ron.eddy

I really hate for it to come to this, but have have spent two full evenings, the skin off two knuckles and one fingernail and STILL my CV joints are stuck to my transmission. I did all the right things taking the bolts out, being very careful to clean them really nice. Even tracked down the snap-on truck and bought the $25 triple square bit. I got the bolts out on the wheel sides and the cv came loose immediately. I took the bolts out on the tranny side and neither of them will budge, I mean STUCK. Mallot hitting, prying, tapping, even tried to ice the cv flange with the hopes it would shrink and come out, but nothing has worked. I didn't try heat and I don't really want to because I think bad things could happen (between the boot, seals, and gas tank). Firstly, does anyone have any fancy ideas that might allow me to remove these suckers? If not, how bad would it be to pull the collar back, wipe out as much of the old grease as possible, and then inject new grease in, while the CV is in place? I realize this is a half-assed repack, but do you think it would last out the year anyway?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

yellowline

Try this:

Continue spraying with PB Blaster. Soak overnight, even.
If they still refuse to budge, put vise grips on the side of the heads. Turn in conjunction with the socket.
Buy new bolts after you do that, assuming that works. I have done this before and it works pretty well.

I don't know if you have done these before, so having done this job four times, I have some helpful tips once you have the axle out:

-Make a mark on the radius of the joint using Testors model paint...I like red because it stands out that much more. Let dry 10 minutes or so. This will make it really easy to reassemble, and it goes a long way towards assembling the joint correctly and avoiding a locked joint.

-To keep even wear, set up 6 boxes in a circle. Place ball bearings sequentially in each box. Whatever convention you choose is good, just have one.

-Slip the boot collar off the joint before you take out the circlip. If you try to remove the joint first, your hands will be greasy and it'll be more difficult to remove the boot collar.

KuHL 951

Don't laugh I used a Bar BQ Marinade Injector (Big F'ing Syringe) and CV grease to pack a clacking CV while on vacation a few years ago. Fill the syringe with grease, and work the needle into the CV area and squeeze. I tried to make my hole as close to the axle as possible. It hasn't thrown out any grease so it seemed to have worked. You can get them at most any BBQ specialty shop.

ron.eddy

I'm sorry, I just reread my post and I wasn't very clear on whats happening. The bolts are all out, they came out very easily and look perfect. The problem is that the flanges are completely stuck together between the CV and the tranny!

ron.eddy

Haha, nice! I may have to do something like this, but I shouldn't have to make any sort of hole, since I can pull the collar back:

KuHL 951

Good pic and yours should be very easy. I just pulled the left side up on a curb at the hotel in Ft. Bragg, Ca. and crawled under the car. Get as much grease as you can in around each of the slots in the CV. Look for a needle with the large slotted opening on the side of the needle...it's pretty hard to push but works well and is a lot cleaner than using your fingers. I used a full tube which might have been too much but it worked and have put 5K miles on it since. Mine only clacked after a hot run and then only while driving under 40mph until I did this this.

jpk

If all the bolts are out, they should come apart; it's only corrosion or rust holding it in there. Get some PB blaster on there and let it sit for a while. Put a couple bolts back in on the wheel side and try turning the wheel and half shaft agaist the transmission. This will give you a lot more leverage.
If that doesn't work, you could start it up and use the engine to try to spin the tranny against the parking brake (actually, against the regular brake would work too, but you'd run out of feet)

Jay W

Using the engine and brake is a good idea but the force of that thing breaking loose could be a bit out of control since nobody is there to hold the axle up when it breaks loose. Usually when the bolts are out the axle practically falls out.

ron.eddy

Yea, I can't find anyone else with this stuck flange problem. I put it back together for now, but this weekend I think I am going to put some pb blaster on it over and over and let it sit for a couple days. Ironically, after I put it back together, with no extra grease, the clickity clack stopped! But I know that is only temporary. I just hope it holds out until I can get that sucker off of there.