ya - that is what I figured - best to get it started before unbolting everything. The brass may be too soft, but it was only $8 and is worth adding to my tool chest anyway - it surely will come in handy someday. I may end up stopping by home depot in search of a bigger stick for this job :thumbup:

well - I got the axle out. It was sure jammed in there. I could not find a big enough punch so I made one out of a 3/4" or so chisel I found at home depot. It has a nice handle to hold it and protect the hand from any missed hits. I wacked it good with a 4lb sledge for 15 min or so and finally got it moving. I had it soaking in penetrating oil too and once I got it to move 1/4" I sprayed more. I kept measuring with a steel ruler and realized that I had either moved it about 1/4" or smashed the end of the axle in that much and it didn't look that bashed in, so I must be moving it. So I forged on. Once it was moving it went pretty good, but that first 1/4-1/2" took some serious force. The hitting end of the solid steel punch was flattened a bit. :wow:

Couple tips. Do not remove any of the ball joints until you have that axle moving and most of the way into the hub. Then remove the upper strut bolts (2) and lower rear control arm in that order. That is all that is needed - the hub assembly will swing out of the way and leave plenty of room to work on the end of the axle.

The punch I used was almost as big in diameter as the end of the axle. I installed the 36mm nut on there to prevent slipping and messing up the threads. I'm sure it will be fun to get it back on there enough to start the nut too :rolleyes:

Wow, its been a while since I passed through this post. Congrats on getting the axle out.

Before you try to slip the axle in, get a small steel wire brush and clean up those threads as much as you can. Coat the splines with anti seize afterwards. The axle wont slip right back into the hub, but it helps a bit to get it to the point where you can thread the axle nut at least one or two turns in. After that, let the 36mm on the wrench do it's job.

sounds like a plan!! Ya - it's been sitting for a week or more, I have not had much time to mess with it. It will be good to get this little project behind me so I can drive the beast again!!

....Then again, running around in an S4 Avant would keep me from rushing to finish up my x5...;)

crap. I ended up smashing the threads on the end when I was hammering the CV joint back onto the axle. Duh - I forgot to put the nut on there to protect it that time. Figures.

Anyone know what those threads are? Looks like around 25mm. Wonder if I can find the right die and clean it up...

RD7-14, Die, Metric, Spindle Rethreader, M25-1.5

Anyone know if this is the right thread pitch?