So this weekend im tearing into the 855 to get some much-needed front end work done. I'm replacing struts, springs (H&R), strut mounts, bearing plates, a arms, driveshafts, wheel hubs, and sway bar links on both sides.

You get to a point (well, i do anyway) where you just say "**** on it, this car has 155k miles on it, and all this stuff is original" and opt to replace everything while you're in there.

Is all of this stuff bad? Well, both driveshafts have rips in the outer boots, the sway bar links are shot, one of the ball joints is starting to clunk, and ive got a REALLY bad strut mount on the drivers side. Thats what i know is bad. the rest of it....well, i dont have tons of free time since i went back to school and am working full time, and cant afford to have the car down for a bad hub or the like.

Wish me luck. so far, the new strut assemblies are back together (thanks to tuner4life) and im fighting with the driver's side axle to get it out. more on that in related thread....but none of this seems too terribly bad, at least not once i got the sway bar links off. Hoping this will be done by tomorrow night.

 

Can anyone offer me some guidance on why the drivers side joint will not come out of the transmission? Right now, I've got a chisel in between the driveshaft and transfer case, and ive been hammering it up there to pull them apart, and no luck. Tried a 3 foot pry bar, and no luck. tried a screwdriver, and no luck. I'm seriously starting to get concerned that this thing isnt going to come out.

 

Took me a couple tries hammering a large screwdriver to get mine to pop, even try (safely) putting it in neutral and rotating the axle while trying to pry it, the c-clip may be just wedged bad.

 

meb: have been doing that. I know that theres a horseshoe type thing you can get that you attach to a slide hammer. that's my next option. after that, im thinking explosives...

 

no luck on the horse shoe attachment for the slide hammer. I can get this thing to come maybe 3/8 to 1/2 inch easy, then it just dead stops. I can tap it all the way back in with a hammer and still get it to pull out that far with relative ease. whats holding it up?

 

The clip on the axle is the issue. I deal with this all the time. It sometimes takes me 2 hours with different pry bars and chisels.

 

so im not gonna hurt anything if i pry the bejeezus out of it? I assume that eventually the clip will eithher compress or break. if it breaks, it'll probably fall into the pan anyway, right? also, do you think pushing it in and prying it back out will help?

 

I have not had any clips break on me. It might help some but I just usually hammer the pry bars in starting thin and getting thicker and thicker till it pops out.