Rear axle shaft removal/install difficulty

Jus recently had to pull a rear axle shaft due to a bad bearing and leaky seal, the seal wasn’t showing leakage outside the drum so I pulled it initially to replace the bearing.

long story short. I took everything off to pull the shaft out. I got to pulling the shaft out. I’ve done 5 or 6 of these on Toyota’s at this point. I gave it a good tug and it jus didn’t wanna come out. Got a buddy and I tugged and he beat the backing plate with a hammer and it slowly inched it’s way out.

my initial idea was well the bearing was torched or tweaked. Maybe I wasn’t pulling it out very center and I had the axle in a slight bind and that caused the difficulty.

get my axles back from my guy, he says the bearings were way toast. One of the worst he’s seen on a tacoma. Upon install I had a tough time getting it to slide all the way in. I got it to where the bolts stuck through the backing plate and then put the nuts on to pull the axle all the way in.

my question is, is something wrong in the middle of my diff? Is there any reason that it should be difficult for the shaft to go in and out? All the others I have done have been a solid tug or two and then the big awkward beast comes out.

 

Any thoughts

 

When it stopped where the splines engaged ?

Been sometime since I had a axle out I can`t recall how long the splines extend on the axle in relation to the backing plate .

How did the bearings feel when you pulled the axle out? Was there Heat scoring on the bearing ??

Just what new bearings where pressed on ??

When I had mine out once the splines were engaged they slide right in with a little push .

They should not be sloppy but should not need to be pulled in with the bolts

 

Something is still worn.

Did you inspect the axle splines carefully?

If it's hard to pull out to re-examine, evidently there's trouble in the pumpkin.

 

Did you put a straight-edge on the axel to check for straightness?

 

right about where the splines made contact in the center of the diff is where it seemed to want to stop. I rotated the hub and it still seemed difficult. The other side was a cake walk and took no effort to slide in

The bearings on the axle shaft out near the backing plate were replaced. They had unbelieveable slop. The guy that replaced them said they were even missing some of the balls inside the bearing.

 

the splines looked good. That’s how I felt. I was unsure of what could be bad inside the diff end tho. I’ve never messed around in the center of a diff

 

I have not. You mean out on the flange? Or on top of the axle tube itself?

 

If the bearing was that bad I wonder if there is not material from the bearing in the axle tube

 

Could have gotten the axle a little warm if the bearing was bad. Might have made it seize in there. I would not worry about it as long as the axle shaft is not bent

 

On the actual axle itself (not the tube). As well, check the splines. There's a chance they could been torque-twisted slightly.

 

Put any oil or grease on the splines before putting it back in?

 

I didn’t happrn to see anything. I kno the fluid that was in this pumpkin was trash and looked like dirty water or chocolate milk

 

splines looked fine. I may end up pulling the shaft back out.

 

I did not. The first side went so easy I didn’t find it applicable. It wouldn’t have hurt tho I’m sure.

 

Pulled the axle back out. Was a pain in the butt again. No signs of bearings or shavings inside the tube.

some wear where the bearing sits inside the housing.

 

Is that rust on the top inside of the tube?

Can you post pictures of the splines on the end of the shaft and the new bearing that's pressed on?

The only thing that I could think of that would make the shaft not want to go in would be if something was bent. This could be the housing or the axleshaft.
Can you put a straight edge on the shaft to check?

 

I am wondering if the housing where the bearing goes is out of round slightly. It kind of sounds like it. The axle engages the side gears then as you draw the bearing into the housing it starts to get tough, correct?

 

ive since bolted it up. The splines are a okay for sure.

 

correct. I can turn the hub and it turns the driveshaft yet the axle shaft is not fully in yet.

we pulled it out last night double checked for debris in the tube. We saw nothing

put it back together and drove it down the road. It fixed the noise we were having(guess the noise was the torched bearing)

still unsure why it was so difficult. guess we will run it a bit and see what happens.