Halfshaft Replacement

[PTrain]

My boot split on my driver side half shaft and I just bought a whole new assembly to replace it instead of replacing the boot.

As of right now all I've done is disconnect the tie rod from the steering rack and removed the main bolt holding the half shaft in the upright. Now I'm stuck.

The half shaft slides smoothly inside the upright but I can't turn the upright assembly in or out enough to slide the half shaft out. Do I need to unbolt the upright from the shock tower or the lower a arm? If so how do I make sure I keep the spring compressed so I can re assemble it after I replace the half shaft?

Thanks for your guys help. I'll be sure to take some pictures so I can make a write up about it in the how-to section.

[stealthee]

The spring keeps itself compressed in the body of the strut. You can either unbolt the ball joint from the steering knuckle or unbolt the struts from the top of it.

[PTrain]

Cool. I was just checking out the wheel bearing replacement thread a few down and Jimvr4 had a great picture of the upright unbolted at the strut.

Thanks.

[stealthee]

It is easier to unbolt the top bolts, but it will make it hard to get the alignment perfect. Its slightly more difficult to remove the ball joint bolt and to get the control arm to drop, but doesn't affect alignment.

[PTrain]

I tried removing one of the bolts from the top but I can't get it off even with an impact gun or a breaker bar. They are soaking in PB blaster at the moment while I try to get the ball joint bolt off.

[thestealth]

Be sure you use a scribe or sharpie marker to mark the position of the eccentric bolt before you remove it (it's the top one, it adjusts the camber of the wheel during an alignment).

[PTrain]

Well I was able to get the bolts out finally but now I can't seem to get the halfshaft disconnected from the transmission. Should it just slide out? I don't see anything holding it in.

[colt45 gto]

you have to pry it out of the tranny, it has a c-clip around the shaft end holding it in.

use a jimmy bar

[thestealth]

When I replaced the drivers side axle, I could not get the half shaft separated from the intermediate shaft while it was still in the car. I had to unbolt the intermediate shaft from the block and remove both shafts at the same time. Separate them, reassemble, then reinstall the whole axle assembly.

[Hans@GZP]

When I replaced the drivers side axle, I could not get the half shaft separated from the intermediate shaft while it was still in the car. I had to unbolt the intermediate shaft from the block and remove both shafts at the same time. Separate them, reassemble, then reinstall the whole axle assembly.

This. Sometimes it's just easier to take out the two 14mm bolts out of the intermediate shaft and remove the whole assmebly as one unit. No prying required. That's for the passenger side axle.