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Old 05-04-2019, 05:04 AM
kmm111 kmm111 is offline
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Sorry to hear your having troubles. I’m guessing rust & corrosion on the hub is what is making the axle difficult to install. Your either going to need to remove the axle & clean out the spline areas of the wheel hub. I use a triangle shaped file & yes it’s time consuming but it works. Or you can try to use the axle nut to help you if your close. Flip the nut over backwards & if it will start on the axle shaft & you can get say half a turn out of it, you can tighten it up with a pair of channel locks or similar & then use a combination of prying &/or continued hitting of the rotor to help pull the axle through. This is also time consuming but it does work. I’m assuming you have an OEM new axle nut or one of identical design. The original design allows you to insert it into the hub & grab the threads well before you can with it installed the proper way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rahbee33 View Post
Hey gang,

I am stuck - literally- on replacing my rear axle on my 2004 4.4i.

I did the research and RealOEM said that the part number was 33207500917. I found the GKN axle with that part# on ECSTuning, but it said it only fit the 3.0i. I reached out and they assured me that it would fit my 4.4l and I couldn't find any other info that would lead me to believe that there is a 4.4i specific part. So I ordered it.

I'm following the Pelican Parts DIY on replacing it. Got it out (after busting my rotor, but that was my fault) and got the new one in. It hooked up to the diff just fine. But the wheel side has been a severe pain in the behind. I have spent several days on this at this point and cannot for the life of me get the axle far enough through the hub to get the collar nut on it. I spent a good 2 hours last night placing a 2x4 between the backside of the axle and the knuckle and hitting the hub with a rubber mallet.

It's really close to getting the threaded part of the axle out far enough and I think that if I can just get to the threaded part I can get the collar nut on there and then pull the backside of the axle flush like it should be.

My concern is that this is just way too much force to try to get this done and it should be easier. The axle I pulled out looked the same, but the part # differs by one digit - 33207500916. RealOEM doesn't have a page for that part and when I google it I only really get used Ebay results which makes me think that maybe 917 is the same part just slightly revised? It doesn't look like the axle is side specific in any way.

Has anybody replaced a rear drive axle on a 4.4i that could share some insight? I can get the axle back out if I had to, but I've come so close I didn't want to repeat all this work again if I didn't have to. I didn't grease or lube the hub because the DIY didn't mention that and I've watched plenty of Youtube videos of axle replacement and they haven't had to use anything like that.
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