Rear half shafts removal, Explorer 2004

[fastkurve]

So, it been a while since my first post but I finalized the whole thing today.

Ended up removing the halfshaft by using a drift against the back of the CV and hammered it out. Got the differential out from the truck, change the oil seals for the latest version ones and change the open unit for an Auburn LSD.

Get everything back in, road test it and worked Ok, no oil leak, no whinning, no nothing.

And I finally got a locked rear end

It been a quite straight forward job, but many tools were required, without them, I would probably ended up having the job finished by a shop.

To remove the old oil seals on the differential housing, you need a three legs puller, mines were totally stuck in their mating bore. To change the differential itself, I had a home made case spreader done. Even with the case spreaded by .030" (max allowed by the Ford manual), the differential was still tight. I pulled it from the housing with a knocker puller instead of using a pry bar against the aluminium housing. Also you need a puller to remove the halfshaft mating spline from wheel hub.

Also have to use a dial indicator to check the backlash before removal and after install. Had to use bearing and seals drivers to install them without damaging them.

At the end, it is a gratifying job for myself. I was told by a mechanic that replacing a differential into the IRS was a heck of a job. At the least, it is a job over the average on the difficulty meter.

I'm glad having tackling it down by myself.

 

[Pontisteve]

I would recommend using a 1x1 block of wood instead of a metal tool, to tap on the axle tripod, when removing the cv axle. You don't want to bang that up.

I tried a 3 leg puller, connected to a slide hammer and extension, to get the axle seal out at first. It seemed to mostly just bend the old seal in the 3 contact places. On the second side, I just got a very very small flathead screwdriver, and worked the head inbetween the seal and the housing by lightly tapping it with a hammer. Once I did this in several spots, I was able to move a larger flathead screwdriver in instead. At that point, the seal popped out pretty easy. You do want to be careful not to damage the aluminum rear end housing though!

I just found out that my truck doesn't have a posi rear end in it either. What a crock! So my 4wd is more like 3wd. Although, with traction control, I can't say I've ever had any times the truck has failed me. I've also never really pushed it, or even towed a boat.

How does your truck react now, with the auburn posi installed? Any difference?

 

[fastkurve]

Well, I did not have the opportunity to "really" try it but from the gravel road test I did, it is already a lot better. Instead of spinning like nuts on one wheel, the truck sit on its rear end and ended up spinning for approx 5-8 feet, at both wheels of course.

You can feel it pushing hard

I did not like to use a metal drift to push the CV out of the pumpkin, but in my case, using a wood drift simply did not transmit enough power to dislodge it from the pumpkin.

 

[ctrucke]

I used a 2x4 and a BFH. Worked good for me.

 

[David Chance]

I'm not sure if anyone is still responding to this thread or not but I have a question for this group.
I have a 2005 Mercury Mountaineer 4.0L AWD. The rear passenger side half shaft to differential is leaking. I was told this is a common issue and I need to replace to two piece lip seal with the new one piece seal. Everything went well with the disassembly but I can not remove the half shaft from the differential. Before I started the project I went to the dealership and asked the mechanic how to proceed. He told me to pound something off with a screw driver and discard it. I guess I didn’t pay attention close enough.
Anyways I’ve tried the fore mentioned thread recommendations of tapping with a 1 x 1 x 8 inch wood pieces between the have shaft and the dif housing. All this did was create tooth picks. I tried tapping the half shaft with a punch and hammer, nothing. I tried prying on it with my crow bar, nothing. I pulled on the half shaft assembly but all this did was extend my CV boots and pull the internal joints apart.

I noticed in my dealership replacement part package there was a brass c-clip. I know when I get the shaft off I’ll find out where it goes. Can anyone tell me more about this before I rip the half shaft off?
How can I get the half shaft out of the rear dif with out destroying more then I have to?

 

[David Chance]

Here's the TSB Ford has listed for this issue across many of the vehicles.
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/kennyz1963/2008-07-16_200342_tsb06-22-05.pdf

 

[Pontisteve]

David, I did this job on both sides of my 03 explorer. I bought all sorts of tools that ended up not being necessary, and really took my time playing with this whole project, learning a few things along the way about some stuff I hadn't worked on before. I can tell you with certainty, every aspect of it.

