AustinTaco

I am breaking down my axle again. It was worked on by a shop a few years ago, and when I swapped to IFS calipers, I broke it apart to the knuckles to do the swap. I have a wobble wheel, that I though would be a wheel bearing or trunion bearing, but since I am going this far, and my seals are leaking, hence diff fluid in the axle, I figured, I would go through everything.
Stuck. My birfield, which is supposed to be a first generation heat treated longfield, won't pull out. I can't get the flat spots aligned at 12 and 6 because it will only rotate a few degrees. I have lots of play in and out, and I can move it around in the socket though it does bind up at some angles.

this is on the passenger side. Axle housing looks straight. I can't see any damage to the birfield.

There's a true trac locker up front, I have both wheels off the ground, but I did try with driver side down at first. Tried in gear, Neutral, 4H, 4L, etc..

thoughts? similar experiences?

osv

is the other side out? i would be working with everything in neutral, front end on jackstands.

does the front driveshaft rotate all the way around?

i put the front end on jackstands, and first thing, grab the tire top and bottom, and see how much free play there is, then start tearing it apart.

AustinTaco

The other side is still in, but I have both tires off the ground, and most attempts were with the 4runner in neutral, but I tried putting it in gear too and it didn't change anything.
I am working a double shift, but I will go after it again tomorrow.

RBX

Put other tire on the ground to force the passenger side to rotate when you turn the driveshaft.

AustinTaco

RBX, thanks. That sort of worked. It just got me to try different combinations of wheel up, wheel on the ground, etc... What worked for me, in case anyone else has this issue: Opposite wheel up, hub locked on opposite wheel. Turning the opposite tire turned the driveshaft and the birfield I was trying to remove. Once it was lined up with flat spots at 12 and 6, it pulled right out...and apart from the inner axle shaft.