ON THE JOB TRAINING?

[Gumball]

OJT – R & R Trooper rear axle - For those that haven't had the joy of pulling their axle!

On the first test ride after getting my Trooper back together I was hearing popping noises coming from somewhere when making a sharp right turn. I suspected I might have a CV/bearing bad on the right rear that was evident when the suspension was topped out on that side. I pulled the rear assembly apart and found the axle splines were worn pretty badly. I decided to replace the complete axle.

It was with a great deal of trepidation that I approached the task. Having heard horror stories about getting the axle out of the differential I was more than a bit worried. As it turned out my worries were unfounded, thanks to fellow board members that told how they did it. This is not the only way to do this job but it worked for me.

Step by step:

1. Remove the cotter key from the 36mm axle nut.

2. Loosen the nut – Not having the right socket I went to Checker Auto Parts and borrowed one from their loan pool.

3. Loosen the lug nuts slightly

4. Put your jack in the center of your Trooper raise it as high as possible with your jack to give yourself room to work.

5. PUT JACK STANDS ON BOTH SIDES UNDER THE TRAILING LINK you should have support in the center and on both sides.

6. Remove the wheel

7. Remove the brake calipers from the hub

8. Remove the axle nut and pull off the hub – (not necessary if you are not going to check the bearing/seal)

9. Clean the hub and inspect the bearing and seal replace as necessary.

10. Remove the lower bolt securing the shock, it should come out easily because your suspension is topped out and the link is being supported by the jack stand.

11. Using a ratchet type tie down strap, tie one end on a tube on the rear deck rack and place the other end on the trailing link.

12. Tighten the strap to pull up the trailing link until the axle can be pulled STRAIGHT out of the differential.

13. Say a couple of Hail Mary’s or rattle your beads, put your hands around the axle, give it a yank and it should come out of the differential.

I was fortunate, this worked for me. The trick is to be sure to pull the axle straight. This should compress the ring around the axle inside the differential. If the pressure isn’t straight the ring doesn’t want to compress.

Reverse the process to reassemble. A soft hammer may be useful in getting the axle back into the differential.

DID THIS SOLVE THE PROBLEM? NO! It seems that the problem was the result of the front locker adjustment cable being out of adjustment. The pin would occasionally try to lock the differential. Taking up the cable slack seems to have solved the problem. I HOPE! So far, so good!

Gumball

[rocmoc]

My axles just popped out easily with a little help of a large flat-head screwdriver at the diff. It is the original U-Joint dirveline that would not come out of the trans for me. I finally used the same method you did.

Good luck in finding the problem.