Broken axle stuck??

My friend broke an axle in his 58' Vette at the drag strip last season. We finally got around to replacing both axles today. Well...I guess I should say tried to remove them. The drivers side is definatley the broken piece. You can take it and spin the hub freely (feels almost like a front wheel hub/sealed bearing) We yanked the passenger side out first and it came apart easy. When we looked down the housing tube while spinning the drivers axle you can see the other part of the axle shaft splined to the carrier and its not moving. So anyway, we went to pull the drivers side axle and it will not budge!! We have a big slide hammer and a makeshift puller setup. It still will not move. We gave the housing area where the bearing is set into a little heat...no movement still! We tapped on the piece of the shaft stuck in the carrier while hitting it with the slide hammer...no dice! Do any of you have any ideas? I am frustrated and tired. For what its worth this is the stock unit. Thanks - Dustin

 

Never mind a little heat, get the housing cherry -not the bearing.

If the heat doesn't get it out, your next step is chopping the end of the housing off. I'd do everything to avoid that on an original vette rear.

I'd hang it from the ceiling driver side down, cherry the axle tube, and keep trying to work it out.

 

pull the whole diff out,remove the cross pin.use a large driff and pound it out,the splines broke and it swelled up in the spiders or in the case. check the diff case where the bearing rides if it swelled up enough it broke it also...this happens allot with jeep axles .is it a dana44?

 

On what planet can you remove a carrier with an axle in it?
T.OUT

 

Brow, To remove the stuck axle: Take a spare brake drum of the same bolt pattern( or maybe a wheel),bolt the upside down drum or wheel to the axle after removing the bearing retainer bolts, and whup the hell out of it in a removing direction with a BIG beater.If no luck after 10 licks get a bigger beater.This sounds brutal but only the beat-upon will suffer if you don't get a finger caught up in the program.
The best semi permanant remover I have made was a junk axle with studs removed and the protruding hub torched/ground flat, 1 foot from the splined end heat and bend a 90 so we can drive outward with a beater.Bolt this to the axle being removed and it will yield.Good luck.

 

Lo ,here is the deal .You MUST use a real axle slide hammer puller.Some time we have smacked on the slidehammer for 15 minuites hard everything you got in ya.They will eventally come out.Some are a real bitch,just hard work with the right tool,

 

Thanks al for the tips....We were thinking that the innner piece of the shaft is sweeled and wont budge, but I cant figure out why the outside piece of the shaft wont come out. The only answer which makes sense is the actual bearing is froze to the axle housing. Does this add up?? Thanks - I will try and answer each response.

We did get the housing red hot. Not the bearing. We will avoid cutting or ruining the housing.

We used a big ass heavy duty slide hammer. The piece we bolted to the axle was home made, but it was secure and works fine. The axle is still frozen. We beat on it for a long long time. Thanks

HUH?? The axle is stuck in the carrier, it is impossible to pull the pumpkin to remove the diff or cross pin. But, the splines are not broke as we can look down the tube and see them, We were thinking that the shaft is swelled in the carrier and that explains why that piece wont come out, but the outer piece (as in the rest of the axle shaft) still will not budge. It is not a Dana

 

You might try pulling the third member out. It is possible that the axle broke near the spider gears or not too far in and the pumkin will pull out. If you do get the pumkin out, then you can get a long bar and put it into the right side of the rear end housing and drive the left axle out.

 

Brow, I've seen a bunch of broken/twisted axles--mostly big truck,some fork lift,some race car.A break is usually just outboard of the splines and where the axle blank is machined down for the spline cut.Sometimes the remaining stub splinters lengthwise and can wedge in the axle gear but I don't remember seeing this happen without a complete break of the shaft--these things are tough and NOT ductile enough to allow swelling otherwise.If the other axle was broken this stuck one is probably totally intact.I don't remember seeing one partially broken or both axles broken.The weaker one acts as a relief for the high loading situation and protects the other.If I was convinced that the splines in the axle gear was holding, I would consider torching a window in the back plate that would give me access to cross shaft and then the axle end.
The complete rear housing should be out of the 'vette cause we're going to see some fire and smoke when the oxygen in the cutting operation accelerates the burning of the lube oil.
Careful location and clean cutting of the window will allow it to be welded back in when you're through and with the cross pin and block out of the way a long drift will let you drive on the stuck axle from the other side.Good luck.

 

Yea thats what we were hoping - that the shaft broke close to the axle sde gears. We tried pulling the memebr out today and it slides out until the broken stub still lodged in the carrier hits the front of the housing itself. The axle we pulled out was not the broken one. The one that is stuck is the sheared piece. I can not tell where the shaft is broken. Thanks...this one will have to wait for another day.

 

Brow , Heres how we retrieved a stub once without pulling the chunk: We had a sharp weldor and a good arc welder.Took a length of 1/4 in rod long enough to reach the stub and stick out for our access--slid a piece of hose over the rod so it wouldn't short out in the housing(PVC would have been better)--grounded to the housing then with the 1/4 rod in the electrode holder he struck and established a good arc on the stub then forced it to stick and quickly cut the power while holding the rod in the puddle until it froze.The stub and rod was then pulled right out.I would ground by inserting a bar attached to the ground clamp and holding it against the carrier-possibly through the filler hole.That helps protect the carrier bearings by avoiding a current path through them.You need to call on your best welding resource for the feel needed.Practice with the rod and a scrap of metal before the real effort.Good luck.

 

Rereead what I said. I live this shit.

 

i was thinking it was IRS .if its a soild axle than you cant remove the diff.when this happens i pull the other shaft,and knock it out from the good side.i use a long metal rod .you have to knock the hell out of it!a piece of heavy wall small id metal pipe will work.

 

I reread it...our plan for the time being is to try and find a proper attachment to go on the end of the slide. Thanks