Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tonlaw71]

So, here's my story....

I was replacing the driver side ball joint the other day and noticed that the CV boot on my axle was blown and was spraying sticky grease all over the wheel well. Since I had watched Ian replace my old axles with some used ones up at Russ's place, I figured I could go ahead and get a brand new axle and replace it myself.

So, I head over to the Auto Hobby Shop on Scott Air Force Base and rent a bay. It's freezing outside, but nice and toasty in the bay!! About an hour later, I have the new axle in, tranny fluid refilled and am ready to go! I pull out, drive around the block to the Commissary and everything seems fine, so far.

Unfortunately, the next left turn turns out to be my last. I put it into 1st, start to pull away from the stop light and all forward motion stops. Everything is running fine, but the Capri just sits there and laughs as I try in vain to get out of the massive flow of traffic trying to leave the base for the day. The closet safe place to pull off the road is about a 1/4 mile away, so I get a nice workout pushing the car into a nearby parking area.

Once I get it stopped, I tear apart the driver side again, thinking I hadn't gotten the axle pushed all the way into the trans-axle case. Pop it back into place (I thought)and try to move the car. No joy.

So, to make a long story even longer, ended up calling road side assistance and had the car towed to the nearest Ford service center (which is as far as the insurance would pay to take it) and am told they are going to charge $101 just to tell me what's wrong. NO WAY!! So I am going to have to go rent a car dolly from U-Haul and tow it home.

My question is, would not having the axle fully seated cause the problem that I had?

Thanks for reading my ramblings and I hope I didn't ruin anything, cuz I really love my Capri.

[bhazard]

Probably.

[Gostlrs]

If it was not fully seated..you would be leaking a bunch of fluid as well.

I actually drove one that had the incorrect one on it and the car moved fine...

they gave us a NA for the turbo....

it just leaked a bunch and was not secured but car moved fine and leaked a bunch..

wondering if your clutch decided it was done?

[rcdraco]

You would think if the axle wasn't seated properly it wouldn't be able to be pushed though without taking the axle out.  Sounds like it could be that diff thing rocket was talking about a week ago.  

If the axle was causing it not to move, pushing it would be impossible.

[Rocketman]

If the axle popped out completely theres a remote chance a spider gear would have fallen out of the diff into the case.

The car won't move at all now?

[tonlaw71]

Thank you for all the input. The car will not move under its own power. It's like it is permanently in neutral. I can push it just fine. I also forgot to mention that the fluid was leaking horribly which is what led to me to believe the axle wasn't seated all the way.

[Rocketman]

Was the axle indeed popped out when you took it apart? If not, your diff could have 'sploded and sent spiders thru the case as has happened to me in the past. Any noises when you try to move forward? Can you shift thru all the gears, and feel a solid engagement?

[tonlaw71]

The axle pulled out awful easy when I took it apart again. No noticeable noise when i try to move forward. I can feel the shifter engage thru all the gears including reverse. I will know more tomorrow when I get the car home and I will let you know more then. Thanks again.

[tonlaw71]

All is good in the Capri world!! I got the car towed home, pulled everything apart and reseated that axle. It was definitely not in all the way the first time! She drives like a dream again!

Thanks for all the info, everybody. That's what keeps me coming back to you guys for help.

[Surfnut]

Good for you Tony !  I'm really glad to hear it was a relatively easy fix.

Dave

[tonlaw71]

Yep. Drove it into work tonight without a problem, so now on to the next project!  

[shoeish]

How do you not have the spider gears fall?  What is the trick?

[Rocketman]

All you need is to leave one axle in the transmission - that will support both spiders. They'll actually stay on their own pretty well as long as you are not knocking the transmission around, or starting the car without the axles installed. (even in neutral they'll still drop)

I run wire thru the axle ports and tie it off so the spiders can't go anywhere

[PCFree]

I found that a sawed off broom stick handle inserted in place of the axles holds everything in place.