Rear Axle Strip Down - Part 1

Well if stripping down the front axle was a relatively straightforward affair, then tearing down the rear axle has been anything but!

Rear axle components prior to stripping-down

The first stage was to remove the rear brake calipers and caliper carriers and pads.  As with the front axle the carrier bolts were a bit stubborn but a combination of breaker bar and air spanner managed to get them out.

Rear Brake Caliper and Pads removed

This enabled removal of the rear disc rotor which was accompanied by a pile of knackered handbrake pad linings falling onto the floor!  Fair to say they were completely shot!  More worryingly on the offside hub, the pins holding the handbrake pads in place were bent and had pulled through the brake back plate.  Not sure how to address this - but will put it on the list of things to sort.

Remnants of Handbrake Lining

Brake Rotor off - Loose Handbrake Pads due to missing pins..(found them on floor subsequently looking rather bent......)

Next stage was to remove the large nut from the end of the drive shaft to allow removal from the hub.  Not only is this bad boy torqued up to 220lb/ft but it also is a locknut with some cinches in the thread to grip onto the thread of the drive shaft.  In other words it is a complete sod to remove.

It was also at this point that I realised that Simply Performance, having partially disassembled the rear subframe when they removed the diff for refurbishment, was not as helpful as I first thought. With rear hub carriers separated from the lower wishbones I just could not get enough weight on the carrier to be able to get any decent leverage on the nut.

In the end I had to reassemble the carriers onto the wishbones so that the subframe weight could provide some additional ballast to resist the leverage of trying to undo the nuts.  With the subframe placed on a wooden pallet, a pry bar wedged under the edge of the pallet and and between the wheel studs, my weight on the subframe and with some pre-heating of the axle end with a blow torch, I eventually managed to get enough leverage on the nut to get it to shift!.  At one point I was convinced the swivel pin on the end of my breaker bar was actually going to shear before the nut moved but it did finally shift.  Final removal was assisted with the use of my air spanner.  Then I (simply!!) had to repeat for the other side.

Removal of the drive shaft from the hub could then be undertaken using a 3-legged hub puller and an impact wrench which was a relatively straightforward affair.  By then supporting the hub carriers on a couple of pieces of wood and using a suitably sized impact socket, I knocked the end of the hub out of the rear spacer / ABS ring which allowed removal of the hub.  This also gave access to the rest of the handbrake mechanism to remove the adjuster, springs and remnants of the brake shoes.

Rear Carrier - hub and handbrake shoes removed

Next stage is to finish disassembly of the hubs