CV Axles ... Halp!

[photonn]

I searched, I promise.

I cannot get the CV axles back into the hubs. I tried all the suggestions that I found during search.

- I tried turning the hub one set of teeth. No luck.

- I tried wire brushing the inside of the hub and the splines on the CV axle. No luck.

- I tried Liquid Wrench on the splines. They just laughed at me.

- I tried tapping on the CV axle. No luck. I hammered harder and seperated a brand new wheel bearing.

- I tried welding an axle nut to a piece of pipe and turning it down on a lathe to make a puller similar to the BMW special tool. The weld broke.

The splines engage about 1/16 of an inch and stop. I am out of ideas. What is the magic trick to get these two together?

[Aptyp]

Have you tried BMW OE tool? I think it's called BMFH.


Big Mo-Fo Hammer.

When mine wasn't going in, I tried nearly everything as well. What worked out the best was to to put the axle in, align it best you can, tap with rubber mallet on the other side. Little by little, mine went in with no damage to the axle. After threads started showing on the other side, i tightened it the rest of the way with the axle nut.

make sure you're not using a sledge hammer, you may knock out the hub, lol.

[photonn]

Tried that ... killed bearing

Dis you see the part where I destroyed a new rear bearing by hitting the axle with a hammer?

Not really interested in doing that again.

[2002maniac]

look for burrs on the splines of the hub and the axle. you may have to go over them with a file or some sandpaper.

[dr.strangelove]

triangular file on all splines (clean them) of the axle and the inside of the bearing. I did this and it went back together with no problem. I ruined a perfect condition one prior to this, so this method DOES work.

[dashboardmonkey]

triangular file on all splines (clean them) of the axle and the inside of the bearing. I did this and it went back together with no problem. I ruined a perfect condition one prior to this, so this method DOES work.

This works well.