How to remove rear trailing arm and hub?

[mrflames]

Hi there, hope someone can help...

I'm a novice but not going to let that stop me from having a go at replacing my right rear wheel bearings. At the very least I need to remove the trailing arm assembly (with hub) to take to a mechanic as the car's not driveable.

I've removed the wheel, brake backing plate, brake line, suspension bolt and the two trailing arm bolts (one in line with the front and rear wheels and one toward the middle of the car). The boots are still on, and when I went to tap out the shaft retaining pins, all that came out was dust – hollow all the way through so it seems they weren't installed.

I think I just need to disconnect the axle shaft to remove the whole shebang.

How do I go about this? I've got the whole trailing arm assembly loose and flopping around, but not sure what to do next. I've given the axle shaft a pull from the driveshaft end, then pulled at the hub, I've tapped the splined shaft at the hub end, but nothing's shifting much.

What can I try next?

Thanks!
Jono

[El_Freddo]

It seems that your CV shaft has rusted to the stub axles. Its always going to be a painful job to get them off. Try spraying plenty of WD40 or the like in the retaining pin holes. Also at the diff make sure there's no left over pin in there as the stub axle is hollow in the centre, this can allow the retaining pin to spread open and become stuck in there. The hub stub axle is solid so if there's nothing in there it'll be rust/mud/crap holding it all together.

Not easy to get it off, just time consuming and frustrating.

If you're replacing the bearings yourself, what's the mechanic got to do with it? The hardest bit is getting that nut off the rear of the hub. I made a tool to do that job and it works a treat. The bearing outters can be hammered out and the new casings gently tapped back in with a block of wood and hammer/mallet.

Just make sure everything is clean and that you pack the grease into the bearings themselves, using the palm of your hand to force the grease between the rollers. Use high temp grease and replace the seals on the hub (inner and outter). All of this can be done with the swing arm on the subi - but the rear diff would need to be dropped out to get the drive shaft off the stub axle...

Otherwise you could drop the whole assembly to a mechanic to do the job for you. This will mean that you just have to put the swing arm back in.

Cheers

Bennie

[AlpineRaven]

Is that Liberty or L series?
Cheers
AP

[steptoe]

you are lucky not having the spring pin. I have a diff that has got my pin punch stuck fast and half a pin stuck too....diff just sits out there in disgrace

[mrflames]

Thanks for the replies. It's a 91 L-series 4WD wagon. Hopefully the mechanic has nothing to do with the process but if I get really stuck with the bearings I'll drop the whole arm off at the local wrencher.

I'm thinking now (haven't been home for a couple of days so can't check yet) that it still might have the pins in. I was expecting to see a solid pin and now that I think of it I saw what looked like a very thin hollow sleeve in the retaining pin holes. I didn't take that for a spring pin as I've never seen one before! To the hardware store to buy a decent pin punch...

Next time I'm doing some hammering under my car I'm taking it to the car wash for a high pressure spray of the underside first. Wed night's dirt tasted like the grampians, with a hint of flinders ranges and a dash of fresh kangaroo island sand!

Cheers,
Jono

[TOONGA]

yep you need a 5mm or 6mm punch from memory I have a stainless bolt I use thats about 100mm long hard enough not to bend soft enough not to damage the pin

no need to take the diff out once you get those pins out it should be easy enough to pull the shaft off the diff the next bit of fun is geting the shaft out of the bearings

you need a big soft face hammer (copper or brass) a couple of good hits on the shaft (where the big nut goes)will knock it free you can leave the nut on intially if you are worried that the thread will get damaged

or you can put a drift into the hole in the shaft centre and knock it out that way (I don't like doing it that was as I hit my hand alot)

then you are free to undo the ring holding the bearing casing in at the back

good luck

look at this thread for a bit more info

showthread.php?t=14413&highlight=rear+wheel+bearing

TOONGA

[discopotato03]

The pins you are talking about are not solid , they are called a roll pin and are like reasonably thick sheet steel rolled in on itself to form a seamed tube . They are slightly tapered on the ends so they can be tapped into place to refit them . The idea of having a seam is so that they have spring tension on the hole through the stub axle at either end so they don't fall out . Their sole purpose is to stop the couplings moving sideways on the stub shafts , any end float travel is taken up by the coupling joints .

They are most easily removed with the correct pin punch and you don't have to hit it real hard generally .

A .

[fredsub]

i'll 2nd that you need the correct pin punch, first time I needed one, cut the blade off an old screw driver,yeah that worked real well NOT!:mrgreen:

With the axle shaft, pin out, I really wish you the best luck seriously.

I'm assuming this is Lseries ? well had the same problem years ago,
bought the biggest FBH and still no go. Went to the mechs, they used oxy to heat it up, still didn't go, just stuffed it up more;)
In the end the mech knew someone wrecking an Lseries, so got the diff from that.
That axle probably never separated since factory.

If you do get it off, put antiseize on it before puting it back.

Good Luck.

[El_Freddo]

Mr flames, when you knock those pins out, do it from the side of the CV cup that is tapered in. The other side is flat and I've never had any luck pushing them out from the flat side. Don't know why, but it works for me to knock them from the tapered side.

I now use two cable ties for each pin hole. They are checked regularly and there's no chewing out occuring. I used to run the same on my welded diff without a problem, it makes for super easy driveshaft removal!

And here's the tool I made to remove that rear nut in the hub, you have to hammer out the stub axle first to use this tool:



With the removed nut sitting on the end:



In use:



^ Hope that helps out a bit

you are lucky not having the spring pin. I have a diff that has got my pin punch stuck fast and half a pin stuck too....diff just sits out there in disgrace

Easy fix, and you'll still be able to use the shaft too: Snap/grind/cut anything that's protruding from the pin hole. Grab grinder with a new disc, cutting or grinding it doesn't really matter, a grinding disc is what I used and I think it'd be a lot easier.

Basically you have to grind down along the pin hole of the CV cup. Don't let it get too hot or you may start to cook the grease in the CV joint. Aim is to grind down to the diff's stub axle without grinding into it too far. Do this both sides and you'll be able to get the shaft off. The diff stub axle is hollow to get to the retaining bolt. This will allow you to mash out anything that's stuck in there. It will take some time to do but you'll have a perfectly good diff in the end. As for the Grinded CV shaft, using some wire or a pair of cable ties it's still good to go. I used one like this for a while when the welded diff was in No breakages:



^ Not the greatest pic, but hopefully you can see the section that was ground out to get the shaft off, both sides are the same.

Cheers

Bennie