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How To: Change rear axle

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93K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  Nickkkyxti  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Heres a quick "cheater" way to change your rear axle.

Heres the tools you'll need to do the job

1/2 torgue wrench (good for 145lbs)
32mm socket
1/2 drive ratchet
19mm socket
19mm wrench

not shown:

and a plastic hammer
jack and safety stands
wheel wrench

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1.Jack the car up from the rear diff, place your safety stands under the cross frame on each side of the car.

2. Put you emergency brake on.

3. remove rear wheels

4. uncrimp the axle bolt, I just spun it off with my 32mm socket and impact gun.

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5. Take your 19mm socket and 1/2 drive ratchet and with your 19mm wrench remove the bolt and nut holding the two lower control arms in place. Note: you may need a breaker bar for this and spraying some wd40 on the nut might help also.

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6.Now pull the rotor/brake/hub assembly toward you at the rear untill you can wiggle the axle out from it.

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7. An extra set of hands would be good at this point but I managed to do this next part myself, take the axle a firmly and sharply pull it out of the rear diff casing. There is a clip in the rear diff housing that holds onto the axle while being carefull of the diff axle seal when you pull the axle out not to damage it.

here is the end of the axle from inside the diff.

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and inside the diff you can see the clip still in place.

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8. Now take your new axle or rebuilt axle and install it in reverse being carefull not to damage the seals in the rear diff. I layed underneath the car while sliding the axle into the diff then sharply firmly jamming the axle back into the clip inside the diff. Give it a tug out just to make sure your in the clip properly.

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9. Take the outer end of the axle and put it back into the hub assembly by pulling the assembly out of the way and lift the axle in place then place the hub back over the axle.

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10. now take your control arm bolt and nut and slide it back together, it will take some wiggling to get it through. This is where you may need a plastic hammer. torquing it to 145 lbs

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11. Place the axle nut back on the end of the axle and tighten to 140lbs torque and then recrimp the nut like it was. A new axle nut should be used for proper torque value.

12. Replace your wheel and lower your car:tup: and your ready to hit the strip once again.:lol:
 
#6 ·
I'm gonna need to do this soon due to a torn boot.
But didn't you forget to mention draining/refilling the diff fluid here? Or was it assumed that its gonna drain out when you pull out the axle?
 
#10 ·
One of my axle clips came out attached to the axle (Left side Rear). I can't get the axle to go back into the diff no matter how hard a slam it in, the clip is dropping a little and preventing the axle going past the first bump inside the diff.

I removed the clip from the axle and tried to press it into place inside the diff but can't get it in place like it should be as above:

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Any advice for inserting the clip back into the diff?

Thanks,

Steve.
 
#14 ·
This how-to is going to be helpfull for me thx for posting it up.

I have a leaking axle seal on the D/S so i imagine i can follow these steps except i can just let the axle stay in the hub and pull the whole thing (axle and all) out of the diff? Then i'd just put the axle on a stand/box or something while doing the work on the diff.

Haven't found any guide on this yet so i'm going in kinda blind but this sure helps ...
 
#15 ·
I have an 01 forester and snapped the rear cv axle behind the hub assembly (not at the boot, long story and damn near died trying to save the car from rolling on the freeway going 80mph) due to all this Covid bullshit and shops being booked for 3-4 weeks and also not having unlimited funds for the project I came to the conclusion of buying all the parts needed to swap everything from the rear diff forward from a parts car. This article was super super helpful in making my decision so what I did to avoid shop price gouging, extended repair waiting times and overall extra bullshit I unbolted everything from the frame of the parts car except the top of the caliper attached to the brake lines to avoid having to bleed the brakes and all that bs. Once having everything unbolted and a floor Jack securely under the steering knuckle while holding up the end of the cv axle on the other side I just lowered it all down so everything from the diff forward was free, wheeled it over to our ride, jacked it up, bolted everything up as needed put the top of our caliper already still connected and air bled prior and mounted it to the rotor still fashioned to the Frankenstein monster I created and put the rim and tire back on and was done in a matter of 2 hours. Maybe this will help someone in a tight spot or even on a budget or someone that just doesn’t have the mechanical ability to change all of these parts by themselves. This was so easy, just had the car alignment done after wards but was so pumped to know this was possible and costed a fraction of what a shop was quoting us cuz I bought the parts car in full for 150$ and for everything I needed and more