Along the way, I replaced my rear brake rotors and pads, rear E-brake shoes and hardware, rear axle seals (the TSB mentioned), outer cv axle dust seals, rear hub and wheel bearings, gear lube, and every other damn thing.

Here's what I discovered: The brake rotor acts as a brake drum for the e-brake shoes. The e-brake shoes, when taken apart, were nothing but chunks of rust, dust, and some rusty lining-less metal strips that used to be shoes. The big axle nut is metric, not standard, and I've listed its size in here somewhere. The axle clip is called a circlip. It's an out-of-round C-shaped clip that snaps over a groove at the rear-end end of the cv axle. It's job is to somewhat snap into another groove inside the rear end housing. The circlip is rounded on it's edges, so it can (with a little persuasion) be popped in and out of these grooves. It will stay on the cv axle when you pop it out. You cannot pull the cv axle, or it will just stretch apart until it breaks the joints inside. You MUST PUSH the axle out. There isn't a perfect angle for this, but standing under the car and facing out towards the wheel you're working on, at an angle coming from slightly in front and below the rear end housing, you need to pound on the back side of the inner tripod housing of the cv axle. Pound towards the wheel's direction. Think of it like this: The axle is just "stuck" in the rear end a little, and a good whack from behind will pop it out of the rear end.

I certainly hope that you have already pulled the big axle nut off before trying to make toothpicks. Some are more stubborn than others. Mine actually weren't that bad to pop out. I didn't feel like I was about the destroy the axle or anything. But they didn't fall out either.... it took a good little tap with a block of wood roughly 1.5 x 1.5 x 8, with a baby sledge hammer. If you use a regular hammer, there won't be enough weight behind it, and the head will be smaller, and the next result will probably be toothpicks. A baby sledge is roughly the size of a hammer, but with a head that's 3 times bigger, maybe 2.5" round by 5" wide. It weighs a good bit, and will give you the inertia you need to pop out that c-clip. If I recall correctly, you probably need to have the rear spindle assembly pretty loose before you start trying to take the axle out, so the axle has somewhere to go.

You'll also find:

The rear end gear lube has a TSB that says to upgrade to 75w140 synthetic. Some vehicles have a posi and need the posi additive, and some don't. You'll have to check your rear axle code in the door jamb sticker, and look it up on this site, to see if you have a posi an need the additive.

The new axle seal is a 1 piece that gets tapped into the rear end housing. You'll have to remove the half of the old 2-piece seal that is currently pressed onto the cv axles. The only good way to install this seal is with the Lisle tool mentioned in the TSB you posted. I did use a 1x1x24 piece of wood and I screwed an aluminum bearing race driver to the end of it. I made toothpicks, and swore the whole time I did it. The Lisle tool is basically a perfect-sized bearing/seal driver, with a real long extension handle that will reach right thru that big hole in the frame and come out the side where you can actually get a good whack at it with the baby sledge. You need to make SURE that the new seal is tapped in really really good. The specs in the instructions that came with the seal kit say it can't really have ANY gap between the seal and the rear end housing. This is true, since the back side of the new seal has a silicone bead on it that seals it to the rear end housing. Mine don't leak, so I guess they work well.

I found the dust seal on the other end of my cv axle was nothing but a rusty ring. This dust seal cost me $7 each from Ford, and the seal the cv axle into the back side of the spindle, which would keep water away from the rear hub bearing. This is a good idea to make sure this seal is good and not rusted or missing. Mine was so rusted, I thought it was just junk built up against the back side of the outer tripod, until I was able to use a small screwdriver to separate it from the tripod.

When removing the ball joint and outer tie rod end, whack the side of these components with a baby sledge, and use penetrating oil. Trying to whack them straight up and out just doesn't work as good as sideways, which basically shakes the things loose. And DO NOT pry against the boots with a pickle fork. There is nothing under the boots for the fork to actually work against, therefore you damage the boots every time. On the tie rod boot, that doesn't give you much of anything to work with, but that's what you have to deal with.

You don't even want to know about pressing in hub bearings.

 

[David Chance]

Pontisteve, Thanks for all the the really good information from a person that's been there done that. It sounds like with a little more perseverance I could have popped the half shaft out. I just didn't want to break any thing so I was going cautious.
I will try this later today and post my outcome.

