Birdman

Nevermind, I was able to harness the wrath of Thor to pound that axle shaft in. Please delete this thread.

bumble-z

"Pound that axle shaft in"

Unnecessary.

Birdman

Yes...yes it was.

Look:

This wasn't my first time swapping an axle shaft. The first time it went on without any issue. This time I broke two breaker bars (with cheater bars) trying to get the axle nut off. Last time I got it off with just a breaker bar without problem. I finally borrowed an electric impact wrench that after an hour of soaking in PB blaster got it off. Then when I went to slide the new shaft in it kept getting stuck right after the tip went in. There is no snap ring to get in the way so it wasn't that. The threads on both shafts were smooth and clean. I had generous amounts of grease added. It just wouldn't go in. I tried tapping it lightly and nothing. I would take it out and inspect everything but it just didn't make sense. Finally I got it in after about 2 minutes of pounding the end of it with a rubber mallet non stop and with much wrath.

RonSSNova

GM half shaft?
I suspect the splines inside looked good, but weren't.
If you would have had a spare diff output shaft lying around, would have been a good test.

What's up with no snap ring? Seems like GM put it there for a reason. Even the aftermarket diff shafts have the provision for one.

Ron

Birdman

Autocrap half shaft.. My OEM one had a torn boot and I replaced it at the time with an autozone one. The autozone one snapped after a year of autox/dragstrips/roadcourses. It was mainly due to wheel hop though, if I had to guess. Regardless I plan on putting a new boot on the OEM one and putting it back in. Definitely don't trust the crappy Chinese ones, not that I really did initially..

You may be right about the output shaft splines...thankfully I was able to get it back on though.

I talked to a few guys from the forum, one being a well known vendor/shop owner who said it wasn't needed. I was told that it was put there at the factory during assembly to keep it from slipping out before it was all put on the car.

RonSSNova

Pretty much figures. I think Fugly Hippo busted one of the Autozones with little effort.
Get that stocker fixed.

Might be a good idea to buy a used oem spare or two.

i'm betting the one you put on might not be too fun to remove.

Caught your car in Corvette mag. Good job.

Ron

Birdman

Yeah definitely gonna rebuild the stocker. And not looking forward to replacing the second autocrap one. lol

And thanks! It was a big honor.