How to remove the front outer CV joint from the half-shaft (2006 WRX)

[dpalm]

I am starting to build my 818 kit.

For the front hub, I am trying to remove the outer front CV joint from the axle. Something is retaining the axle, but I cannot figure what.

The 818 Manual (page 52) says to put the axle in a vice with the outer CV joint facing down and "tap" it to separate it from the axle, but tapping, or even a wee bit of whacking, does not work.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Duncan

[Andrago94]

I just did this myself and had no luck tapping or hitting it hard it with a hammer. I had a couple of metal plates that came with my shop press that had small semi-circles cut out. I put the two plates together across a gap where I could place the axle in the hole made by the two semi-circles. With the CV joint above the two plates, I held the axle and just pulled down with one swift movement. When the CV joint hits the plates, it knocks it right off. For an example using the same principal with a piece of pipe, search Youtube for "CV joint pipe trick".

[dpalm]

Thank you. I will give the "pipe trick" a shot.
Duncan

[matteo92065]

If you have aftermarket replacement axles, they may not come apart. We cut some in half just to see why they would not come apart, and saw that they did not put a chamfer on the ring groove.
This was a while ago, and I don't remember exactly which axle & joint it was.

[AZPete]

One of my front CV joints came off as the manual said with no trouble, but the other was like yours and wouldn't come apart with lots of hits and even the pipe-drop method didn't work. Eventually I cut the bearing cage with a Roto-Zip to get it apart like Matteo. Good luck.

[wleehendrick]

There is a retaining ring inside and you have to pop that out of the groove. I got both OEM CV's off per the directions, but "tap" is an major understatement unless you're using the Hammer of Thor! I used a scrap piece of Al to direct the impact right where it's needed and had to hit that pretty hard with a sledge hammer.