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Stubborn CV shaft

M

m1sterb0b

New member
Hello,

I've done some searching in this forum and on google for info on how to remove a stubborn CV axle from my car, and I've tried a lot of what I read, but I'm still having a VERY difficult time removing this cv axle. I have a 97 gp gt and I'm having the darnedest time removing the driver side cv axle. About 3 months ago I replaced the driver side CV axle because the one I had in there previously, that I put in about a year ago (at MOST 25k-30k miles ago), went out (got it from napa ... lesson learned: Never buy napa remanned). Anyways ... We've replaced this cv axle twice now, and had NO issues removing the old/broken ones before. We got the wheel off, we got the caliper and rotor off, we took the castle nut off the ball joint, popped it loose (have to replace the ball joints so getting 2 birds with one stone), and took a crow bar, put it behind one of the humps and gave a good push ... nothing ... we tried this for an hour or so, we tried using 2 crow bars, ended up trying 3, then tried 1 with a screw driver, tried putting 2 on, one with a large pipe over it, tried using a sledge hammer. I ended up going to autozone to rent a slide hammer, and the arms aren't long enough, even after taking off the inner cv boot, and can't find anyone that has a slide hammer with longer arms.

We've spent 6-8 hours trying to pull the darned thing out of the car. My dad is afraid that we might of messed up the transaxle because he thinks he heard a snap when we were prying on the inner cv cup to get it to come out. I'm out of ideas ... my dad wants to put the cv axle back together (after getting sand all in the axle grease) and drive it to someone and have THEM try to remove it, but I just don't have the money to do that. Does ANYONE have any other ideas on what I could possibly try to remove it?

Again, its the DRIVER side cv axle on a 1997 Pontiac grand prix gt. I believe the transaxle I have is the 4t60e. Any suggestions are very appreciated!
 


The compression clip is expecting to be jolted, not pried. Try pushing in on the axle and then giving it a quick pry/jab instead of a constant pressure.

It is also possible that the clip isn't easily going to let go at this point. There are a couple of things you can do. I have seen these work for some guys, instead of trying to get a jaw puller.
OTC Inner C.V. Joint Puller - Tools - Lighting - Work Lights
If that and a slide hammer etc fails, then the other way to get this is to take the output shaft of the trans out with the CV. Pull the passenger side axle (I crawl under and hit that inner cv from behind to pop it out.
Remove the diff to engine bracket (4 13mm bolts), then the diff cover (2 more 13mm bolts) Now you should be looking at the differential. Put a large screwdriver between the pin and shaft coming in from the driver side. Give it a couple good whacks and it should seperate. Now you can gently slide that shaft and cv out the driverside.

Hold the shaft in one hand with the cv cup aiming to the ground and beat on the cv cup to get it off. Now... put the diff cover back on. Be very careful that you see it sits 100% flush w/o any bolts in it. If it's not sitting flush tell us and I'll explain why it's not flush and how to fix the bearing behind the parking pawl. Put on the diff to eng bracket and slide that shaft back into the driverside. Make sure you put the correct end to the diff. The shaft should stop with about an inch of it sticking out of the trans. Use a block of wood and hammer to give it a good smack. It'll clip back into the diff. Now put your axles back in.

BTW you don't have to remove the brakes to pull an axle. You can unbolt just the 10mm bolt holding the brake line to the body for the extra movement you need to pull the strut back.
 
So ... we got a slide hammer, and went to town on that CV cup ... it wouldn't budge ... it wouldn't budge, then it came out ... it came out with, what my dad is calling, the stub shaft ... the part that the driver side cv cup connects to, that shaft, pulled right out ... the snap ring that holds that shaft in is still in the transmission. what do, or can, I do?
 
So you are saying that the snap ring that holds the CV shaft to the DRIVER side CV cup is still in the transmission, but the shaft and cup are both off?
 


My dad currently has the thing and is taking it to have it looked at by a neighbor, who I don't know if he knows this kinda stuff or not but he's looking at it, so I can't get a picture. The drive side cv cup has the female end on it, and it slides over an axle that is in the transmission, the snap ring is on that shaft, when the cv cup came out, its still attached to that shaft, and the shaft, about 2.5-3ft long, pulled out, and my dad says theres a snap ring that holds that in the transmission. I'm not sure if that rod goes all the way to the passenger side cv or what that hooks into, but that clip that holds that long axle thing in the transmission is still in the transmission ... when my dad gets back I'll try to get some pictures if this isn't enough!
 
