[Mgs] rear axle

[Barney Gaylord]

At 07:39 PM 9/30/2008 -0400, Bernd wrote:
>today I decided to eliminate the "clunk" from the differential on my 
>71 MGB wire wheel car. I had ordered the thrust washers and started 
>my disassembly on the tube axle. So far I drained the oil from the 
>differential, took the back plate off the differential and have 
>removed the brake drums and hub's Moss calls them "Hub Extension"

Before you get too carried away there, you only need to pull one half 
shaft to change the thrust washers in the differential.  Last time I 
was involved in this little chore we didn't bother to remove the 
wheel on the other side, and we removed the backing plate and brake 
parts without disassembling much of the brake parts.

>.... my problem is how in the world do you extract the ax el 
>shafts?, could I put a nut on the half axle and  give the nut a 
>couple of whacks or pull on the nut real hard  to slide the axle out?

Remove the bearing retaining plate, the pull the half shaft with the 
bearing included.

>I see Moss has a Rear Axle puller tool (384-945) available, am 
>I  right in thinking that the axle shaft  is that simple to pull and 
>there is nothing  holding the half shaft in place within the 
>differential ? Also do I have to pull the brake back plate?
>....

You can use a simple slide hammer for pulling.  Remove the drum and 
hub, disconnect the hand brake cable and hydraulic pipe, remove the 
brake backing plate with brake parts still assembled on it, remove 
the bearing cover plate, then pull the halfshaft out about an inch to 
clear the differential gear.  Find details and photo of the whole 
process here: http://chicagolandmgclub.com/photos/b_clunk

Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://MGAguru.com