Unable to remove drive shaft inner mounting from differential onPunto

I'm trying to replace the O/S/F drive shaft to differential oil seal on
a Punto MKII due to a leak. Haynes doesn't appear to cover this repair
procedure, my workshop manual only covers in detail the N/S seal and not
the O/S.

For the N/S the step after removing the drive shaft at the inner CV boot
is "Using a suitable lever, prise off the drive shaft inner mounting
shaft from the differential". Sounds simple enough. I've left the
inner CV boot attached to the inner mounting shaft to prevent getting CV
boot grease everywhere. I figured that this is not really adding any
significant resistance as I can easily move the suspended shaft by hand.
I'm using a 50cm crow bar but I just can't prise this damn thing out.
It doesn't help that the inner shaft angles in at 45 degrees as it
goes into the differential. Which means the crow bar slips off easily.

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

Regards,

Tim

On Sat, 19 May 2007 15:55:56 +0100, Tim <tpb100 (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:

I'm trying to replace the O/S/F drive shaft to differential oil seal on
a Punto MKII due to a leak. Haynes doesn't appear to cover this repair
procedure, my workshop manual only covers in detail the N/S seal and not
the O/S.

For the N/S the step after removing the drive shaft at the inner CV boot
is "Using a suitable lever, prise off the drive shaft inner mounting
shaft from the differential". Sounds simple enough. I've left the
inner CV boot attached to the inner mounting shaft to prevent getting CV
boot grease everywhere. I figured that this is not really adding any
significant resistance as I can easily move the suspended shaft by hand.
I'm using a 50cm crow bar but I just can't prise this damn thing out.
It doesn't help that the inner shaft angles in at 45 degrees as it
goes into the differential. Which means the crow bar slips off easily.

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

Regards,

Tim

It's a spring clip, and it can be a bugger.

"Tim" <tpb100 (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote

I'm trying to replace the O/S/F drive shaft to differential oil seal on a
Punto MKII due to a leak. Haynes doesn't appear to cover this repair
procedure, my workshop manual only covers in detail the N/S seal and not
the O/S.

For the N/S the step after removing the drive shaft at the inner CV boot
is "Using a suitable lever, prise off the drive shaft inner mounting shaft
from the differential". Sounds simple enough. I've left the inner CV
boot attached to the inner mounting shaft to prevent getting CV boot
grease everywhere. I figured that this is not really adding any
significant resistance as I can easily move the suspended shaft by hand.
I'm using a 50cm crow bar but I just can't prise this damn thing out. It
doesn't help that the inner shaft angles in at 45 degrees as it goes into
the differential. Which means the crow bar slips off easily.

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

as Duncan says they can be right sod to remove, have you tried whacking the
end of the pry bar with a hammer to shock the joint ?

On Sat, 19 May 2007 16:32:02 +0100, reg <reg (AT) ihatespam (DOT) com> wrote:

"Tim" <tpb100 (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:0eE3i.3706$pL1.2156 (AT) newsfe2-win (DOT) ntli.net...
I'm trying to replace the O/S/F drive shaft to differential oil seal on
a
Punto MKII due to a leak. Haynes doesn't appear to cover this repair
procedure, my workshop manual only covers in detail the N/S seal and not
the O/S.

For the N/S the step after removing the drive shaft at the inner CV boot
is "Using a suitable lever, prise off the drive shaft inner mounting
shaft
from the differential". Sounds simple enough. I've left the inner CV
boot attached to the inner mounting shaft to prevent getting CV boot
grease everywhere. I figured that this is not really adding any
significant resistance as I can easily move the suspended shaft by hand.
I'm using a 50cm crow bar but I just can't prise this damn thing out. It
doesn't help that the inner shaft angles in at 45 degrees as it goes
into
the differential. Which means the crow bar slips off easily.

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

as Duncan says they can be right sod to remove, have you tried whacking
the
end of the pry bar with a hammer to shock the joint ?

I find a bit of something solid & not spikey, struck by a lump hammer can
help. as the clips sprung hitting it repeatedly won't help.

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

as Duncan says they can be right sod to remove, have you tried
whacking the
end of the pry bar with a hammer to shock the joint ?



I find a bit of something solid & not spikey, struck by a lump hammer
can help. as the clips sprung hitting it repeatedly won't help.

