Stuck Axle

[Charles Perry]

Can anyone help? Have a Prelude and front drive shaft is stuck in tranny housing, on the passanger side. Have tried many things to get it out but will not budge. Now it is on jack stands not on a lift. Any thougts??

[seckerich]

If you have the other side out look through the diff and see if the snap ring is peeled out of the groove. You might be able to reach through with something and take it all the way out. Otherwise use a big slide hammer attached to the flange to pop it out. It will have to shear the clip to come out.

[Greg Amy]

It will have to shear the clip to come out.

Which then drops the (broken?) parts into the diff case...?

[CRXsi]

If you don't have an LSD and can see the spider gear pins then you need to get a longer dental pick or make on yourself. If you need to make one get a longer section of coathanger (roughly 1') sharpen the end on a grinder to a point. Using a flashlight stick the pick through the axle opening opposite the stuck one. At the bottom of the bore you should be able to see the stuck axle and end of the splines, what usually happens is the C clip while sitting in it's groove kind of falls down to the lowest point in it's groove and "binds". you need to take your pick and put it under the clip, help lift it up a bit so it is centered in the groove, while holding it get a helper to "pop" the axle with a prybar, should come out much easier.

Just forcing it out can damage the clip badly and cause it to break off in the tranny or could even cause the clip to bend enough that it won't come out at all.