Removing Drive Shaft From hub

16th January 2009, 08:41

hey

i am removing the front suspension on my girlfriends car to repair and replace most parts.

i dont really want to pull the drive shaft out of the gear box, is there any way in which i can leave it in suitue and remove the hub.

if there is how do it do it, and how do i relase the hub to remove the drive shaft

thank you

Don

16th January 2009, 08:47

Yes mate, you need to remove the big hub nut (IIRC 34mm) then just lower the wishbone and pull the strut out (whilst pushing back on the drive shaft).

16th January 2009, 08:50

doing that will it just slid out?
does the hub nut hold the drive shaft in?

16th January 2009, 08:53

Yeh, hubnut holds the the shaft onto the hub. If its a saxo your gf drives the hubnut is a real pig!

Most other cars use a nut and a little metal pin (i forget the name of this arrangemet now but its an obvious one

) & arent so bad to remove.

Should be able to slip the shaft off the hub no probs onces the nuts off though, you'll need to support the shaft somehow afterwards, cant have it just handing out the box

16th January 2009, 08:53

the hub nut hold the drive shaft onto the hub.

you would think that the drive shaft would slide out, but i have left one 'hanging' for over a hour whilst getting spares and it didnt fall out.
Just place it in a place where it wont come out, or better, get someone you trust to hold it.

16th January 2009, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystic

Yeh, hubnut holds the the shaft onto the hub. If its a saxo your gf drives the hubnut is a real pig!

Most other cars use a nut and a little metal pin (i forget the name of this arrangemet now but its an obvious one

) & arent so bad to remove.

Castle nut mate, saxos have knock nuts (barstewards they are)

16th January 2009, 08:57

yeh she does drive a saxo, has anyone done this before on a saxo?

16th January 2009, 09:02

yes mate, all the time, last time was sunday, and i will be doing it again this weekend and prob the weekend after lol.

i got a few cars to fix lol

16th January 2009, 09:09

The saxo nut has a 'collar' on it which gets 'staked' to the shaft. i.e. You hammer the collar of the nut into 2 grooves on the shaft using a chisel/screw driver

You'll need a combination of chisels/hard tipped scredrivers and a hammer to unstake the nut & probably 2 new nuts to replace em with afterwards. Its a totally neanderthal process to remove the saxos hubnuts

16th January 2009, 09:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mystic

The saxo nut has a 'collar' on it which gets 'staked' to the shaft. i.e. You hammer the collar of the nut into 2 grooves on the shaft using a chisel/screw driver

You'll need a combination of chisels/hard tipped scredrivers and a hammer to unstake the nut & probably 2 new nuts to replace em with afterwards. Its a totally neanderthal process to remove the saxos hubnuts

glad to see we agree....i hate doing it.

16th January 2009, 09:21

had mine off soo many times mate, not that difficult once you get used to it.
firstly (once the car is up and wheel is off) You see a nut holding in the middle of the brake disc, get a small punch and hammer and knock the two sides out as they would have been knocked in to stop in coming undone. Now get a socket on it with a big bar preferably as they are usualy done up tight, you may need a friend to push the brake pedal at this point to stop it spinning. Once thats loose leave it on for now and come back to it later.
You will need to undo the brake caliper and hold that out the way with some wire etc, the trackrod ends and droplinks may give you some difficulty as they are prone to just spinning as you undo them, a good trick is to hold it tight with some mole grips to stop it spinning.
once they are done you will need to take out the pin at the bottom of your strut that it connected to the front wishbone i think, and lever the wish bone out of the strut.
Now go under the bonnet and start to loosen the 3 bolts at the top of the strut but remember which order they are in because they have to go back in the same (there are 4 holes but only 3 bolts). ONLY LOOSEN THESE at this point. its to give you a bit of play with the strut soyou can remove the drive shaft easier. Now go back to that nut we loosened earlier, take it off and you'll see the driveshaft going through the hub, now dont just pull the strut as you may pull the driveshaft out the gearbox and that means alot of mess. Get a rubber mallet (or a hammer with a rag around the end, just to prevent any damage). and as you gently pull the strut give the drive shaft a little tap, this should free it up. Now get that friend back, and as you are supporting the strut (its a bit heavy) they will need to totaly undo them bolts under the bonnet at the strut top. vwalah! its off.
Sorry for the long description just thought id write alittle guide to doing it all rather than just the nut incase you were confused.

out of interest why are you removing them?

edit - just saw you want to repare stuff on them, what kind of bits? If you get loads of trouble doing it then pm me tomorrow, i should be in and i can give some advice, plus im only in fareham. so if you need help i may be able to lend a hand.

I know theres a sticky on this but if anyone would like a longer more indepth one of this than i will gladly do it to be another sticky

16th January 2009, 09:44

Hi

its not don its his gf he is at work and i have access to comp so he asked me to make a thread to help him this afternoon.

Thank you all for your help he seems to think he nows what he is doing now.

were replacing the the dampers, ball joints and track rod ends.

16th January 2009, 09:52

remember not to take springs off without spring compressors. i know it sounds stupid me saying that but it does happen, with nasty results

16th January 2009, 09:55

yeh, he is going to get some today

16th January 2009, 10:00

quick one, do you have access to an air compressor and air ratchet. Its not essential but without one it took nearly all day to remove/dismantle/rebuild and refit both struts. where as it took about an hour to get both off and 30 mins to totaly dismantle both struts with one

16th January 2009, 10:06

luckly we do he is a truck tyre fitter so we have access to all his eqiupment.

