I need some advice! I'm changing my CV joint, however, being that I live in the rust belt, the joint is not coming off so easily. I've read where many have said if the cv joint is rusted to remove the intermediate shaft first. Just so happens, when I removed the clamp that holds the intermediate joint in place, the intermediate shaft will not come dislodge.

I've blasted the intermediate shaft with penetrating oil and have hit it with a pry bar and hammer and it still will not dislodge. My question to anyone that has completed this job is can heat be applied? Will the heat damage the oil pan?

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Smack it with a sledge. It'll budge. Dead serious. It's just seized. Full disclosure; I have not performed this job on this car. I have, however, performed it on plenty of others over the last 20 years.

 

Thank you for the response. Are saying to strike the flower portion of the CV joint with the sledge hammer? I tried using the pry bar in conjunction with a 5lb sledge hammer. I'm wondering if the problem is I'm not getting enough leverage, considering I'm working off of jack stands.

 

I have no idea. The assembly needs a shock, however you want to safely deliver it.

 

Understandable! I appreciate it.

 

Any updates? Did you bust it loose?

 

I tried and it did not move. I even placed a chain with a slode hammer to it and it did not budge. I'm almost positive that the bearing is the culprit. There's little to no room to maneuver, especially since im working off of jack stands.

 

Post a pic.

 

 

So it sounds like you have it removed from the hub, and now the shaft is stuck in the transfer case? If this is correct, I'm not aware of any special procedure to remove the shaft from the transfer case. Similar to my front wheel drive Nissan Maxima, the CV axles just slide in and out of the transmission, in your case, the transfer case. It should just pop out. I'd just yank on that sucker until it busts loose, I wouldn't care about the old shaft as it's trash.

Am I on the same page here or am I way off?

 

Correct! The axle is removed from the hub. However, the intermediate shaft is stuck in the oil pan housing and will not budge. It appears that many have damaged their oil housing, while trying to dislodge the shaft.. I definitely don't want to be that guy.

Room underneath the vehicle is very limited. I've pulled on the axle with a slide hammer and still cannot budge this thing. The bearing on the intermediate shaft is definitley the catalyst. I'm not sure if heat can be applied to help the process.

 

Snap rings and clips. I didn't watch the whole thing. I would get the WIS document.

 

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I have the WIS document. It refers to a special tool that costs and arm and a leg. Also, the WIS doc never takes into account the good ole rust belt.

I just reviewed the video. It appears that these folks dropped the rack and pinon just to remove the axle; definitely not in the WIS guide. Still, I can understand why they did it.

 

I'm all out of ideas without being there to help.

 

All good! Thank you for all of thr advice. Since the weather is getting very cold my way, I'm going to wait until Spring to o back at it.

 

You're going to leave us hanging for that long???? That's a forum sin!

 

Brotha if I could withstand this cold weather, I would be all in. But unfortunately, I'm not built for it!

 

Stay warm! See you in the spring.

 

I just had my intermediate shaft bearing fail, the bearing was broken in pieces, I removed the entire knuckle to provide some working space. As for removing the shaft, you first need to pull the snap ring, thats what your issue may be. The bearing is held in by a snap ring in the oil pan. After you need to clean the entire face of the oil pan where the bearing needs to slide out of with a dremel with a tiny wire wheel, this will clean the junk off of the surface to allow the bearing to slide out. Spray with wd40, you can heat with a low temp torch (like a plumbers) BUT just enough to smoke the wd40 a bit, DO NOT HEAT Much, its just to allow wd40 to get inbetween the bearing and the oil pan. Work it back and forth, it will come out. Mine had the bearing broken and I spent 2 hours cleaning it and moving it back and forth until it came out. I am getting new cv joint boots tomorrow to repack joints, I only hope the bearing failure didn't damage the differential

 

Thank you for the response. The snap ring was removed but for some reason, the shaft will not come out. Perhaps there's years of gunk holding it in place. Since I'm changing both shafts, a Mercedes tech recommended that I remove the passenger side and take a long screwdriver, tap it with a mallet and try to dislodge it that way.

The weather is starting to warm up so I may try using the screw driver route. I've sprayed so much penetrating oil that the sucker should fall out, but it's not happening. Still, I'm hoping to have good news when I go back to completing the repair.

 

So just to clarify, I assume you have already separated the cv joint axle from intermediate shaft? You just hit it on the backside of the inner cv joint, it will pop off. Afterwards I think you put on some gloves and just work it

 

Actually no! The CV Joint axle is also frozen to the shaft. When this happens, you're suppose to remove the intermediate shaft, then remove the CV joint. Rust is playing a huge factor.

I initially tried to remove the CV Joint but it wouldn't budge. This is what lead me down the intermediate shaft route.

 

Actually, that my be a good thing, with the cv axle shaft on the intermediate shaft you have something to tap on. If you have sprayed wd40 on it try working it back and forth. I would remove the ring on the inner cv joint so you can leave just the inside end on, hit that on back side in then out, it WILL eventually move. There's only so much adhesion that could have taken place, the oil pan is aluminum and the bearing is metal, they CANNOT weld together. If you end up with the inner cv joint coming off the intermediate shaft, as a last resort I would drill through the cv joint collar into the intermediate shaft and tap in a roll pin, now it won't come off and you have something to pull on. I would buy a slide hammer with a lip and tap evenly all the way around until it works free
https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...set-56505.html

 

I beat the crap out of the CV joint ptior to going down the intermediate shaft route. That sucker would not budge. This is what lead me down the intermediate shaft path. Penetrating oil was used on the cv joint and intermediate shaft with no luck. I even used a MAP torch on the CV joint and still had no luck.

A slide hammer was placed on the cv joint with a chain, however, the cv joint nor the intermediate shaft would break loose. It's still pretty cold my way. Once Spring hits, I'll be back at it again.

 

Wow, that sounds pretty bad. So here's a trick, some people know it, some don't so if you already know about this....
. When I used to have to remove front end parts on my trucks we would heat with on oxy acetylene or map torch. When somewhat hot spray wd40 or liquid blaster, the metal pulls in the oil, gets into everything. Then, heat again, liquid will burn for a few seconds, keep heating, spray again. Repeat the process several times each time try to give a few wacks with the slide hammer