Half Shafts Poblem
04-16-2018, 06:37 PM
Post: #1
Half Shafts Poblem
Hi all!

so, i finally got my hands on a OBX diff and Weir performance goodies. first of all, jack the car up, remove wheels, undo trans, diff case, brake discs and callipers, and then, chaos.

when i tried to take the left hand half shaft out, its stucked. further inspection through the drain plug hole revealed the splines on the half shaft and the inner diff gears are "jammed" on their peak points. i guess somehow the diff inner thing stopped for a second while the wheel kept turning, so its all twisted now and wont come out.

i wonder, is this a common RWD issue? has ever happened to someone here or that you know? any idea how to take it out?


PS: i was thinking about mounting the whole rear right side assembly, pull hard on the handbrake, bolt the trans back, put gearbox in R, so the diff entry and right wheel are "braked"and try to twist the left half shaft back to its position, then take it out and to a machining shop to get the splines back in shape

what you recon?
Find all posts by this user
04-17-2018, 04:17 AM
Post: #2
Half Shafts Poblem
Interesting problem Smile If I understand correctly, the axle spline has tried
to turn inside the side gear spline, but didn't quite make it. So now the
splines are jammed together with only the peaks touching.

If this is correct it indicates that either the wrong axle was installed at
some stage (zenki axle into kouki diff) or the car has done 500,000 km
and the splines just wore down.

As you suggest, it may be possible to "shock" the axle free by turning it
in the reverse direction. The diff will have a bit of restance to accelerating
suddenly even without being connected to everything else. So you could
try wedging a strong piece of hard wood (say 50 x 50 x 400 long) between
the wheel studs. Then give the free end a decent whack with a heavy
hammer. Technically, this is known as the Caveman approach Smile

Cheers... jondee86

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.
Find all posts by this user
04-17-2018, 09:08 AM (This post was last modified: 04-17-2018 09:08 AM by Ivan141.)
Post: #3
Half Shafts Poblem
I'm not quite sure how you can see the splines through the drain hole, maybe if it's an open diff in there?
Getting half shafts out is usually a big battle if they've been in there for a long time, more to do with the
amount of outer surface area on the wheel bearings. Bring a big slide hammer to the party for some percussive maintenance.

FABRICA MI DIEM, PVNC!
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
04-17-2018, 01:04 PM
Post: #4
Half Shafts Poblem
I would agree with Ivan141. Removing the axle shaft will require a BIG slide hammer. One side of my axle housing had so much rust, that I had to heat it with a torch to pull it out. Which means you will have to buy a new bearing. I found the same OEM mfgr of the bearing, but at less then 50% of the Toyota cost on-line. Dave W
Find all posts by this user
04-22-2018, 03:13 AM
Post: #5
Half Shafts Poblem
(04-17-2018 04:17 AM)jondee86 Wrote:  Interesting problem Smile If I understand correctly, the axle spline has tried
to turn inside the side gear spline, but didn't quite make it. So now the
splines are jammed together with only the peaks touching.

that is what i was trying to explain.

it was the correct diff and the correct half shafts, they are the OEM open diff and the OEM half shafts for a kouki ae86 (the diameter, spline number, etc)

i belive the "breaking the spider gears" thing came from worn pinion and diff bearings as well as pinion and ring teeth, but the wheels kept moving, so that could be the cause of that spline offset.

what i did was what i said on the PS on the first message and it made a big clonk noise, and then taking the half shaft was a piece of cake.


thanks to all of you for your fast responses, and i hope that what was a big headacke for me could be helpfull to someone at some point.

will keep you update on the obx lsd thing if there is interest!

see you!
Find all posts by this user
04-23-2018, 08:48 AM
Post: #6
Half Shafts Poblem
Never hear of that happening before. Good work solving that. Make sure to ritually destroy those old halfshafts.

FABRICA MI DIEM, PVNC!
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user
04-23-2018, 04:42 PM
Post: #7
Half Shafts Poblem
(04-22-2018 03:13 AM)AlexKTM Wrote:  
(04-17-2018 04:17 AM)jondee86 Wrote:  Interesting problem Smile If I understand correctly, the axle spline has tried
to turn inside the side gear spline, but didn't quite make it. So now the
splines are jammed together with only the peaks touching.

that is what i was trying to explain.

it was the correct diff and the correct half shafts, they are the OEM open diff and the OEM half shafts for a kouki ae86 (the diameter, spline number, etc)

i belive the "breaking the spider gears" thing came from worn pinion and diff bearings as well as pinion and ring teeth, but the wheels kept moving, so that could be the cause of that spline offset.

what i did was what i said on the PS on the first message and it made a big clonk noise, and then taking the half shaft was a piece of cake.


thanks to all of you for your fast responses, and i hope that what was a big headacke for me could be helpfull to someone at some point.

will keep you update on the obx lsd thing if there is interest!

see you!

I would be keen to hear about the obx diff. When I asked on fb there was more no then yes lol

Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk

Signature removed due to large photobucket message
Visit this user's website Find all posts by this user


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  How to fit rear wheel studs without removing the shafts? Slipangle 3 4,545 11-19-2010 10:29 PM
Last Post: Slipangle
  problem again , about leaking half shaft bearing filh 10 9,296 03-22-2009 01:03 AM
Last Post: filh
  rear axle half sharft ToFu Ben 13 10,222 09-27-2008 02:02 AM
Last Post: sergiocharged
  Rear Half Shaft axles Strobelite 13 11,487 12-07-2007 12:05 AM
Last Post: Strobelite
  Half shaft problem Mr Doricar 3 4,277 11-06-2006 11:36 AM
Last Post: jamiemirror

Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Contact Us | AEU86 | Return to Top | Return to Content | Lite (Archive) Mode | RSS Syndication