 

[Pontisteve]

Those circlips stick out of the groove pretty good, but have a rounded edge. If you hit it hard enough, the circlip gets compressed into the groove and out comes the axle. I think you just literally need a bigger hammer. Something heavy, like a baby sledge. And maybe some higher quality wood. Hit the inner tripod from the rear end side, at as much of an angle towards the wheel as you can muster.

 

[David Chance]

Thanks for the advice. It all goes back to high school physics, F=MA. I just needed a bigger hammer. I did not have a baby sledge so I wacked another wood 1x1x8 with a big sledge on the torpid of the half shaft and out she popped.
Removing the old seal was a little challenging. I carefully inserted a tire iron in the OD of the old seal and popped it right out without damaging anything. (I was very happy)
The next challenge was re-inserting the new seal into the dif housing with out damaging it. To do this I reassembled the hub and fed a 4 foot x 1 inch iron bar through to the dif. Then I carefully set the new seal centered in place. Next to protect the lip of the new seal from the crushing force I was about to apply:
- I cut a puck out of an old white kitchen cutting board (~1/4" thick Derlin I think) just larger in diameter then the new seal.
- I covered it with a clean leather work glove to again protect the new seal.
- I centered the new seal & the Derlin puck wrapped with a clean leather gove in place, centered the iron bar in place.
- And my wife gave it a wack. Actually it took 3 wack to seat it in place good.

 

[Pontisteve]

That's better than what I did... I screwed an aluminum bearing/race driver to the end of a 1x board and beat the other end with a bfh. I made some toothpicks, but did eventually get it in there. After it was good and installed, I gently tapped it up close with a small hammer, going in a circular pattern, just to make sure she went all the way snug up against the rear end housing. The instructions were rather strict about just how tight that had to be, so I figured it was important. It actually is supposed to start squishing out that orange silicone bead somewhat ... just barely.... out of the outer diameter of the seal. It worked great, but if I had to do it over again, I would buy the stupid Lisle installer tool. Looks like it could come in handy for other "remote" jobs like that as well. It also doubles as a bearing and seal driver both. I think if you were to install new axle bearings in the rear end's cv axle tubes, it would be a must have.

To get the old seal out, I think I actually used a seal puller attachment on my slide hammer. It didn't work that great, as it tried to pull just the portion of the seal (the size of the puller attachment) out in about 3 places. But after mangling it outward enough, it finally capitulated. The instructions warn not to get too crazy with prying out the old seal using leverage against the rear end itself, because you could break off, or distort, the sealing surface for the seal. Some sort of solidly adjustable 3-finger seal remover attachment would be ideal to use with a slide hammer.

That baby sledge is a handy tool to have. It's sheer weight just allows it to more easily do things like this job than hard whacks with a small hammer. With wood, that means less toothpicks! Glad you got it. See what I mean about the circlip now?

 

[mikeinri]

This is a great thread guys. One quick tip that I picked up this weekend starting my hub job:

For the trailing link, use a pickle fork not to pry, but to whack. Put the tines of the fork around the trailing link, and run the handle behind the hub, toward the front of the truck. Then, hit the handle with the mini sledge, and you will be actually applying pressure in the direction that the trailing link needs to go (toward the rear of the truck).

That idea about the upper arm (hit it sideways) sounds like a good idea. I didn't try that and had all kinds of problems. I figured out another neat trick after many hours of frustration (over two days)...

Remove the trailing link and lower arm bolt. Then, flip the knuckle assembly upward, rotating on the upper ball joint, as you remove the axle from the hub. After the axle is free, cover it with a towel. Then, rotate the knuckle assembly around the ball joint axis such that it turns inside-out (the wheel lug bolts will be facing inward toward the differential). You can then look into the pinch bolt portion of the knuckle, and just below the bottom of the ball joint stud is a small area into which you can place a screwdriver and pry the stud out of the knuckle. Assuming you've opened up the pinch joint, and especially if you've applied liberal lube, it should pop right out.

Hope this helps someone.

Mike

 

[Pontisteve]

Thats a good idea about spinning the knuckle around. The reason the ball joint stud doesn't just pop right out of the knuckle is not so much because of the pinching from the pinch bolt (because you already removed the pinch bolt). It's because of corrosion. Use a lot of PB Blaster in the pinch bolt hole (made much easier with the suggestion of turning the knuckle around), and whack the side of the upper control arm with a baby sledge. Note: I said hit the knuckle earlier, but I really meant to say hit the control arm on it's side. It's the "shock" that breaks the corrosion free more so than the blunt force of it being hit. The combo of shock and pb blaster will free it. I suggest spraying the PB blaster in and leaving it sit for a few hours, then spray it again and hit the control arm.

