Can Not Remove Axle

[markandson]

I am trying to remove the rear axel on my '73, although I don't know if I actually have a '73 rear end because of what a PO might have done, there are brackets on the axel for the rear sway bar. Anyway, I have used both a slide hammer and another rig that I made that I can hit with a sledge, it will not budge! Are there any rear axels that have retainers inside the pumpkin? I am afraid that I will damage something, I am hitting it REALLY HARD, it does not seem like it should take that much pressure to get it out.
The entire rear axel assembly is out of the car.

[soybean]

Jeff, take the back cover off and see if there is a retaining clip (C clip) holding the axle in place. HTH, Jarrell

[hrcollinsjr]

Early style axles had a retainer clip like you suspect.

Late model axles:
Vent hole in top right side has plastic vent
Emergency brake lever on shoe has a hook for the cable

Early style axles:
Vent hole has a little metal thingy in it (hope I'm not getting too technical)
Emergency brake lever on shoe is folded for the ball on the cable

Drain oil by removing lower bolts in center of housing, one of them drains it.
Slide hammer for later style is usually required. I reverse the wheel (for clearance in the wheel well) leave slack when you install the wheel nuts. Snatch the wheel assembly and the axle should pop out. Warning, it doesn't take much. Even though you have been hitting it fairly hard don't snatch real hard at least on the first few attempts. Make sure which axle style you have though.

HTH,
Harold

[hrcollinsjr]

Jarrell,

Shouldn't you be out planting or something? It's 9:00 your time.

Harold

[jordan]

This may be a little off topic but when the back of my car is in the air I can move the back wheel in and out about 1/16 of an inch I think, is this something to be worried about?

[baz]

right on topic jordan and well worth a look, you may get some play on an axle with a c clip but a 1/16th seems a lot

[jordan]

It may actually be 1/32 or less, it is tough to tell when it's something as big as a wheel moving with no real reference point to judge from.

[guyopel]

the play you are seeing is normal for the c-lock diff.

[baz]

i agree if its smaller movement it is ok

[markandson]

The whole reason I was trying to remove the axle was to get rid of that axial play that I had on one side and not the other. I sure hope I did not damage the axle shaft or the retainer by hitting it as hard as I did . I will open the pumpkin tonight and see what I have. Thanks, everyone, for all the feedback.

[jeff denton]

It seems odd to me that one axle has some play but not the other...
I don't think you could get 1/16 of play with the later style, unless it was put together really strangely.
You might as well pop the cover and see what ya got, and the "C clips" are not C clips as per Chevrolet, put just plain old twinky little external snap rings. That's what's really scary about the early style.
While you're pulling your cover off I'll be putting mine on. Rear end-DONE!
Let's go racing!!

[markandson]

I pulled the cover and sure enough the external retaining rings are present.
There is .014" of clearance on one side and about .004 on the other. The clearance on the wide side may have been less until I beat the s**t out of it yesterday with my custom puller, no way to know. Is there anyway of reducing the clearance. Seems to me the only solution would be to get an external snap ring of the proper thickness, but what is the probability of that.
Is it possible to convert the early style to the later style axle without taking apart the whole diff. ass'y? Everything inside the cover looks to be in excellent condition.

[jeff denton]

What you're thinking is kind of what I originally had wanted to do, since we had so much work into deepening the spring buckets on the early diff.
The early housing's axle tubes are much different at the wheel bearing area and so are the brake backing plates, as are the axles themselves.
The guts are the same, as far as pinion, carrier, and small parts, as far as I can tell.
I have pondered whether the early axle's snap ring groove could be cut wider so that two snap rings per axle could be installed. That could help take up some of the play you have.
Don't worry about the horrors of overhauling the diff, it is a snap. Screw the FSM, you don't have their fancy tooling to do it that way anyhow. Do it with common sense like you would any differential and it will be simple. The carrier bearing preload and backlash settings can be done the Chevy way, simplifies it tremendously!!
By the way, at this hour, mine has just passed its first run in test. Sounds beautiful through the stethescope.
Raceway Park, here we come!

