What's the trick to removing stubborn axle?

One side popped right out. The second one id fighting me. Any tips are appreciated.

ORANG50 said:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004IQMR8U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492482591&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=axle+popper&dpPl=1&dpID=31nnkUjg-sL&ref=plSrch

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Ordered....Thanks.

wide prybar with a rubber mallet is all it takes. Mine is about 16" long

turbosc297 said:

wide prybar with a rubber mallet is all it takes. Mine is about 16" long

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Not always. I had one axle pop out super easy and the other I reefed on for hours with a pry bar, a 24" crow bar, a 36" crow bar, then the 24" and 36" crow bar at the same time...didn't budge. Tried rotating the axle, pushing it in and then thrying to snap the pry bar really quick, tried wedging the bar in there and hammering on it, nothing worked. Ordered that axle popper, hammered it in there with the wedge and the shim and had the axle out in 2 minutes.

ORANG50 said:

Not always. I had one axle pop out super easy and the other I reefed on for hours with a pry bar, a 24" crow bar, a 36" crow bar, then the 24" and 36" crow bar at the same time...didn't budge. Tried rotating the axle, pushing it in and then thrying to snap the pry bar really quick, tried wedging the bar in there and hammering on it, nothing worked. Ordered that axle popper, hammered it in there with the wedge and the shim and had the axle out in 2 minutes.

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Do I need to move the exhaust out of the way to make room for the axle popper?

fordfred said:

Do I need to move the exhaust out of the way to make room for the axle popper?

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I don't think so, but I did have mine removed when I did it.

Fred, is your car a PP car with the Torsen diff? If so, there's a 12mm hole in the center of the diff's axle stopper so that you can reach through from one side with a punch and knock the other shaft out.

Big extension or punch and a BFH. If you don't care for the OEM axle, punch it out from the side hard. I had both if mines stuck and started a thread a while ago. Some members suggested that the lock ring in there may be stuck. May have to push it back in a little, rotate, and punch and hammer it out again.

I tried everything that you can pretty much think of. I also purchased the forks from Amazon, tied a rope to it and sledge hammer swing it outwards, and used a 3 feet pry bar without any luck. What did it was a big 3/4 inch punch and BFH hammer.

My driver side half shaft popped out in on the third tap with a pry bar without issue. My passenger side fought me tooth and nail. I tried everything. Twisting around, tapping in to make sure it wasn't hung, 42in pry bar, 3/4 extension, hammer, bigger hammer, etc... I purchased the axle popper kit posted above and initially didn't have any success. I finally continued to hammer on the wedge and finally got it to pop out. The c clip:

2017-04-19_10-21-20 by Brent Dalton, on Flickr

Brent Dalton said:

My driver side half shaft popped out in on the third tap with a pry bar without issue. My passenger side fought me tooth and nail. I tried everything. Twisting around, tapping in to make sure it wasn't hung, 42in pry bar, 3/4 extension, hammer, bigger hammer, etc... I purchased the axle popper kit posted above and initially didn't have any success. I finally continued to hammer on the wedge and finally got it to pop out. The c clip:

2017-04-19_10-21-20 by Brent Dalton, on Flickr

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^ That had my car up in the air for a whole month before I got it out. That c-clip can be no joke sometimes.