now cant get bolt out of passenger half shaft

[laxmax327]

i swear, the hardest part about this car is just getting the 15 year old bolts out... but now for my new stuck one, and this one i cant be too rough with its the 2nd bolt closest to the engine that holds the passenger side half shaft up. first tried to use a socket and ratchet. but some space limitations and wasnt quite able to get it. think i actually began to strip it a bit. then a bought an open end wrench for it, but after muscling on that it just starts to slip and round off my corners then went onto the vicegrips, but cause its so close to the actual bracket theres not enough space to both clamp it and turn it. so those wont work. dunno what to do here. i saw those 2 big bolts a bit to the right of that. can i take them off? will that accomplish the same thing by removing the bracket frrom the engine? is there enough room there w/ the manifold on to get to them though, didnt try it yet cause wasnt sure exactly what they were for. how can i get this thing off!!! its keeping me back from doing my clutch job. im about to just take the trans off anyway and leave that one there, just carefully slide it off. please tell me thats a very bad idea and not to do, cause im dumb and anxious to finish this.

 

[windsormw]

if ur talking about that hanger bracket that the shaft is cradled in . I never removed that bracket , just popped shaft out and moved on .

sounds like ur infor some fun with that bolt . Genrally I try to finess the bolts out , getting rammy and stripping bolts don't speed up the process . I understand that shit happens and bolts do get stripped .

The last few times I have come up against a stripped bolt .........good ol'pipe wrench works wonders . If u cant get a pipe wrench on it , cut the head of the bolt off , pull part , and put pipe wrench on the shank of bolt ........

If that still don't work , cut bolt off flush & ez out it .

heat is 1 more idea , but be careful , try not to heat the bolt ( just the nut or inter. threads ) beware to much heat on shank of bolt will cause it to snap once u try to turn it .

hope that helps

 

[Jonny Cash]

Im thinking your talking about the bracket that holds the centershaft in place closest to the passenger side? The 2 10mm bolts? Or are they 9mm..

Get some PB blaster and soak it. Give it 5 minutes and try it again. You have to use a wrench. I prefer a wratchet wrench thingy. They come in handy in tight spaces like that.

 

[Rockledge]

Get some good light in there and check to see if the bolt is indeed stripped. If so, maybe a Craftsman "bolt-out" will help. Otherwise, windsormw offered some good tips to try.

(BTW, the intermediate shaft is not supposed to slide out of the bracket. The bearing assembly and bracket are integral to the shaft itself).

 

[laxmax327]

yea i didnt think you could just pull it out of there.... think im going to try those like needle nose type visegrips, they might work.

 

[ManySHOs]

You'll have more room to work if you remove the Y pipe. Why are you removing your intermediate shaft anyway? Unless the bearing is bad, they don't wear out and don't need to be removed for a halfshaft replacement (I assume that's what you are doing?)

Ian

 

[laxmax327]

its to replace my clutch. the subframe and the ypipe are already out. this is the last thing preventing me from dropping the trans. is there any way to remove trans safely w/o removing that?

 

[lozwarren]

You don't have to remove the center shaft to remove the trans. The only thing I would suggest is that you have someone help with line up when you go back with it as you can easily damage the seal by trying to do it all yourself. I had my wife help me, thats how easy it is

 

[ManySHOs]

You don't have to remove the center shaft to remove the trans. The only thing I would suggest is that you have someone help with line up when you go back with it as you can easily damage the seal by trying to do it all yourself. I had my wife help me, thats how easy it is

Easy for her or easy for you?

[mental image of you watching your wife drop your transmission]

Ian

 

[Racer X]

Cosigned on not having to remove the intermediate shaft for the tranny to come out. Couple of people can get it off that shaft without a whole lot of drama. Getting it back together would be helpful with 2 people also... one man alone ain't gonna cut it. True story.

 

[laxmax327]

so its agreed that it is possible to just remove the driver side one and carefully slide the trans off? cause this damn thing will not come out. and i will have my friend helping me of course. was going to try it this weekend. but of course, now its a freakin blizard out there. and i suppose the main danger in doing this is that you may ruin the seal? if this does happen what is required to replace the seal and is it still available?

 

[ManySHOs]

so its agreed that it is possible to just remove the driver side one and carefully slide the trans off? cause this damn thing will not come out. and i will have my friend helping me of course. was going to try it this weekend. but of course, now its a freakin blizard out there. and i suppose the main danger in doing this is that you may ruin the seal? if this does happen what is required to replace the seal and is it still available?

I suppose you could try that. re seals:

mtx output shaft seal Timken 3622S

They are a few $ each at AZ. They are supposedly better than the Ford ones. I'd get both and replace them while the transmission is out. Don't scratch the trans case under the seal when you remove them. (use a pick to pull them out) Use a block of wood and a rubber mallet to evenly tap the new seals in to the transmission. It's pretty easy but don't rush it.

Ian