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I never have any trouble getting the axle out. I usually use two crowbars (one shorter one and one long one), about 180 degrees apart from each other. I usually put some pressure on the shorter one and then give the long one a quick forceful push.

I use one like thishttp://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/pry-bars/2-piece-flat-pry-bar-set-67477.html, and one like thishttp://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/pry-bars/3-piece-pry-bar-set-60682.html

Good luck!

I can't offer any advice because I've never removed my axles from the tranny. However, maybe a tool like this would help:

http://www.steckmfg.com/71410_AxlePopper.html

I've thought about buying it so that I have it when I need it. Up until now, my car has somehow always managed to be at the CSR's shop when I thought it was time to service the CV joints. Pretty convenient, since servicing CV joints is a messy, unpleasant job at home. In a shop with a "major league" parts washer, it's probably not too bad.

Yeah, the good news is you didn't have to go through this at the track.

I've had one stick after the axel broke. Galling stuck the CV to the mating part in the tranny. IIRC the CV had to be cut and the case split to facilitate repairs.

dave wrote:There are slide-hammer CV joint tools that work,

I use a gear puller attached to a slide hammer.

Well, I borrowed this tool http://www.stockwiseauto.com/product_in ... QgodegUAjg from my friend Charlie's shop and yanked as hard as I could on the slide hammer but nothing happened. I like the look of that axle popper tool. Kind of like a ball joint separating tool That looks like it would work. Goolsbey's tool looks like it would work too. Charlie is going to come over tomorrow and see if he has any tricks. He told me he got an axle out once by wrapping it with a chain, tying the chain to the trailer hitch of another car and driving away to yank it out with the chain. That won't work here of course, but maybe we'll figure out something. All I want to do is service the CV joint so I may just end up pulling the boot off, shoving some grease in there and trying to seal the boot back up to the tulip. But there's not much room to get a crimper tool in there to tighten up the CV boot clamp.

hankraymond wrote:Well, I borrowed this tool http://www.stockwiseauto.com/product_in ... QgodegUAjg from my friend Charlie's shop and yanked as hard as I could on the slide hammer but nothing happened. I like the look of that axle popper tool. Kind of like a ball joint separating tool That looks like it would work. Goolsbey's tool looks like it would work too. Charlie is going to come over tomorrow and see if he has any tricks. He told me he got an axle out once by wrapping it with a chain, tying the chain to the trailer hitch of another car and driving away to yank it out with the chain. That won't work here of course, but maybe we'll figure out something. All I want to do is service the CV joint so I may just end up pulling the boot off, shoving some grease in there and trying to seal the boot back up to the tulip. But there's not much room to get a crimper tool in there to tighten up the CV boot clamp.

Why does your CV joint need serviced? Do you lose a lot of grease out of the boot, or is the boot torn? Otherwise, it's best to leave it alone.

kurtbob wrote:

hankraymond wrote:Well, I borrowed this tool http://www.stockwiseauto.com/product_in ... QgodegUAjg from my friend Charlie's shop and yanked as hard as I could on the slide hammer but nothing happened. I like the look of that axle popper tool. Kind of like a ball joint separating tool That looks like it would work. Goolsbey's tool looks like it would work too. Charlie is going to come over tomorrow and see if he has any tricks. He told me he got an axle out once by wrapping it with a chain, tying the chain to the trailer hitch of another car and driving away to yank it out with the chain. That won't work here of course, but maybe we'll figure out something. All I want to do is service the CV joint so I may just end up pulling the boot off, shoving some grease in there and trying to seal the boot back up to the tulip. But there's not much room to get a crimper tool in there to tighten up the CV boot clamp.

Why does your CV joint need serviced? Do you lose a lot of grease out of the boot, or is the boot torn? Otherwise, it's best to leave it alone.

I just figured that pulling the axles and greasing the CV joints was part of the yearly off-season maintenance that I should do every year. Isn't that something most people do in the break between racing seasons? Isn't that just standard yearly maintenance?

hankraymond wrote:

kurtbob wrote:

hankraymond wrote:Well, I borrowed this tool http://www.stockwiseauto.com/product_in ... QgodegUAjg from my friend Charlie's shop and yanked as hard as I could on the slide hammer but nothing happened. I like the look of that axle popper tool. Kind of like a ball joint separating tool That looks like it would work. Goolsbey's tool looks like it would work too. Charlie is going to come over tomorrow and see if he has any tricks. He told me he got an axle out once by wrapping it with a chain, tying the chain to the trailer hitch of another car and driving away to yank it out with the chain. That won't work here of course, but maybe we'll figure out something. All I want to do is service the CV joint so I may just end up pulling the boot off, shoving some grease in there and trying to seal the boot back up to the tulip. But there's not much room to get a crimper tool in there to tighten up the CV boot clamp.

Why does your CV joint need serviced? Do you lose a lot of grease out of the boot, or is the boot torn? Otherwise, it's best to leave it alone.

I just figured that pulling the axles and greasing the CV joints was part of the yearly off-season maintenance that I should do every year. Isn't that something most people do in the break between racing seasons? Isn't that just standard yearly maintenance?

I'm not sure what others do, but the grease in the CV joints is meant to be permanent. If a boot gets torn, then contamination through the split can do major damage. In that case, the whole joint must be torn apart, cleaned and inspected before regreasing.

Adding more grease than is necessary can actually cause some problems. I used to be an engineer at a CV axle manufacturing plant; we used a set amount of grease during the assembly of each joint.

kurtbob wrote:

hankraymond wrote:

kurtbob wrote:Why does your CV joint need serviced? Do you lose a lot of grease out of the boot, or is the boot torn? Otherwise, it's best to leave it alone.

I just figured that pulling the axles and greasing the CV joints was part of the yearly off-season maintenance that I should do every year. Isn't that something most people do in the break between racing seasons? Isn't that just standard yearly maintenance?

I'm not sure what others do, but the grease in the CV joints is meant to be permanent. If a boot gets torn, then contamination through the split can do major damage. In that case, the whole joint must be torn apart, cleaned and inspected before regreasing.

Adding more grease than is necessary can actually cause some problems. I used to be an engineer at a CV axle manufacturing plant; we used a set amount of grease during the assembly of each joint.

One time I started to get a vibration so I came in immediately and pulled the boots off the CV joints and found one was dry. That was the first time I ever looked in there since I bought the car. Other drivers in the paddock told me, "Yeah, you need to grease those CV joints every year with that red Mobil 1 synthetic grease." So I started doing that. Greasing it stopped the vibration and I've been greasing them in the off season since that (twice) and haven't had problems since. What kind of problem would too much grease cause? I understand that in a manufacturing plant you would use a set amount of grease. That makes perfect sense, but I' surprised that using more than that could cause problems.