legacycentral bbs

The roll pin that holds the cv axle to the transmission was giving me trouble. I got it 1/4 the way out, then it stopped moving. I tried punching it out with a round punch, it got stuck in the little hole and it took me 10 minutes to twist it out. So I thought i needed something with the perfect diamter to push the pin out more so I used another roll pin ( thinking the original was damaged I should be able to remove the new one easily after), no dice. Both got seriously stuck and I can remove either. So I grinded them down flush with the CV cup, and tried drilling them out with good quality drill bit. Not working either, these things must be made of some pretty stout steel because 10 minutes of drilling pretty much got me nowhere.

I dont want to be defeated a stupid cv axle cup, any help please? Ive tried an air hammer, big hammer, little hammer , drill bits, heat, everything. I just want to finish my tranny swap!

Thanks.

Soak it in PB overnight? Was it a new/sharp drill bit? I would think roll pins are pretty soft metal.

Roll pins are very hard, but brittle.

If it were mine, at this point I would use a cut-off wheel and cut the CV cup off the stub axle coming out of the transmission. I would eat the core charge, of course.

Barring that:

Drilling will most likely not work except possibly with a very hard, very expensive bit. You *might* be able to drill the punch out depending on what it's made of and how work hardened it has gotten.

Seeing as how you have the punch stuck in the hole I would get a set of the hardest small punches you can. Attempt to shatter the roll pin a piece at a time out of the hole. When you have got some working room then drive the broken punch out from the roll pin side.

PhyrraM wrote: Seeing as how you have the punch stuck in the hole I would get a set of the hardest small punches you can. Attempt to shatter the roll pin a piece at a time out of the hole. When you have got some working room then drive the broken punch out from the roll pin side.

This is probably your best bet. I had a similar issue and the roll pin never gave, but eventually broke into a bunch of little pieces.

Couple of ideas....

There is often a small roll-pin inside the outer roll-pin, which makes them tight. I always check and knock the inner one out first(if it's in there).

There are a couple of positions where the pins hit ribs on the castings on the far side of the hub as you are driving it out, sometimes it just needs turning a few degrees.

Those stubs that the hub is pinned to, they come out. Don't bother cutting the hub off. Get a lever and give the hub a SHARP jolt and the hub and a short shaft will both come away from the gearbox. The shaft has a snap-ring(not a circlip), which will slip with enough force. It's a similar set-up to the outer end where a sharp crack gets the cv off the axle.

log1call wrote:Couple of ideas....

There is often a small roll-pin inside the outer roll-pin, which makes them tight. I always check and knock the inner one out first(if it's in there).

There are a couple of positions where the pins hit ribs on the castings on the far side of the hub as you are driving it out, sometimes it just needs turning a few degrees.

Those stubs that the hub is pinned to, they come out. Don't bother cutting the hub off. Get a lever and give the hub a SHARP jolt and the hub and a short shaft will both come away from the gearbox. The shaft has a snap-ring(not a circlip), which will slip with enough force. It's a similar set-up to the outer end where a sharp crack gets the cv off the axle.

So you are saying I can pull that splined stub out of the front diff?

^^^ Yes. Keep in mind though that this will likely result copious amounts of leaking tranny fluid. Don't ask me how I know . But it may be the best option as it will let you manipulate the CV boot as neccessary.

Yup, The stub is held in by a spring clip that goes in a shallow groove, a sharp jolt will compress the spring and the shaft comes out.
Well, before I get shot down, I'm in new Zealand and the ones over here all do as far as i know.

It shouldn't leak any oil hardly unless it's overfull.

Mine leaked a fair bit when it got accidently pulled out. I don't think it was overfilled. Maybe my memory of how much fluid is skewed - it was a while ago and as one of my earlier mechanic adventures it seemed a little tramatic as I didn't know it could come out of the tranny.

I never had the right size punch for these damn pins. I hate removing them. They're always a bitch to do. Funny thing is, I did the same exact thing as you did. Got it stuck in and tried putting another one in to pound it out and got them both stuck in. Then I ripped it back out with a pliers but the original one was still stuck halfway out the other side. I found out a good tool for this is actually the battery tie down rods on some cars. The threaded rod the you bolt down the flat metal piece on top of your battery. I found out this nifty little tool while I was at the junkyard one day trying to remove these pins without a punch. Worked great! Try it. I think it's about the pefect size.

WARNING! Do NOT use anything with a pointed tip on it. It will only spread pin out and get it stuck in there. You must use a flat tip tool (punch) with the correct diameter that fits in the hole perfectly.

Wow guys, thanks for the help. Im gonna try this tomorrow.

Does anybody know if the splined stub is the same between the automatic and the manual tranny? Since I have new CVs to put in anyway, and its just the cup from the old CV stuck on, I should theoretically have spare stubs from the old trans. Anyone?

Again, thanks so much, probably added 10 years to my life with the amount of stress you guys eliminated.

I'm pretty sure they're the same. They looked the same when I did them on my 90 auto and my 91 5MT.

I think they are the same stubs.
Get underneath with a good small jimmy bar, hook it in between the hub and the gearbox and put a bit of levering pressure on it, then keeping the pressure on give the jimmy a tap with a heavy hammer or a block of wood. It should pop straight out...

Nice, Ill report progress friday.

One thing that nobody has pointed out is that the roll pin needs to be driven out in a specific direction. There is a chamfer on one side on the axles. This is the side the roll pin MUST exist. So you must get at it from the back side.

I HIGHLY recommend you go buy yourself a good set of punches. I finally did that and it made things much easier. All the punches I had previously were just a tad small. They worked when things went well, but didn't when the roll pins were a bitch to get out.

Huh, are you sure about that Josh? No offence, but I have knocked heaps of those pins out and never struck that. Perhaps if we hit them hard enough it knocks the back out!!

Where did you get your info from ?

Yes. I'm pretty sure. All the axles I've knocked out have one side that is chamferred, while the other side is not.

Legacy777 wrote:Yes. I'm pretty sure. All the axles I've knocked out have one side that is chamferred, while the other side is not.

yes 100% correct I noticed this as well. I used to try different items to knock out the pins. This time around got a punch kit as josh mentioned and I got the pins out with NO problems!

Ho, live and learn then. I'll pay more attention next time I'm doing one.

I've noticed the chamfered side you're talking about. But I never knew which end they go in and which end they go out. I figured since one side was different there must be a preference I just didn't know which was which.

I'm quite sure it's possible to remove the pins from either side though since I've removed the axles several times and I doubt I did it the right way every time.

mission unsuccesful. Even with a pry bar and a hammer I cannot smash the splined stub out of the gearbox.

Damn, it does take a bit of a technique. It's the same system that they use to hald the outer cv to the axle, and as many will know, if you don't hit it just right they can just stick instead of popping off. I can only suggest perserverance. That or go back to your old plan and knock the pin out.

Im happy to announce my sledge hammer got a little action this evening.

Shattered the hub and the pin off the stub axle! Transmission is still ok too!

Thanks for the help guys. Now I just need to figure out how to lift the tranny into the car by myself. Somehow I think the sledge hammer is going to be no use here.