treebloke Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Bert broke a front o/s half shaft on sat at Uplowman, got the stub axle off tonight with approx 6" of the shaft but cannot budge the end in the diff. Tried the magnet and no good, can just about get long nose pliers on but still no good, found a bit of thin wall tube just about the same dia and tapped that on and still no good, Dawn actually got her hand in the axle but her iron grip was not quite enough. I guess the diff will not drop out even if I take the other side off. Am I missing something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 take the other side out and try to drive the broken piece out with a long drift/large hammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciderman Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Bob as Tony said , I have used a length of refo bar with a 8mm punch welded along side it .You can just get it past the cross pin in the diff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treebloke Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 Bob as Tony said , I have used a length of refo bar with a 8mm punch welded along side it .You can just get it past the cross pin in the diff Even with the lockers fitted?. Be interesting to see whats holding the bloody thing in there. Actually when Bert did the one punch on sat if he had taken the wheel off I swear it would have dropped out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciderman Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Must admit I havnt tried it with an ARB , but it always worked with standard and 4 pin diffs . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve 90 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Must admit I havnt tried it with an ARB , but it always worked with standard and 4 pin diffs . Ive done it that way with an ARB but there is not a lot of room to get past the diff pin. Think I used a 6mm punch welded to a length of bar but still only just managed to get it moving before the punch bent. The shafts twist in the diff which is what makes them jam so solidly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ101 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Bob, Tried all the above, when i broke a front at Wellington,, had to pop the diff out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Weld something to the remaining shaft? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I think it's time to take the diff out. At least on the bench you won't need such a long drift to drive out the broken end. Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 But, as I understand it, the shaft is broken off at the axle's outer end, making removal of the diff impossible. I am sure that Bob would have thought of that one. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Ah .... Long drift it is then. Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat_pending Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 You need two lengths of tube. tube 1 needs to be about 3mm wall with an id that's just smaller than the 1/2 shaft od. Make 3 cuts about 4" lengthways in one end. weld a bolt with a thread suitable for a slide hammer in the other. Tube 2 needs to be as thick wall as will fit in the axle case and a slide fit over tube 1. It also needs to be 5-6" longer than tube 1 with a chamfer in the id at one end. Drift tube 1 over the 1/2 shaft, the 3 cuts will allow the tube to expand and be a tight fit on the broken end. Slide tube 2, chamfer end first, over tube 1 with some grease, put a big washer over the end and a nut on the welded in bolt. tightening the nut will force the outer tube over the inner and clamp the inner onto the broken shaft like a drill chuck. when you've pulled the outer down as far as you can, fit the slide hammer to the bolt, give the whole lot a good wiggle and bang it out. Success depends on getting the sizes right on everything, quality of the tube and your welding. I've shifted some tight buggers like this, good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Wow! What an excellent idea and even better explanation! Bravo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Now that's a really good invention & added to the the Tech Archive or tools/fabrication forum for keeps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Another option is to connect one electrode from an arc welder (max current) to a length of bar and the other to the axle. Then just offer the bar up to the end of the shaft and strike an arc. keep it going as long as you can then push the two bits together and switch off the welder. you can get quite a good weld between the two bits like that - at least strong enough to pull (winch) the shaft out. No arc welder? Use three 12v batteries in series - that will bung through a few hundred amps worth of arc. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_d Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Another option is to connect one electrode from an arc welder (max current) to a length of bar and the other to the axle. Then just offer the bar up to the end of the shaft and strike an arc. keep it going as long as you can then push the two bits together and switch off the welder. you can get quite a good weld between the two bits like that - at least strong enough to pull (winch) the shaft out.No arc welder? Use three 12v batteries in series - that will bung through a few hundred amps worth of arc. Si Use this method of Simons but use the other piece of the broken shaft. Use six batteries and get a really good weld thereby removing the need to replace the shaft altogether. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treebloke Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 You need two lengths of tube.tube 1 needs to be about 3mm wall with an id that's just smaller than the 1/2 shaft od. Make 3 cuts about 4" lengthways in one end. weld a bolt with a thread suitable for a slide hammer in the other. Tube 2 needs to be as thick wall as will fit in the axle case and a slide fit over tube 1. It also needs to be 5-6" longer than tube 1 with a chamfer in the id at one end. Drift tube 1 over the 1/2 shaft, the 3 cuts will allow the tube to expand and be a tight fit on the broken end. Slide tube 2, chamfer end first, over tube 1 with some grease, put a big washer over the end and a nut on the welded in bolt. tightening the nut will force the outer tube over the inner and clamp the inner onto the broken shaft like a drill chuck. when you've pulled the outer down as far as you can, fit the slide hammer to the bolt, give the whole lot a good wiggle and bang it out. Success depends on getting the sizes right on everything, quality of the tube and your welding. I've shifted some tight buggers like this, good luck. While scratching both the top of my head and my chin I had a similar thought last night, I found a thin wall tube which was just slightly oversize and put it in the vice to squeeze it so it would be a good fit (but not the first inch so it would still go onto the shaft) and tapped it onto the shaft which seemed a nice tight fit but still it would'nt budge. However, tonight I removed the other half shaft and with a torch you can see the end of the broken shaft, found a long pin, got the grinder on the end to make it nice and slim and wedge shaped because there is not much room and hey presto first tap and out it popped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Hunter Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 I've justt had this problem. I ground down the end 6" of a length of 15mm re-bar to a slim "D" shape about 1/2" high and 3/16" thick, maintaining as much metal as possible. This profile just got past the diff cross shaft. A couple of good thwacks on the end of the re-bar and the half shaft popped out. It's surprising how little distortion can cause a binding problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelw Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Oooh! 10 spline I really liked the invention of Pat-pending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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