Anyone ever experience an axle that was hard to remove from a 8 1/4? I literally had to beat the thing out from the opposite side. I cant tell what is at fault or what was the issue at this juncture, other than than it might appear the very end of the splines was screwed up a little for what ever reason.

I could push the axle in to realease the c-clip and it would only push back out a smidge farther than where it would be with the c-clip installed. I got so despereate that I heated the side gear up quite a bit to a dull red and it still would not come out untill i put my side adjuster tool in backwards from the other side and beat the axle out with a 2 1/2 pound hammer.

Not worried about the heated gear or damaged occured on the open carrier as I am installing a 3.55 with suregrip in its place. I am concerned about this one axle however if i can nto get it fixed---and I am desperatly trying to get this thing together to run the local Mopar day at the track in less than 4 weeks. Really didn't need this issue with everything else I have to do to the truck.

Been a long 5 years of not driving this thing--I am ready to go if it will cooperate with me.

I had an axle that must have had a little slop at the "C" clip slot or in the housing because the area on both sides of the "C" clip were pushed up higher then the axle surface around it. I cleaned mine up with a good flat file, but I didn't have to beat mine out. Hopefully you didn't mess up the end or the slot for the clip.

The only other possible issue I can think of is there may be a grove worn where the bearing rides on the axle out by the wheel. Personally, I would probably replace the axle. Can't be that hard to find, and I wouldn't want to take the chance. My Gene

Still not sure why, but the very end of the splines were a little screwed up. I sat in front of the tv with a few files and straightened them back out until a good side gear fit over it fine. It was only a slight amount of filing required, just took a while to do each spline. I test fit it into the sure grip unit I am putting in and it fits fine.

Haven't had time to look at the open carrier the axle came out of, but that side gear will spin, but will not just slide out of the carrier. It is stuck in there so something was definatly up with that.

The axle bearing surface was perfect. I think I dodged a bullet here. The gears (3.55) and suregrip I am putting in are from the junkyard to just get me by, and to help determine which gear ratio I really want to run in the 9 1/4 I have that I will swap in at a later time--I have both 3.55 and 3.91 for that rear, just unsure which one I want to run without some drive time with the tire size and overdrive.

3.91s