Okay, so here's the deal. The guy my dad took it to apparently does know a thing or two about transaxles. They tried several things to get the cv cup off of the shaft that came out, but couldn't. Ended up putting it on a press. The way the groove was made inside the cv cup that the spring clip seated in is what caused it. They didn't bevel the edge so the spring clip was just pinching in there and couldn't compress. When putting it on the press, pulling straight, the pressure it took to take the cv cup off was enough to break the spring clip and then take a chunk off of the shaft that came out. I took a bunch of pictures, uploaded them to imgur. Here is the album link: Transmission and CV cup - Imgur
 


Holy ****....


You guys may find this amusing... But when I took my engine and trans out Saturday.. The passenger axle was being a ***** to get out.. Well me and my buddy decided to take two ropes, did a slip knot on both ends and put those around the back of the axle.. We both pulled on each rope and it popped out lol...


Just some food for thought.

Anyways, its time for you to go to the junk yard... Unless.. You would like me to send you the diff and output shaft from my car.

I don't want to separate the two so I'd sell you the whole thing, all you have to do is pull the differential out of the passenger side, and slide the whole assembly in from that side and put the axles back on.

PM me if you are interested.
 
so....you ended up with basically what I told you to do. The clip usually only does that when someone applies constant pressure to it instead of a quick jab. The clip is desiged to do what it did with constant pressure. Had you followed the rest of what I suggested, you should have been able to get it apart with a few hits. Pressing it is why you have broken parts.

Now you need an output shaft. I have a couple of HD ones here, but they won't fit your non-hd transmission properly. I'd say hit up a junkyard, pull the diff and slide it out on that side.

There is a bigger issue that I see in your pictures. See that roller bearing cage on your output shaft? Yeah..that should not ever be there. It's not part 652, because 808 rides in that bearing.
http://www.automaticchoice.com/Catalogue/4t65e.pdf
which then makes me, a guy who has built a few of these and knows most of the bearings in these are bronze bushings, not actual bearings...... I'm really wondering where that came from.
 
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I have the 4t60e transmission. Also we didn't apply constant pressure, well we tried at first after trying to jolt it with a crow bar didn't work. when we hooked the slide hammer up, we pushed the cv cup in as far as it could go, and then we jolted back on the hammer. After about 5 or 6 hits is when everything came out. I had a mechanic look at the parts, and they agreed that they wouldn't have come out any other way, compared this cup to another, and it showed that the lip that the spring clip sat in was not manufactured correctly. My dad has replaced over 100 of these cv axles over the years (all we drive are gm's 3.8s), so he knows how to remove them. He's rebuilt engines before, and I've helped him remove and install probably a good 10-15 engines over the years, so its not something either of us are unfamiliar with doing. Its just this one got stuck because of the way the groove for the spring clip was designed.

Is it possible to replace the diff and the drive shaft without pulling the engine/transmission on my car (97 gt)?
 
Ahhh you got bitten by the crappy axle, gotcha. Usually it's the other way around, constant pressure messes up the clip and then you know.

You can put in a new output shaft from the driverside. You aren't supposed to go in from the passengerside with an output shaft because you'll break the lube dam. Trans is basically the same as the 4T65 (65 is an upgraded 60). That bearing has me worried though, I don't remember it from either a 60 or 65 and I've been in a good amount of them.

Where's Anthony ... he'd know off the top of his head.
 
Something to keep in mind with the 4T60's, since you are asking about swapping the diff. The pinion/ring gear (gear that the diff sits inside) is the first piece to go into the casing and in the 60's GM was constantly changing the pitch etc in the pinion and diffs. If you swap a diff, make sure you get a compatible diff based on the pitch etc for the years involved. IIRC in 95 there were 2-3 different pitches in that one year.
 


Whats the question on the bearing? Depending on the year some of them had it. Theres no trick to them you just need to find another output shaft thats the same as the one you pulled out.
IMAG1209.jpg
 
Thanks Anthony, I had never seen a bearing on any of the output shafts. Didn't think it was supposed to pop out with the shaft.
 
Thank you to everyone who has helped on this thread. After much consideration I fear it is time to retire the red torpedo ... for it is now the red dud! ... I'm probably going to end up parting it out, as the door hinges (2 door) and doors are still in pretty good shape, idk if anyone would buy the gas tank, but the engine is in good condition with 205k on it ... I replaced the upper and lower intake gaskets 2 years ago ... idk ... anyone have a fun idea on what I can do to just completely trash the transmission? I was thinking of turning it on, flooring it while in neutral then jamming it into drive lol ... I highly doubt anyone would want to buy a 4t60e to rebuild ... idk ... probably just scrap most of the car out. either way ... to everyone who helped with info here, thanks, you guys are awesome!
 
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