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need help with universals

Y

younggun96

NAXJA Forum User
Location
wooster,ohio
Hey, I am out here in the garage trying to swap out my cv joint u joints at the wheels. I removed the 36mm axle nut the brake caliper assy. and the three 13mm bolts on the backside of the hub and I can't budge it......what am I doing wrong?? Do iI need a puller to pop this thing off or just a bigger hammer? somebody help, please......
 
A slide hammer is probably your best bet. They are generally used for pulling rear axle shafts, but work fairly well in this application. You can rent them at your local Auto Zone, or Kragen might have them also. Even with a slide hammer, they can be really stubborn. Be careful just beating on it with a hammer... unless you don't care about the spindles and plan on replacing them.
 
i just used a hammer and a chisel between the unit bearing and the hub
start at one spot and slowly work your way around

I dont know if this is the best way but it worked for me

would a slide hammer be hard on the bearings?
 
are you saying to hammer in the groove right behind the flange that the wheel studs come through? I wasn't sure if that came apart from the bearing housing or if it was to come off as one unit??? sorry for the ignorance, this is the first one of these I have ever had to mess with on an XJ
 
I've used a slide hammer for this before with good success. It might be good to loosen the 36mm nut while on the vehicle, then put it back on and tighten it slightly so that the axle shaft and bearings all come out as a unit. The bearings are then sandwiched between the 36mm bolt and axle shaft assembly.
 
I learned this the hard way, using just about every tool & techniques I have, that failed (incl a sledge ax, o2/ac, and a chainsaw IIRC) But fret no more, there is an easy solution.

Spray that thing with PB Blaster & go fetch 2 or 3 bolts M12x1.75 x100mm (4"apprx) long and thread these into the hub. Beat on these. You will have to steer the knuckles to get your swing on, but alternating between the three sacrificial targets will walk the hub right out... plus they keep the hub/axleshaft from leaping out at ya,

Clean up the coned mating surfaces with some sandpaper, and apply anti-sieze-or at least some grease- to them when reassembling.

Have fun :viking:
 
thanks for the suggestions I'll head back out to the garage and see if I can win this battle!! If anyone else has ideas feel free to post them as I may be back inside in a few moments if this doesn't work. Thanks to all!
 
I had a hell of a time getting mine off the first time. I ended up renting a BIG slide hammer and it still took like a hour of Beating on it to get the thing out. Use PB blaster or the like. The other method is to get some sacrificial bolts to put in the holes you took the 13mm ones out of, and then use a hammer to pop them out from the back. I don’t think that would have ever worked on mine cause it just cant generate the impact that a direct hit with the Slide can, but it may be worth a try before you go through down for the rental.
 
You surely don't want to be slide-hammering (or prying behind the lug flange) on the hub while it's 36mm nut is loose and it's other end is fused to the knuckle. You have destroyed the hub if it comes apart where you can get at the bearings. Make sure the nut gets torqued well (175 # IIRC) before you ride off.

I bought a 10#? slider from NAPA just for this project 4 years ago and it failed. The chisel failed too, mauls the backing plates pretty good though.

Is this an early XJ CV style front axle (rubber boots over the joints) or are we talking about the common 87-01 'open knuckle' D30?

Three bolts are SO your friend, keep them in the Jeep kit. It really is the gentlest way to do this rough job. If you prep the surfaces, future trips in there should be really smooth.
 
it is the open style on my 96xj. problem is all the parts stores who would have the metric bolts needed are closed. I'll do some more digging but this project may have to sit on hold until tomorrow morning when the shops open back up. Thanks for the help.

by the way once I get this thing knocked loose is the whole axle shaft going to slide right out or are there more steps to getting these u joints out?
 
If you leave the 36mm off, the hub 'may or maynot' come out with the shaft. The splines on the stubshaft/hub may be just as fused as the cone.

I'd thread it back on and snug it... bring the whole thing out as a unit (gently...the inner splines gotta cross your oil seals) then do the UJs,

I 'prefer' to do UJs with the hubs off the stubs (it's a bit cumbersome assembled) but ya can do it either way.

I've found that a good hardware store is a better bet than auto parts for the metric M12x1.75 pitch bolts. IIRC I used grade 5.
 
If you have an air chisel use it. I messed up the dust shields a little, but the hubs came right off. HTH. JIM.
 
Use a heavy headed hammer not a household one. Mine is a big ball pin type hammer. Everyone says not to do this but I have pulled at least 4 axles apart with this method. You have to be very careful but it is truely the easyest. I use a 2 jaw puller. There is a chance that you will pull the hub apart but so will the slid hammer. Teh thing about the puller is that it presses the axle out of the hub at the same time. IMHO the only way the hub is going to seperate is if the shaft is rusted completely to the inner hub. Even then the center of the puler is on teh end of that shaft which is getting the full force of the puller not the inner part of the hub. just my .02
 
it seams as though I deal with this dilema on a weekly basis as I am allways regearing someones jeep. I have done several of these without any problems.

PB blaster, WD-40, some type of penitrant helps. Woody has a good solution but it is too much effort for me.
I use a brass or copper hammer so that the strike is softened but the blow still drives it.
I swing in from all sides catching the corner of the wheel flange. as you work it from side to side then it will loosen on you.
The chisel is more of a last resort because it can mark the surface.
 
I used woody's method utilizing 3 sacrificial bolts from the hardware this morning and everything came apart great. No damage to the wheel flanges or marred up surfaces anywhere. Took it out for a test run and no more squeaks when turning!!!!!!! Thanks to all for the help and guidance! Happy Jeeping!
 
younggun96 said:
I used woody's method utilizing 3 sacrificial bolts from the hardware this morning and everything came apart great. No damage to the wheel flanges or marred up surfaces anywhere. Took it out for a test run and no more squeaks when turning!!!!!!! Thanks to all for the help and guidance! Happy Jeeping!
Click to expand...

Glad it worked out for you! It isn't my method...MacGyvr turned me on to it years ago while I was having a fit of destruction.
 
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