D35 axle shaft removal

[colby450xc]

I plan to change out all of the ball joints and u-joints on my front end this weekend (hopefully...). My question is.......Do the front axles just slide out after the knuckles are removed or do I have to open up the front differential and remove clips. Ive done some reading and posted my questions in the ranger axles section but have not had any replies answering this question. Thanks for any help

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Drivers side shaft slides right out. The passenger side outer shaft will slide out of the slip spline portion of the axle shaft. The right hand inner shaft is held into the differential with a clip.

 

[adsm08]

Undo the clamps on the boot on the passenger side axle to remove the outboard side.

You actually have to take the shafts out before you can remove the knuckle. And you have to take the spindle off to get the shaft out. Most of the time they are stuck fast. There is a puller that threads onto the spindle using the bearing nut threads and then you thread a slide hammer in and pound them off. Tool number is OTC 7502. They seem to be getting hard to find. When I ordered mine Amazon said it was the last one they had in stock.

 

[colby450xc]

Undo the clamps on the boot on the passenger side axle to remove the outboard side.

You actually have to take the shafts out before you can remove the knuckle. And you have to take the spindle off to get the shaft out. Most of the time they are stuck fast. There is a puller that threads onto the spindle using the bearing nut threads and then you thread a slide hammer in and pound them off. Tool number is OTC 7502. They seem to be getting hard to find. When I ordered mine Amazon said it was the last one they had in stock.

Seriously? I thought the spindle was just a bolt on. This is gonna suck. The underside of my truck is so rusty...I MEAN RUSTY...The knuckles and balljoints looking like one solid brownish orange piece. Basically the reason I am planning to do all balljoints and u-joints at once. Its a matter of time til it all goes, even though there are no torn rubber boots. Get it out of the way, Ive had nightmares about it.

 

[exbass94]

Seriously? I thought the spindle was just a bolt on. This is gonna suck. The underside of my truck is so rusty...I MEAN RUSTY...The knuckles and balljoints looking like one solid brownish orange piece. Basically the reason I am planning to do all balljoints and u-joints at once. Its a matter of time til it all goes, even though there are no torn rubber boots. Get it out of the way, Ive had nightmares about it.

It IS bolt on. It's just that the spindle gets so rusted to the knuckle, you have to bang it off with a slide hammer. When you're putting it back together, coat the mating surface with anti-seize so it'll come apart much easier in the future. Make sure you remove the little metal block that surrounds the ABS sensor before trying to remove the spindle. It's held in with a weird little bolt. You'll need a 1/4" drive 12 point (MUST be 12 point!) 6 mm socket to remove it. Also, you don't have to remove the ABS sensor itself (it's probably rusted to the knuckle too) BUT you do have to remove the bolt for it (it threads into the spindle).

 

[adsm08]

It IS bolt on. It's just that the spindle gets so rusted to the knuckle, you have to bang it off with a slide hammer. When you're putting it back together, coat the mating surface with anti-seize so it'll come apart much easier in the future.

This.

I have two of these axles apart right now, trying to build one good one with the proper gear ratio.

One of them is like the one you described from your truck. All rusted and crudded up. I had to buy the tool and pound the spindles out.

The other one was much cleaner, and the spindles had been anti-seized before being put back together the last time. Those ones all but fell off once the nuts were removed.

 

[colby450xc]

I was thinking about buying some used knuckles with spindles still attached to make this job easier, but I guess its pointless since it all has to be removed one at a time anyway. I'll just clean the parts up with a wire wheel before I put them back on and coat everything with anti sieze.

 

[Destroyer000]

if you have access to a welder you can make your own spindle puller. i took a lock nut from an old set of auto hubs and welded up a container that threads on the spindle works great.

 

[exbass94]

I threaded my spindle nut on and used the 2-jaw attachment on the slide hammer. I hooked the jaws onto the nut. It was a pain keeping the jaws hooked on, but it worked.

 

[cvar]

There's a trick to it. You need to know that the back side of the spindle has a pesky collar that protrudes 1/2" deep into the knuckle, where rust bonds them firmly. That collar is your enemy. So the spindle must be whacked straight outward not sideways. Helps to see a photo. I used a 1" wide flat sharp chisel & BFH to slowly work all the way around the spindle to split it away from the knuckle.

http://imgur.com/a/d8skq

 

[racsan]

the very first time i had my spindles offi beat the hell out of them with a big shot hammer, cleaned the mating surfaces & used anti-seize, now i can pull either side clear down in under 30 minutes with little effort. when i had my drivers side beam out for a replacement, i did the middle joint, ive heard of some doing it with the diff still in the beam, but its gotta be a whole lot easier with the diff removed so the axle can be taken out.

 

[adsm08]

the very first time i had my spindles offi beat the hell out of them with a big shot hammer, cleaned the mating surfaces & used anti-seize, now i can pull either side clear down in under 30 minutes with little effort. when i had my drivers side beam out for a replacement, i did the middle joint, ive heard of some doing it with the diff still in the beam, but its gotta be a whole lot easier with the diff removed so the axle can be taken out.

The guy I work next to keeps telling me about how he always does that center joint in the truck. But then I have been asking a lot of questions about TTB axle service the last two weeks. As I have started getting things really rolling for my D-35 swap it has dawned on me that I have never actually torn into one of these things before and have no idea what I am doing.


I also learned to not use a press to remove or install the joints. I pressed them out of my one set of shafts a blew a cap out when I put the first one back in.

 

[colby450xc]

There's a trick to it. You need to know that the back side of the spindle has a pesky collar that protrudes 1/2" deep into the knuckle, where rust bonds them firmly. That collar is your enemy. So the spindle must be whacked straight outward not sideways. Helps to see a photo. I used a 1" wide flat sharp chisel & BFH to slowly work all the way around the spindle to split it away from the knuckle.

http://imgur.com/a/d8skq

Thank you very much for that link, the knuckles in that link dont look quite as rusty as my own, but I think with enough heat, wd40 and a sledge hammer I can get this done, along with renting a ball joint press and using my six ton vise for the u-joints.
I figured I could get the spindles off with a flat chisel and a sledge, now that I have pictures it looks like I might as well replace the spindle bearings while Im in there. Do they come out about as easy as rotor bearings.....This job makes me wish this truck was a 2wd ranger. It was so simple on my 2wd 93 Ranger, no worse than doing it on my Honda 4wheeler.This kinda thing used to be no big deal when my truck was a second vehicle to a little Mitsubishi coupe.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I've used the chisel and BFH before to remove the spindles. Not fun. I got one of those tools long ago. Never tried it with a slide hammer, I just thread it on and give it a whack with a BFH. Works like a charm. If it's being difficult, I use a large screwdriver as a wedge when I whack the tool back and forth. I bought mine as part of a set from Summit Racing. They sell it individual, but I needed the lock nut sockets too.

The spindle bearings need to be pulled out of the spindle. A slide hammer will likely make the effort easier. As a last resort they could be split with a chisel.

 

[Andy D]

When I had to pull a front axle on a D44, I used a mason's block chisel with a 3 " wide blade and my ground down Wonder Bar to wiggle it off .