Trying to get the drive shafts off my 91 won me a set of Snap-On wrenches. And by won, I mean I paid a lot! My craftsman wrench just wasn't up to the task.
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Rear drive shaft removal (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Bogart
- Start date
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LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
It’s alot like sex - lube, heat, & cheat.
Order new bolts now if you live - “in the sticks” like me, then cheater bar it or if you are a decent oxy-torch owner/operator - blow the bolts out & punch the leftovers out.
Sounds like you’re breaking bolts, either by torque or torch.
Not to be flip, but if you hadn’t tried multiple pre-lube & a few heat cycles - yeah, order the new bolts now as they gunna be ugly by the time you get get the DS’s out.
Does/did it live in the rust belt at some point?
Order new bolts now if you live - “in the sticks” like me, then cheater bar it or if you are a decent oxy-torch owner/operator - blow the bolts out & punch the leftovers out.
Sounds like you’re breaking bolts, either by torque or torch.
Not to be flip, but if you hadn’t tried multiple pre-lube & a few heat cycles - yeah, order the new bolts now as they gunna be ugly by the time you get get the DS’s out.
Does/did it live in the rust belt at some point?
I use a 3/8 drive deep socket 14mm with a 1/2 drive adapter on the shaft side (the head) and a long 14mm wrench on the diff side (the nut), and rotate shaft with transmission in neutral (tires chocked on ground) to put the fastener I'm working on near the bottom. I've never had a problem with access or torque. If the hex corners are spun/damaged it may be time for new hardware....
When you say "hitting with an impact" do you mean using a hammer and a manual impact driver or a pneumatic/electric impact gun?
Use a big impact gun like a 1/2" milwaukee cordless impact and they will either come loose or snap.
Also you can try heating them up and spraying them with penetrating fluid while they are still sizzling hot. Try doing this a couple times a day for a week......
- Thread starter
- #26
Yes, multiple cycles of pb blaster, heat with propane torch, using an air gun type impact. I have had the 1/2 inch breaker on there and can feel I’m twisting the bolt, I’m sure it’s ready to snap. If I can’t get em off it’s going into the shop on Monday and they will cut em off with a oxy acetylene. I did order hardware today, I’m thinking I may just snap em off. This truck has been a western Canadian truck all it’s life and the underside has some surface rust but not classically rusty. I’m hoping perseverance will prevail as the rear most joint is shot and I’m a bit concerned of it failing on the road, don’t really 2ant to drive far at the moment
- Thread starter
- #27
Curious, are you putting force on the nut? Or bolt?
LINUS
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin
Again, like teh sectx - bust the nut.
If you gotta go oxy-ax, then you’re burning off the boltheads.
If the nut doesn’t crack, the bolt will sheer & we’re back to new hardware in a spot greased threads will be a big boon some decade later / new set of UJ’s.
Just new bolts /end my opinion.
The bolt head.
thatcabledude
GOLD Star
Never have had any sort of difficulty with this
Ok I just did this and jesus it was a pain in the ass. Getting the hardware loose/ off was no problem. Getting the slip yoke to compress so I could get the thing out of there took lots of prying and rotating and more prying. I pryed more then pryed really hard and it came out.
My slip yoke was pretty chewed up:
lp2k
Had a couple of drinks.. saw a couple of things
I just pulled my 91 rust belt rear and front drive shafts. I did heat an PB then a 1400ftlb milwaukee cordless. Spun right off with little drama. I was expecting breakage but got lucky. During the motor swap I have broke over a dozen bolts. Ill take a little luck.
iptman
SILVER Star
Next time just remove the zerk on the UJ carrier and it'll squeeze out a little grease as you compress it.
- Thread starter
- #36
In conclusion, after repeated efforts without success I took it into a friends shop after hours and heated the nuts and bolts with a oxy acetylene torch, finally freed them using a breaker bar. In comparison the actual changing of the u joints was straightforward. I replaced the hardware and intend to occasionally check they are not seized in case of future work needed. Good news is all the vibration is gone and the truck runs happy, bad news is a snapped the zirk on the drive shaft yoke so need to replace that sooner than later. Thanks to all for the advice and encouragement
