ITRCA

Long story short, I broke an axle at the track so I decided to change them both out on my ITR. We all know axle jobs are designed to be nearly a 15 minute job provided you have the correct tools. Well, that wasnt the case here, BOTH axles FROZE in their hubs. They froze SO BADLY, PB blaster wouldnt do the trick even letting it sit for a few minutes. I wacked and wacked and wacked, it didnt come out. My little air hammer STILL didnt do it.

So, I had to pull the entire knuckle off along with the axles. Brought it to my friend and he let it sit in some PB blaster type stuff for 3 days. After it sat for a few days, we BARELY got it to move with a dead blow hammer and Snapon air hammer. We ended up mushrooming the axle so bad that we had to grind off the edges.

Here are some pictures of the carnage and of "BROKE AND BROKER" lol.

ouch man. thats not cool.

but on another note, i think its hilarious that u still have the expo 5 numbers on your car!

Ask Rob about taking out his axles while here was here in FL.

I hate axles. I think I'm going to stop using them.

Dave B wrote:Ask Rob about taking out his axles while here was here in FL.

Don't remind me...

hehehe - I'm laughing because I remember breaking the 20,000lb press with my axle.

Cost of winning driveshaftshop roadrace axles at expo3 = ZERO

Cost of replacing the entire knuckle assembly so I can use the axles = $500.

I think there was savings in there somewhere right???

Try a torch next time. Not to cut them but to heat them (be careful not to over heat like warping spindle bearings), Heat expands the metal and makes it softer, w/ the PB Blaster it will help soften the rust and oxidation. Good practice after removal is to clean the hub splined area w/ a wire brush then lightley apply some antiseize prior to installing the new axle.

importrepairguy wrote:Try a torch next time. Not to cut them but to heat them (be careful not to over heat like warping spindle bearings), Heat expands the metal and makes it softer, w/ the PB Blaster it will help soften the rust and oxidation. Good practice after removal is to clean the hub splined area w/ a wire brush then lightley apply some antiseize prior to installing the new axle.

Mine popped right out yesterday with a gentle tug.. and I'm pretty rough on them. Of course, I'm still on OEM axles, and this is probably only the 2nd time I've had to take off the front knuckle/hub (both times for bearings).

I'll antiseize them just in case. That's really weird that they would bind like that.

This same thing happened to me a few weeks ago! What a PITA! I had to hack off the F!@#ed up end with a dremel in order to get it out.

yea I Broke an axle last wensday at raceway park. didnt even get it on the track. I upgraded to stronger ones so hopefully this wont happen again!

sux

you can't just beat on the axle directly like that brother..you have to get yourself a nice sized center punch that locates on the center 'dimple' of the axle and a bigger hammer...I know it sounds crude, but beating on it with something that has very little mass will not do it..I use about a 10lb sledge hammer on seized axles, the added mass allows you to not have to repeatedly beat on it, usually one, or two 'pops' will do the job, I can always get the job done with no damage done to the part.

I don't use heat on seized axles because ultimately you are going to damage the hub bearing with all that heat..it burns the grease inside, so failure of that component will be eminent.

Jan - that's good info. If only I would have pulled mine before 100,000 miles of DD & ~20HPDEs I might have had a chance

Using the dimple is excellent. As soon as you start hammering on the entire end, you just balloon the tip & guarantee it won't come off.

I tried the dimple first with an oversized impact hammer, it didnt even budge the axle.

walker111 wrote:I tried the dimple first with an oversized impact hammer, it didnt even budge the axle.

At least you didn't follow my lead when I was helping a neighbor on a cold day & missed the damn thing & hit my hand with a 5lb sledge = OUCH!!!!

I got really lucky not to break anything. Me = loser!!