Rear half shaft on one side not moving out of axle

Will try that and see if it comes out; it does seem strange that it does not come out when removing the drive flange cause I have been able to remove that particular shaft by only unscrewing and removing the drive flange

Post #11

It will not come out because the splines in the the diff end have twisted some in the bevel gear in the diff,had this problem with a series the other day but they have the advantage of a thread and nut on the end of the half shaft to get a slide hammer onto.
It may be that when/if you get the shaft out a new shaft may not want to go into the bevel gear. [ a second hand slightly worn shaft may solve this problem ]
As James says remove hub and stub axle to get at the half shaft end and be ready to apply plenty of brute force including welding something to grip on the end of the broken shaft. Good luck.

I am totally bemused here...
The OP says the rear half shaft is not broken, so why can't a puller be attached to the outside end?
What is this talk of stub axle - if it's a Rover rear axle, then it's the same as a Disco rear axle and the half shafts (unless broken) are all one piece, are they not?
Have I missed something fundamental here?

Hi Mad Hat Man,In the OP he says he wants to replace the shaft so it must be broken.
I think what he is saying is that he has pulled both rear half shafts and one has come out whole and on the other side only the drive flange has come off [broken off leaving the shaft in the axle. At least that's what I think.

tottot said:

Hi Mad Hat Man,In the OP he says he wants to replace the shaft so it must be broken.
I think what he is saying is that he has pulled both rear half shafts and one has come out whole and on the other side only the drive flange has come off [broken off leaving the shaft in the axle. At least that's what I think.

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But he has said.....

unequalwolf8 said:

The magnet on a rod might not help I think, the shaft still feels as if unbroken. I can only assume that it's somewhat twisted and as such will not move. From what I have read on the web only brute force will get it moving?

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But then again he has said.....

unequalwolf8 said:

I will try the rod tomorrow again, the drive member is welded onto the halfsshaft at the rear. Although for the one not coming out the member has detached from the shaft

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Photo required so we can actually see what OP is talking about

Here's one from me. He can't get a good enough grip on the half shaft to pull it out without damaging it. So if he takes off the stub axle he can grip it where there are no splines or lands for oil seals and bushes.

boguing said:

Here's one from me. He can't get a good enough grip on the half shaft to pull it out without damaging it. So if he takes off the stub axle he can grip it where there are no splines or lands for oil seals and bushes.

Click to expand...

doesnt look like a rear axle to me

You're quite right.

boguing said:

Here's one from me. He can't get a good enough grip on the half shaft to pull it out without damaging it. So if he takes off the stub axle he can grip it where there are no splines or lands for oil seals and bushes.

Click to expand...

Op said the drive member had detached and splines may be worn, add that to splines being potentially twisted then it sounds like the shaft has had it anyway (he also lost drive), sounds like time to weld a nut on the end and use a slide hammer or similar

Plus 1 on that Kwakerman, I had one a few years ago that would not move even when a Tractor was attached to the shaft and the other end of axle chained to RSJ shed stanchion. Put another axle on the Landy instead.
Sometime later just to see I chopped the axle open and found the half shaft was twisted like an old fashion candy stick! And looked welded into the diff,amazing. Diff crown was all distorted as well.

I had a land rover mechanic look at the half shaft and they said the half shaft is okay; When turning the rear drive shaft the half shaft turn s as well. However they find it strange that with the drive flange out its still not possible to slide the halft shaft out. I have bought another drive flange which I put on the half shaft that is not coming out and the truck is driving okay, no knocking sounds etc. Land rover here suggested that I just leave everything as is since the truck is driving with the new drive flange. I am still worried why the half shaft which just slides out of the axle when the drive flange is removed is not behaving as such. I have to use the truck in the coming days in some very challenging conditions and I am worried that something might break when when doing so

is it possible to upload a video? would better explain my problem

If you spent 30 minutes taking the stub axle off, as James and I have suggested, you'd know why the shaft is stuck.

Read my post again,is likely the shaft is twisted and on it's way out and will bust the next time it gets a heavy loading.

Yeah conidered it but not that handy. But maybe I will just give it a try and see what happens. Also fighting with my disco 2 which has developed an issue with the front power window not closing. Have to sort out that one first, car of the missus

But would it just turn normally with another drive flange attached? I drove it at approximately 60km and everything seemed to be okay

My last contribution here I think. Yes, it will turn normally with your new flange. Or the old one. But until you know why it won't come out you won't know how many turns you're going to get until it breaks. As tottot and others have said, it may well be twisted which is why it won't come out the usual way. If it is twisted it's going to break sooner rather than later.

Best to try and get it out before it snaps (while you have a shaft sticking out that you can do something with). If / when it does break you will probably need to drop the diff, do it before it snaps and if you are lucky a replacement shaft may go in without dropping it.