4.4l Rear Axle Replacement Issue

[rahbee33]

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.