Be careful about whacking on that rear tire rod arm. You could bend it, ruining the alignment. I actually used my pickel fork to pry it away from the knuckle, while I smacked it some with the sledge (for shock effect). Different pickle fork length and sizes will act differently here. There was definitely not much real leverage to work with in my case, but a bigger fork may have cured that. Just NEVER use the pickle fork under the tie rod or ball joint boots, because there is nothing there to pry on, and you'll ruin the boot.

You might also try slightly prying the pinch apart some with a big screwdriver or pry bar. That might help open it up a bit more. Mostly, use PB Blaster!

If you do use the pickle fork and a hammer, I would suggest trying to use it as close to the tie rod end as possible, and not further up the rod. It'll bend easier towards it's center.

 

[mikeinri]

Good points on where to use the pickle fork for the trailing link. We got one side out by prying and hitting the arm as you described, but the other side needed to be persuaded by hitting the pickle fork as I described. I see your point about bending the link arm, that would be bad. We did hit it as closely as possible to the end to try to avoid that problem.

For the upper arm, I had so much PB Blaster in there, it was ridiculous. And, it sat overnight. And, I used some good-sized cold chisels to open up the pinch. Still, the upper arm just wouldn't let go until I spun it around and was able to pry on the actual stud. Didn't take much effort at all once I was able to put the pressure on the right part.

Mike

 

[Pontisteve]

It's really weird. You can load it up with pb blaster, and smack the heck out of the upper control arm in an upward direction, and it won't budge. The ball joint stud just can't be forced out. Yet smack the control arm sideways even casually, and the vibration of it shatters the corrosion and it pops right out. All pinch bolts are like that. Like a chinese finger trap I guess... not force, so much as strategy.

The tie rod stud itself isn't just a straight shaft. It's actually tapered, and halfway down it, there is a big groove in it. The pinch bolt actually slides half thru the knuckle and half thru this groove in the ball joint stud, holding the stud from popping out so long as the pinch bolt is in place. The corrosion is building up around the portion of the groove that the bolt is not currently thru, making it a nice cavity for rust to build up on and cause it to get stuck coming out. Smacking it sideways with a sledge breaks this corrosion free I guess. If you can find where the groove is, by looking at the pinch bolt, concentrate your PB blaster in that groove, and that will help get it exactly where it needs to go. Of course, spray it everywhere else on the ball joint stud you can as well.

Once you get it out, you'll be amazed at just how little corrosion is in that groove, how almost nothing is on the rest of the ball joint stud, and just how stuck it can get if you don't know exactly how to deal with it. This thread should save other enthusiasts a ton of time.

 

[mikeinri]

That all sounds correct to me. I think I was afraid to hit it sideways, for fear of hurting something. Who knows why I would have thought that, especially with all the hammering and prying we were doing anyway...

Mike

 

[gotDIRT??]

Very usefull thread i'm in the middle of doing rear bearing and diff seal....

good tips, i', gonna have to give these a try......

 

[Pontisteve]

I never did the pinion seal, but I did the rear axle seals (there's 1 piece updates from Ford), the CV dust seals, etc. One thing I would have done differently to make my life easier is to have bought the Lisle brand (ford) axle seal driver.

Busting the control arms loose was a question of soaking them with PB for some time, and smacking the pinch clamp area of the spindle sideways with a mini sledge. The trick is to "shock" them loose, not so much to beat them out.

 

[tntgrove]

did you have any trouble putting the short shaft back in?

 

[Pontisteve]

I don't recall having any trouble with reassembly. It is noteworthy that you are supposed to discard and purchase new, those big axle nuts that go on the end of the axles. I did not do that, I reused the old ones. But I have heard you can buy new ones in the aftermarket as well as from Ford. I haven't had any trouble so far with my choice, and am unclear why Ford recommends replacement of those nuts.

With the new axle seals (if I recall correctly) comes new circlips. You put the new clips on and pop the axle back in, and it locks into place without much drama.