16th January 2009, 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by don55

hey

i am removing the front suspension on my girlfriends car to repair and replace most parts.

i dont really want to pull the drive shaft out of the gear box, is there any way in which i can leave it in suitue and remove the hub.

if there is how do it do it, and how do i relase the hub to remove the drive shaft

thank you

Don

take the driveshaft nut off, seperate it from the wishbone, put a bucket under the driveshaft where it meets the hub, tapp the shaft with a mallet to release it from the hub, keep the shaft pushed into the gearbox.

Then rest it on the bucket.
Should do the job nicely.

Covered it in my suspension fitting guide

16th January 2009, 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by don55

luckly we do he is a truck tyre fitter so we have access to all his eqiupment.

thats good you should have no trouble then, but if you do feel free to pm me.
also look at steve_vts guide

16th January 2009, 10:19

best way iv found is to pop the centre cap ot an alloy (unless you have vtr/s rims then this fails epically)
and get a breaker bar on the hubnut with a 30mm socket
youll struggle to pull the car through the handbrake so itll just release the nut

once its off jack up the car and as steve has said
pop the wishbone off and tap it out

16th January 2009, 11:43

VTR/S rims you just take the wheel off & put 2 wheel bolts back in2 the hub & then run a strong bar/pole between the 2 bolts & against the ground and then use your breaker bar on the hub nut so that the pole is pressing against the ground to keep the hub still. Thats if your doing it solo (like me

)

Otherwise just have someone keep the brakes on.

16th January 2009, 11:59

that's a good idea tbh
I'd just be worried about bending the wheelbolts

16th January 2009, 12:14

Doubt you could bend them tbh, i've done it that way for years without any mishaps so far

16th January 2009, 12:28

yea there pretty sturdy
but I worry about things like that lol

can't really see it doing damage tbh but I'm allways cautious

16th January 2009, 15:01

cheers for all the help you lot, really appreciate it.

jsut got in from work and about to tackle it, jsut having a microwave meal

16th January 2009, 15:11

I've been sitting here all day trying to think of excuses not to go out there and do just about the same task to soften my shocks.

Still havent come up with an excuse but i've been up since 8am and not even seen the car yet

16th January 2009, 19:08

ok done all for today.

drop links were fucked both sides at the bottom, totally perished boot and slacker than your grans piss flaps.

both bottom ball joints seem ok, so im leaving them.

wheel bearings ? how much play should there be, with the disk off there was enough movement to feel it, i took the covers off and there was very little, very dry grease in there. worth re packing, or replacing ???

front wishbone mounts are both poly as i did these last month.

rear wishbone mounts are fine also.

track rod ends seem ok, but have perished boots, so there being replaced and tracking done sat pm.

dampers

were totaly destroyed, the near side strut was full of oil, and the damper had no inbound resistance. the offside

was even worse, it was full, i mean full of oil in the strut, there was no rebound or inbound resistance and was emplty of oil. i have two old but nearly new ones from my old vtr that i have fitted.

so im pretty pleased with what i have found out, think the dampers are the main problem.

so replaced list -

dampers
drop links
trackrod ends
front wishbone bushes

not sure on wheel bearings though, im not sure how they are meant to feel new.

any suggestions would be great. and cheers for all the help.

16th January 2009, 19:20

FUCK, jsut been looking at wheel bearings, there a sealed unit, which means i have opened it up and removed the internals.

not good, guess i will need to press a whole new unit it now anyway, as i doubt re-greasing and putting back together will last to long.

16th January 2009, 19:52

lol yeah u do have to replace now :/

16th January 2009, 19:55

balls

i was gona try putting it back together, but i left the seals in some thinners and they have vanished lol

can i beat out the remainder of the outer casing ?

16th January 2009, 20:00

u need ur hub our first tho. and then u can yeah. dont put them back together it doesnt work mate sadly.. might as wel change em with wat else u have

16th January 2009, 21:25

yer hub is off. im a little confused about what part is what, ill post some pics up in the morning,

16th January 2009, 21:26

ok mate

16th January 2009, 21:27

well, the hub is out of the strut, but it has what looks like one of the bearing covers on it, does that come away from the hub and splines

16th January 2009, 21:29

post a pic up tomorrow and ill tell u excatly wat u need to know

16th January 2009, 22:03

pics incoming

16th January 2009, 22:11

ok so is this the inner of the bearing

and is this part of the bearing stuck to the hub ?

16th January 2009, 22:41

that is part the bearing on the hub u need it off. dont damage the hub tho..

and yea know the bearing shell out.. best wat is geting some thing big and circle to sit on the case that u can get a good hit with a hammer.

hope this helps

17th January 2009, 09:28

what way does it go out, down from the way im looking ? towards the wheel ?

17th January 2009, 12:41

yeah as they sud be a lip at the top its pressed against if im right. they can be tuff to get out if u aint got the tools mind. Heat it up if u can

17th January 2009, 19:07

went to work and set up the press, wondered how tight it was so with a 44mm impact socket i beat the insaide race, and it all popped out, winnar

then GSF gave me the wrong part, cocks

17th January 2009, 19:08

glad u sorted it bud