August 2016

Like a surgeon......Hey!

I can't begin to describe the agony of getting the the axle shaft out of my right rear upright.  After two weeks of dicking with it it's finally free.  Kroil didn't loosen it a bit.  I was ready to buy a used one off eBay, but none are available with ABS. I decided to get a new one from Mazdaspeed....discontinued. Really? They have 01-05 uprights, but those are 5mm larger on track width.  Had I known I'd have put 01-05 uprights on both sides for the tire clearance, but the left rear is already done.

I decided to go with the surgical approach which was actually fairly painless after all the other methods I tried including massive heat and drilling it out.  First I cut away the hub using the angle grinder. The step was required to gain access to the bearing snap-ring.  A few small nicks, no biggie. If it mattered, I'd weld them up and polish them down....it doesn't matter.

Next I cut off the CV joint with the grinder and sectioned off to a smaller diameter.

A few pumps on the press and the whole thing came right out, easy as pie.  I wish I'd gone to this drastic approach sooner. I think the whole operation took me 45 minutes and 5 cheap HF grinder disks, live and learn.