prolly isn’t going to cut it ( they absorb a lot of energy)

Grab a BFH and give the inner cv a good few whacks with it- it’ll pop loose

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AndyBees · Oct 21, 2018

I've removed several axles and never had an issue with CV joint popping loose from the axle flange on the tranny. In fact, I just removed and replaced the complete driver-side axle on a 2000 Jetta a few weeks ago without any resistance from that particular CV joint.

You can remove the Ball Joint from the knuckle without the need for a wheel alignment. Screw the nut out until it pushes against the outer CV joint really tight. Then using a blunt punch and heavy hammer, whack the side of the end of the lower control arm. It may take several whacks to break it loose. Once it is broken loose, just screw the nut off. You'll need to use a pry bar to push the lower control arm down far enough for the BJ stud to come out of the knuckle. The entire hub can be pulled out of the way as you pull the axle stub without removing the tire rod or the brake caliper. You'll also have to remove the bolt to the lower control arm that holds the anti-sway bar link.

JETaah · Oct 21, 2018

This happened more than a couple of times to me. Guys that don't live it the rusty part of the country don't know about this. They can get good and stuck together.
You can pre-load the joint with a floor jack, i.e. try to lift (just a little) the car with the jack under the inner joint until the weight of the engine/trans is loading the joint and then give the drive flange a couple of whacks.

burn_your_money · Oct 21, 2018

I've never tried this, but if nothing else works remove all 6 inner bolts completely, lower the car down and try to drive with the e-brake on. It'll probably slip right off. Since the axle is not spinning, you shouldn't have to worry about breaking anything.

I do think a hammer will knock it loose though.

AndyBees · Oct 21, 2018

Burn_your_money, I thought about posting something like you mentioned.

I remember years ago having a flat on my 62 Chevy. After removing the lug nuts, I could not break the wheel loose from the drum and studs. It was dark, raining and wind blowing. So, after running out of options, I let the car down on the ground and removed the jack. Fired it up, and rode the clutch a bit until I heard a snap/thump. Yep, broke the rim free from the drum/studs!

coalminer16 · Oct 22, 2018

Metal hammer and a cold chisel.

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oilhammer · Oct 23, 2018

Air chisel and the blunt end strategic hit and it comes right off. It isn't the brute force, but the vibration.

ldeikis · Nov 9, 2018

*** did I do?

Ok, little help please. I've done the outers on this car, and I've done inners and outers on other cars where both ends of the axle are "male" (ie, one end slides into a hole in the hub and the other slides into a hole in the transaxle). I gave the inner CV joint a few good taps with a hammer, via a 24" or so 2x4 (so it wasn't even direct metal/metal). Rotated the axle between each one. These were not angry hard wails, just good whacks.

After the third one it popped loose and I was happy, then I looked down and was sad. At the least it looks like the CV joint has separated... but I expected to see a male stubby axle protruding in there. Did I snap that stub axle off? ***?

My goal was to do all the prep for dropping the trans this evening after work, and do the trans/clutch/reinstall tomorrow morning. I think I have hit a reasonable stopping point. I would love input.

This project was a tipping point of deciding to keep this car vs admitting I don't have the time to be wrenching on a 300k mile daily driver and buy some bland beige japanese thing with a warranty. I fear I just stumbled over that line.

mr.loops · Nov 9, 2018

ldeikis said:
Ok, little help please. I've done the outers on this car, and I've done inners and outers on other cars where both ends of the axle are "male" (ie, one end slides into a hole in the hub and the other slides into a hole in the transaxle). I gave the inner CV joint a few good taps with a hammer, via a 24" or so 2x4 (so it wasn't even direct metal/metal). Rotated the axle between each one. These were not angry hard wails, just good whacks.

After the third one it popped loose and I was happy, then I looked down and was sad. At the least it looks like the CV joint has separated... but I expected to see a male stubby axle protruding in there. Did I snap that stub axle off? ***?

My goal was to do all the prep for dropping the trans this evening after work, and do the trans/clutch/reinstall tomorrow morning. I think I have hit a reasonable stopping point. I would love input.

This project was a tipping point of deciding to keep this car vs admitting I don't have the time to be wrenching on a 300k mile daily driver and buy some bland beige japanese thing with a warranty. I fear I just stumbled over that line.

Everything looks correct. I would inspect the c-clip on the inner cv

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ldeikis · Nov 9, 2018

Thank you tremendously for the quick reply.

Somehow I had it in my head that the output shaft bolted to the trans in such a way that the male stub pointed outboard, so the inner CV joint had to slip over it (kind of like the way the outer joint mates with the hub). When it didn't look how I expected I thought I'd really screwed the pooch.

Thanks again. I really thought I'd achieved a new memory.

Luke

Tdijarhead · Nov 10, 2018

If you clean the grease off the face of the joint, you’ll see a circlip, that needs to be removed and then give the joint a few taps and it should slide right off, ready for a new boot.

Clean , new boot, new circlip and put it back together regrease and put it back in the car, don’t forget a new axle nut.

JETaah · Nov 10, 2018

I would take the opportunity to check the the inner CV joint races for pitting. If it has more than 100-150K on them it is very likely. You can swap them to the opposite side axle to squeeze more miles out of them.

Tips on freeing INNER CV from trans

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