Removing Drive Shaft From hub - Saxperience

don55 · 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

Nij · 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).

don55 · 16th January 2009, 08:50

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

Mystic^p · 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

Nij · 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.

Nij · 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)

don55 · 16th January 2009, 08:57

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

Nij · 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

Mystic^p · 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

Nij · 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.

MR_N · 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

don55 · 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.

MR_N · 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

don55 · 16th January 2009, 09:55

yeh, he is going to get some today

MR_N · 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

don55 · 16th January 2009, 10:06

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

Steve · 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

MR_N · 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

AlexB^p · 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

Mystic^p · 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.