HELP. Axle guide broken loose. Any ideas for fix? (1 Viewer)

[tromz]

Replacing a grenaded Birfield. After the usual lengthy clean up everything going smooth.
Somehow the axle won’t slide in and go flush. I figured I might have had a chunk slip past the seal. Nope it’s the little ring that sits against the inside of the housing. It’s buggered up from the axle flopping around in the housing as it had completely separated from the birf. Any ideas on how to fix it or make so the axle will slide past? Also anyone put an axle in prior to the knuckle assembly. That would make it easier to support. ….long side

 

[tromz]

Beuller??? Anyone got an updated solution. I read some threads from Dan and Christo

 

[Shipwreck]

You have a couple options.
If you have the axle torn down, and the differntial removed, you can retrieve the ring from the center. Clean it up, then reposition it using some type of fabricated rod. Make sure it is positioned so that the small notch is on the bottom side so that oil can drain back to the diff.
Obviously, the axle housing needs to be clean and dry when getting it back into position. Then you can reach in from the outer side to tack weld it in place. JB weld won't hold over time.
The other option is to rip it out completly. When you need to reinsert the long side axle, you can insert a loop of string trimmer line through the axle breather hole and pull up as needed to position the axle shaft.

 

[Malleus]

It'd be nice if you could install the shaft before you assembled the bearing, but you can't. The snap rings prevent that option. The entire driveshaft has to be assembled, inner shaft, bearing and outer shaft, before it's installed in the housing.

 

[Broski]

I just did this, but I’m old and my memory sucks I did documented it on my Build thread.
The third does need to be out and I did use a custom made bar to get it back in.
I don’t remember welding it Or using JB weld.
From what I remember the ring has a lip that I opened up for a tight lip.
This was just before my last trip so it should be a just a few pages back in my thread.

 

[tromz]

So small hands to my benefit. I was able to put a telescoping magnet on it pull it back and edge it in with my fingers. I then took the knuckle back off. Put the shaft in without the knuckle. I placed a wrench in the housing so it wouldn’t drop. Hindsight a wood block or dowel would be better. I slid the axle in slowly as to not let it touch the guide during the process. My hand kinda fit to cradle it all the way through. Splines hit pretty close so not much movement. Then put the knuckle on. Note. Put some grease on the lower bearing so it doesn’t drop. I know it’s not the correct way to set it up but gets me rolling. Let the bashings begin. I’ll address further next time. Sure the axle will be accessible again in the future. And yes it does suck that the inner n outer need to be assembled first. But honestly it’s a pretty durable design overall
Thanks folks.