[soybean]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr Jarrell, Shouldn't you be out planting or something? It's 9:00 your time. Harold

Was waiting on a call that my beans had gotten in. Came in about 10 and I was planting by 12. Had to move 15 pallets of 50 bags each. Got in about 8 tonight. Great day too. No phone, no one to bother me. Gotta love it.

markandson. There was a post in the last 2 weeks about the side tolerences on the axles. I believe you add shims to take out the slack. Sorry not much help on that question. Try a searck though. Jarrell

[ablea]

Why did the rear end stop working? I drove the Gt up on the trailer no problem. The next day I started it up and it wouldn't move. It has a 4 speed stick. runs good. I even drove it up and down the road before I bought it. Any Ideas.
1970 GT

[markandson]

Jeff Denton,
I took apart another '73 rear that I had and it was the new style, so the everything slid right out. I am taking the axle and the backing plate home with me to see if it will work, but if the end of the axle tube is different as you state then it will not work. I have another complete car, it's a '72 so I might just steal the rear out of it, sort of a pain since it's alot of work, but I may have no choice.

[markandson]

Ablea,
I would check the center bearing in the drive shaft, maybe it just fell apart and jammed or something, other than that it sounds like you might have a major problem in the rear.

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by markandson Seems to me the only solution would be to get an external snap ring of the proper thickness, ...

I hope everyone following this thread knows which way to install a snap ring. Usually they have a slightly rounded edge on one side and a square edge on the other. They should be positioned in such a way as to make it harder for the snap ring to come out of the groove.

Harold

[baz]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr I hope everyone following this thread knows which way to install a snap ring. Usually they have a slightly rounded edge on one side and a square edge on the other. They should be positioned in such a way as to make it harder for the snap ring to come out of the groove. Harold

so is that square edge out or in?

[mark gibson]

Lets isolate. Remove the driveshaft and see if the rearend turns this will narrow your search. If it doesnt turn you will need to dissasemble the entire rear end. Also...on the original problem on this thread...why are you concerned about a 32nd inch movement of a c-clip retained axle---is there a problem or do we search for things to do/...just wondering. A 32nd is VERY normal.

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by baz so is that square edge out or in?

The square shoulder should be on the differential side.
Since the axle may pull out you would want the square shoulder on the inside, if the rounded shoulder was facing inward in could more easily pop out of the groove when force is applied.

I had someone ask me once if I knew there was a difference in how snap rings should be installed. He then showed me a block with a nasty groove in the cylinder wall. He used custom pistons with floating pins and installed one of the retainers backwards. Expensive lesson!

Hope this explanation made some sense.

Harold

[wayne70gt]

Did you just buy the car? When you parked it on the trailer did you use the hand brake? Check and see if your brakes are hung up. Just a thought.

Wayne

[jordan]

Originally Posted by mark gibson Lets isolate. Remove the driveshaft and see if the rearend turns this will narrow your search. If it doesnt turn you will need to dissasemble the entire rear end. Also...on the original problem on this thread...why are you concerned about a 32nd inch movement of a c-clip retained axle---is there a problem or do we search for things to do/...just wondering. A 32nd is VERY normal.

Many people are not familiar with rear ends and differentials and I did not know if 1/32" play could be potentially bad I figured that it may have had the possibility of breaking the snap ring becuase 1/32" of play can allow momentum to cause some undesireable results in other mechanisms (picture 1/32" of play in a rod bearing) this is a forum for questions and discussions. And it was merely a question, not an attempt to reengineer mechanical dynamics for the sake of "why not"

[streetrods65]

Originally Posted by ablea Why did the rear end stop working? I drove the Gt up on the trailer no problem. The next day I started it up and it wouldn't move. It has a 4 speed stick. runs good. I even drove it up and down the road before I bought it. Any Ideas. 1970 GT

you might check the rubber brake lines. they will colaps inside and when you apply your brakes they stay on. when you let off the pedal becaus of the back pressure on the inner colapsed ruber.

[ablea]

Thanks for the responce and ideas. I will jack it up and try to spin the wheels. though the car did roll as I had to get it off of the trailer. This has happened to two of my GT's in a row. I just replaced the complete rear end in my daily driver with out finding out what happened to cause the problem. I want to go on the Cal. run in Aug. and am thinking that maybe this is something that should be looked at.
70 opel