Passenger side front axle won't go in

[gwinder]

I cant get the axle to pop over the circlip...tried a few blows with the hammer to the axle housing but won't go...should it be this tight?

Thanks

Gary

[01 BMW_X5]

Is this a new axle?
About 30k miles ago when I replaced with new ones I had a similar problem.
I reused the old circlip.

[civdiv99]

When I replaced my passenger front axle, I had basically same issue - would not go in nicely. I didn't hammer on it, but I did pull it out slightly and rotate a bit and try again. A couple of those maneuvers and it clicked into place with just "let's try it now" hand pressure. It should not have made a difference rotation-wise and I'll never klnow why it worked as it did - I surmised the little clip was hanging up or who knows, but I'd suggest trying that before obtaining a larger hammer perhaps.

[davewlee]

Use a small Screwdriver to move the circlip into the grove on the axle and then hammer it in... I did this a couple of days ago ... does not take a great deal of force. a couple of blows with the hammer once you have "adjusted the circlip .

[gwinder]

I ended up taking the strap off the inner boot to then hit the housing with a 2x4 and it went in. New strap and all is well. I tried using the old clip and rotating but didn't feel I could get enough force to get it in.