Sounds like it's similar to the outer CV joint, held in place with a
spring circlip. I was able to knock that off with a wooden mallet
without too much force. Haynes state that you should replace with a new
circlip. The new one had a slightly greater diameter and I simply
unable to bash the joint back on. Wonder if I'm suffering from that
problem. Not only that, but if I get it off I bet it will be just as
difficult to get back on again.

Looks like there is such as thing as a pry-bar. A different design to
crowbars in the sense that they have a 90 degree bend at the end. This
might be more suitable for the job, but that's another £10 for the job.

I've tried hitting the crowbar, but I just can't get a proper purchase
on the drive shaft due to its angled edge.

Regards,

Tim

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.

Regards,

Tim

I managed to borrow a few other bars and eventually pried the damn thing
off. Took a bit of effort though with a 0.5m chisel type bar with a
very very blunt end (been used for smashing rocks or something, so was a
couple of mil across). It was held in with a slightly larger spring
circlip than the outer CV joint. This probably explains the extra
effort required (that and it being difficult to get purchase on).

Extracting the seal was also fun. Probably as expected it didn't just
pull out, so another prying was required. Unfortunately I didn't
realise that there was a lip on the other side of the seal and caught
that during the prying process. Fortunately it's only half the width of
the seal, so I'm guessing a touch gasket sealant will probably fill it.

The seal itself didn't look damaged, I'm hoping it was just slightly
worn and the problem isn't elsewhere. 85K miles of metal rubbing
against rubber, the rubbers got to get thinner some time.

I suspect getting it back in will be just as much fun.

Thanks for the tips all,

Regards,

Tim

On Sun, 20 May 2007 12:20:37 +0100, Tim <tpb100 (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:

How much pressure is typically required? Is it just a circlip that
holding this on or would there be a nut under the CV boot.
Regards,
Tim

I managed to borrow a few other bars and eventually pried the damn thing
off. Took a bit of effort though with a 0.5m chisel type bar with a
very very blunt end (been used for smashing rocks or something, so was a
couple of mil across). It was held in with a slightly larger spring
circlip than the outer CV joint. This probably explains the extra
effort required (that and it being difficult to get purchase on).

Extracting the seal was also fun. Probably as expected it didn't just
pull out, so another prying was required. Unfortunately I didn't
realise that there was a lip on the other side of the seal and caught
that during the prying process. Fortunately it's only half the width of
the seal, so I'm guessing a touch gasket sealant will probably fill it.

The seal itself didn't look damaged, I'm hoping it was just slightly
worn and the problem isn't elsewhere. 85K miles of metal rubbing
against rubber, the rubbers got to get thinner some time.

I suspect getting it back in will be just as much fun.

Thanks for the tips all,

Regards,

Tim

Back in is easy, you can hit it with a mallet. The lip just stops the seal
going in too far, if you've not scratched the bore the seal sits in it'll
be fine. Grease it with some gear oil before you try & tap it in & if the
socket you're tapping it with is a little small use the old seal back to
front to protect the new one.

The seal itself didn't look damaged, I'm hoping it was just slightly
worn and the problem isn't elsewhere. 85K miles of metal rubbing
against rubber, the rubbers got to get thinner some time.

I suspect getting it back in will be just as much fun.

Thanks for the tips all,

Regards,

Tim

Back in is easy, you can hit it with a mallet. The lip just stops the
seal going in too far, if you've not scratched the bore the seal sits in
it'll be fine. Grease it with some gear oil before you try & tap it in &
if the socket you're tapping it with is a little small use the old seal
back to front to protect the new one.

The scratch goes into the bore. The seal surface that seals to the bore
is 1-2mm metal and 1-2mm rubber. I'm guessing it's the rubber part that
actually makes the seal and the scratch doesn't come that far out. I've
got a little silicon gasket sealant left over from doing the sump. I'll
put in the smallest of amounts to cover this scratch.

Thanks for the tip with the oil and socket. I was going to try and very
gently and patiently tap it back in with a flat object in a 12 - 6 - 3 -
9 process. The best I could find was the hammer end of a small chisel.
A socket is a genius idea, plus I can tag on an extension bar to get
past the exhaust.

Regards,

Tim