Re: Can't separate axle shaft from carrier
The photo shows a two stage failure of a differential I encountered a couple years ago. The first stage occurred when someone put a differential together without regard to carrier bearing pre-load. The bearings were so tight that instead of spinning the bearing on the hub, it sheared to the hub off the carrier on the ring gear side. The differential continued to operate in this manner for a number of years, and with many tour miles; however, it must have generated a lot of heat in the area where the gear end of the axle is located. Eventually it caused the gear to separate from the axle shaft. This was a show stopper and the car could no longer operate.
When I took it apart it all came apart easy. However, prior to the gear separating from the axle shaft it could easily have become distorted enough that it would not have allowed the axle to be removed from the carrier.
Reproduction axle shafts have been known to fail with the gear separating from the shaft as they are welded onto the shaft. The failure I encountered was with an original axle that are not prone to this type of failure, however, the circumstances were unique.
Tom Endy
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