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Is it possible to remove this axle without removing (or at least lowering part of) the exhaust? It appears to me the answer is "no". Mine is a 1999 AWD. Thank You in Advance.
Was just under mine..(2000) looking.....from what I experienced on the left side, it appears that maybe lowering the exhaust may work....not enough room to remove without doing something...
You may not have to remove the exhaust completely. You could try pulling the rear part off the rubber bushings. There are two right behind the bumper holding the muffler up, another by the axle and I think one more just in front of the gas tank. That might give you enough room to get the axle out. I would support the exhaust with some bungies at all those point. If you put all that weight on the front pieces, you could bend or break something.
If the muffler section comes off easily (mine did) that would take a good bit of weight off to try this trick.
If you do try to pull the exhaust off the rubber supports, spray them with WD-40 to make them slick.
Well my exhaust has been repaired at least a couple of times. If there ever was a flange between the resonator section and the muffler, it is gone now. Replaced by a welded in repair.
The hangars are in pretty bad shape as well. So much so that I am afraid to try to unbolt them. Below is photo of the hangers on the rear of the muffler.
Ideally the whole exhaust should be replaced at least from the flex pipe back. But I am not sure I want to spend that much on it right now, after buying axles to fix the ABS/speedometer.
What I am thinking to get by is to just cut out the welded section plus a couple more inches. That would give me room to remove the axle. Then repair it with just a short piece of replacement tube and some old school muffler clamps. Not ideal, but I am thinking good enough until I decide to replace the resonator and muffler. I have not cut anything yet. I will wait to see what kind of advice I get here.
You can get a Walker resonator for quite cheap, I believe I bought it from Amazon last year for around $50. Only thing is you'll need to weld it onto the catalytic converter, if you aren't already replacing that. I went with clamps since I also bought the walker CAT, which slips right into it.
Is there not enough room for you to just slip the muffler and rest of the exhaust off of the rubber hangers (not touching the bolts) as suggested by thaeleelyr above? Just spray some silicon lube on it, and give it a wiggle.
You can get a Walker resonator for quite cheap, I believe I bought it from Amazon last year for around $50. Only thing is you'll need to weld it onto the catalytic converter, if you aren't already replacing that. I went with clamps since I also bought the walker CAT, which slips right into it.
Is there not enough room for you to just slip the muffler and rest of the exhaust off of the rubber hangers (not touching the bolts) as suggested by thaeleelyr above? Just spray some silicon lube on it, and give it a wiggle.
Hypervish: what kind of clamp did you use to do that? I was thinking of replacing mine with the Walker but I didn't want to pay someone to weld the two pieces together. Did you have to seal the joint with something?
Pzindy: yes, it does look like you are missing the flange to which I was referring. Instead of cutting there, you could disconnect the exhaust further up by the cat, which should have another flange. On my vehicle there is significantly less rust towards the front and these were bolts that I could get out with penetrating oil.
If it's any consolation, my rear muffler hangers look WAY worse than yours. They are still holding on all right and I was able to easily slip the rubber part off the post. I took my entire exhaust off one year just by unbolting and slipping the rubber parts off - no need to remove the metal brackets at all.
Hypervish: what kind of clamp did you use to do that? I was thinking of replacing mine with the Walker but I didn't want to pay someone to weld the two pieces together. Did you have to seal the joint with something?
05-01-16, 02:07 PM
right side rear axle removal question
