Alright, this past weekend things shifted from the cosmetic to the mechanical, and I decided to get started on the CV boot. I thought it would be difficult as it's the first major mechanical thing I've done. Well, it has been more difficult that I ever imagined!
So I parked the truck, dropped the t-case into N, and then put it in park and jacked it up. Now the right rear wheel could spin independently. I took off the tire, removed the halfshaft retaining bolt, and then the six bolts on the rotor. This took about 30 mins. I was feeling pretty good. Then the "fun" started.
The next step is to simply pull the half shaft out the back of the geared hub. I tried this, and it wouldn't budge. So I pulled harder, pulled left, up down, right, etc. Nothing. I decided maybe there was something in the way, so I removed the parking brake cable, and still couldn't get it to come out. Well, I was really stumped at this point.
I called up a buddy from the HML, and asked him what to do. He'd never heard of one being stuck like this, and suggested that I thread a 3/8" screw into the slot where the retaining bolt was that would miss the retaining washer. Hopefully this would push the shaft out. Once it was in, I started banging, and to my dismay, there was no reaction....
I posted on the HML at this point, and it was suggested I try to remove the gear and halfshaft as one. I took the rear access off from the upper gear and then started tapping on the screw again. Finally, I got some progress. About 3-4 hours had gone into this by now.
This shows the progress, with the upper gear in the hub moving out.
Here, you can see the CV joint coming out.
I kept banging away at this point, and decided to give up for the night. I sprayed the whole thing up with Bolt Buster, put the wheel back on, and let it sit. In the morning, I came back out and started the process again, and I guess my renewed effort was enough to get it out.
But now I have to figure out why exactly the halfshaft wouldn't come away from the upper gear. Something either has failed to bind it in there, or the previous owner applied red loctite and bound it in there.
Here's looking at the outer end of the halfshaft with the upper gear from the geared hub stuck on it. That small 1.5" or so circle in the middle is the end of the halfshaft. It should not have the gear stuck to it.
Here is a side view. Everything from that round black thing on the left (CV joint) should be off of there with just the splined end of the halfshaft showing.
Here is the outer bearing/race which won't go back where it belongs:
So it looks like I will need a new halfshaft at the very least. If it turns out that Kascar is at fault, I hope they will reimburse me for the cost of their halfshaft. I have the box, etc, and there is only about 1,500 highway miles on this thing.
As for the geared hub, I will need to take it apart and examine all the parts to make sure nothing is bad. I think it will require an extensive rebuild or an entirely new hub. I would prefer a rebuild personally because full replacement parts are going to get harder to find I suspect, and I hate to do that if what I've got will work out ok.