removing stubborn pins from axles

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:47 am

been pulling apart a 98/99 Forester today, got to taking the gear box out. seperating the drive shaft/axle shaft, need to knock out the pin. rhs knocked straight out no worries. lhs only has 2 or 3 mill holding the 2 together, but i can't for the life of me get it out. the punch we were using tapers out, so i grabbed a big nail to drive it through, and of course this slid into the hole and made it more stuck. since doing that i have had another 15mm of movement, but just cant get the last few mm out. any ideas how to get enough movement to at least get the GB out?
we have had the blunt end of an axe down on the remains of a ground off screwdriver in the hole, so i doubt a bigger hammer is going to do the trick here.

cheers Robbie

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 1:32 am

May be spray some of mum's canola down the hole & leave it for a while or try heat, might make the axle expand a fraction or maybe ice on the pin, makes mine shrink lol, best thing though is to drill it out if you have a bit a fraction smaller than the hole, hacksaw/grind off what is sticking out then drill from the outside.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 3:01 am

You need to ALWAYS use the correct sized punch - I think it's a 6.5mm that you require to do the job. I learnt the hard way with the hollow rear diff output stubs. Not fun!

All I can suggest is the correct punch and a BiggerFH to knock it out... Or try hitting it through the other way back through the hole.

Cheers

Bennie

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:05 pm

i have tried a bit of drilling, but because of the tight space, cant keep it straight and i cant get an angle grinder in there. also trying to avoid doing too much damage to everything else down there. but i might give this onother try.
then will give the heat treatment a go, ice or an ocean swim you reckon :P, no good looking girls walked in in the first place, so i dont know how it got stuck!

ah well, back to give it another try now in some decent light. fingers crossed...

cheers for the ideas

FROG · Post by **FROG** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:15 pm

El_Freddo wrote:You need to ALWAYS use the correct sized punch - I think it's a 6.5mm that you require to do the job.

+1 Bennie you hit the nail on the head

:D

right sized, good quality punch and the obvious BFH

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:04 pm

got it

now the car is out of my mates garage and his mum is a lot happier!

and i will make sure i have the correct punch next time.

might be some Forester parts up for grabs in a while too...

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:20 pm

Well?????? how did you do it, you can't just say it's done!!

taza · Post by **taza** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:31 pm

I found a old phillips head screw driver then cut the phillips head off and used that. I then put a socket it over it with my 500mm extention and was able to hit it with a hammer from up the top of the engine down onto the ground. took about 30seconds on my Forester. but before this I was trying for about 2.5hours to get it our with punches and the rest but had the same issue as you.

Taza

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:15 pm

d_generate wrote:Well?????? how did you do it, you can't just say it's done!!

taza wrote:I found a old phillips head screw driver then cut the phillips head off and used that. I then put a socket it over it with my 500mm extention and was able to hit it with a hammer from up the top of the engine down onto the ground. took about 30seconds on my Forester. but before this I was trying for about 2.5hours to get it our with punches and the rest but had the same issue as you.

Taza

ground off the excess at the bottom. tried drilling through again, but broke 4 drill bits and gave up on that. then ground 3 or 4 mm into the outer shaft (cv was already knackered) and used taza's method of a ground of screw driver (great minds think alike eh.) and big hammer! we had the engine out, so we were standing in the engine bay and giving it a fair old tonk. broke 2 screwdrivers also. ended up taking around 4hrs i reckon, after all of 15s to get the first one!

the punches are great for starting, but they taper out and become too big for the hole. a middle sized screw driver seems to do the trick.

taza · Post by **taza** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:18 pm

Thats good to hear! The screw driver seems to do the trick

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:04 am

Why the hell aren't you guys doing these from underneath, so much easier.

Bryan1 · Post by **Bryan1** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:39 am

G'day Guy's,
For rusted or stubborn screws nuts ot really anything too tight to remove go grab a can of that 'Loctite Freeze and Release'. In the right places it is less than $10 a can and once you've used it you will see just how good this stuff is. Just be aware that it is flammable so keep open flames right away from it or expect a ball of flame or worse. I have used it in the past for shrinking bearing cups that go into an interference fit too with great success.

Cheers Bryan

MTB92 · Post by **MTB92** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:19 am

d_generate wrote:Why the hell aren't you guys doing these from underneath, so much easier.

can hit it harder from the top, esp with no motor in there. bet yeh, i will be going from the bottom first next time.