RTH: Seating inner axle snap ring w/out taking axle out of hub

[westwardCruiser]

I replaced my passenger side inner axle seal and having a heck of a time getting the axle back in. Without the snap ring, it slides in just fine. Splines look good, that's not the problem. I've tried some grease around the ring to keep it open out down, I tried it open end up. So I'm taking a break

I got it all replaced by just pulling the knuckle off the upper ball joint. I would prefer to not tear the hub apart and take the axle fully out.
The problem seems to be that I don't have enough leverage to push/pound it back in there. I was about to take the knuckle off the lower ball joint, but realized if I got the axle back in I wouldn't be able to get the knuckle back over the ball joint.

Looking for any tools or tricks to try getting this to engage without taking the hub apart.

 

[neoworm]

Push harder!

 

[FxFormat]

Keep shoving it, or take the knuckle off and shove again lol. You have to get lucky on this kind of stuff as well, good luck.

 

[westwardCruiser]

Thanks for the replies. It's finally in. No amount of shoving or pulling had any effect. So I looked around for something I could smack the rim of the inner boot with. Found this hammer and wrapped a shop towel around it. Wacked the handle end with a sledge and viola!

Hope this helps someone in the future.

 

[planomateo]

I went to a local metal distributor and had them cut me some brass rods in different lengths and diameters.

They've made this job much easier