[PhillT]

Today seemed like a good day to replace the outer CV joint boot that got staked last weekend.
Easy job I thought.....undid all the required nuts, bolts, ball-joint etc, prized out the drive shaft from the differential with a tyre lever as per the w/shop manual, came out easily, BUT...I look at the end of the shaft only to find half of the snap-ring on the shaft!!!! It had lived up to it's name, “Snap-Ring” and snapped in two!!!
You guessed it, the other half must be in the diff.
What to do next????? Take the diff out of course, so proceeded to do that and finally got it out. (Have no idea how I am ever going to get it back into position again as it was a bitch to wriggle out).
Have spent the last hour tipping, bumping & shaking the bloody diff to get the half clip to settle on the bottom of the case so I can retrieve it with a hook wire or magnet, but that is just not going to happen. (Tried poking a magnetic retrieval tool in there and poking around)
Any one with experience of this please let me know how you got yours out because I really do NOT want to split the diff to retrieve it.

[Scrawny]

Can you see it at all? It's always a pain retrieving dropped or broken bits from hard-to-get-to places

[PhillT]

ScrawnC wrote:

Can you see it at all? It's always a pain retrieving dropped or broken bits from hard-to-get-to places

If I could see it, I could get it.

[Scrawny]

Is it somewhere in the housing?

[PhillT]

ScrawnC wrote:

Is it somewhere in the housing?

That is what I am guessing. It sure didn't come out with the shaft, and it is not in the side bit where the shaft goes in.

[royce]

pfft clips are soft, teeth are strong

but I reckon it will be inside teh hemisphere cause thats where is normally sits youll be splitting it I reckon

FWIW, no need to pull the whole shaft out, you need to remove the inner CV to get the boots off anyway so just slip that boot back and pull the retaining clip off

[PhillT]

royce wrote:

pfft clips are soft, teeth are strong

So it seems

but I reckon it will be inside teh hemisphere cause thats where is normally sits youll be splitting it I reckon

I was afraid that it is the only option. I cannot figure out why it will not drop to the bottom though. I can't think of anything that would catch it & hold it.
I'll try a bit more shaking tomorrow, then bite the bullet & dis-assemble it.
I wish I could lock the air-clutch thingy while it is apart. I have FWHs and don't want the 4WD on the fly option anyway.

FWIW, no need to pull the whole shaft out, you need to remove the inner CV to get the boots off anyway so just slip that boot back and pull the retaining clip off

I was following the W/shop manual, but now I think about what you are saying, it was never necessary to take it out. I wish the manual had stated that. Would have saved all this bloody drama.
Mind you, it will be worth it if someone says I can disable the air clutch thingy.

[royce]

yeah you can, but its a tad fiddly and needs a few bits from a few different vits to do it

[PhillT]

royce wrote:

yeah you can, but its a tad fiddly and needs a few bits from a few different vits to do it

That sounds like replacing the air clutch bits with std. bits???
I was thinking more along the lines of replacing the diaphragm bit with a rigid rod to hold the clutch engaged permanently.

[royce]

yeah you replace the while hemisphere with a Vitara one (or an airlocker) and fit freewheeling hubs

the sticky point is the groove on that cv for that clip is in a different spot on a vitara so the GV cv doesnt clip in it jsut sort of stays in there, I dont know anyone you has had a drama with it, you cant use a vitara CV either

options are to machine a new groove or make up a stub axle like on the passenger side and run 2 passenger shafts

[PhillT]

royce wrote:

yeah you replace the while hemisphere with a Vitara one (or an airlocker) and fit freewheeling hubs

the sticky point is the groove on that cv for that clip is in a different spot on a vitara so the GV cv doesnt clip in it jsut sort of stays in there, I dont know anyone you has had a drama with it, you cant use a vitara CV either

options are to machine a new groove or make up a stub axle like on the passenger side and run 2 passenger shafts

A project for another day, when I find another job, hopefully soon.
I like the option of a rhs shaft like the lhs one. So easy to remove, pity they didn't make them like that from factory.

I split the diff BUT have I got it all out??

It is definitely shorter than the one from the other side shaft.
The ends however look like cut ends not broken ends. They are not sharp or jagged.
One is black & the other is quite like a stainless steel look, so are not from the same batch, or probably not from same supplier, so may well have been different lengths.
As can be seen in the pics, the inside ends of the splined tube that the shafts go into are deep within the crownwheel hub, and as such are almost inaccesable. It was blind luck that it fell out while I was probing around in there with a bent magnetised screwdriver. Had it not, then dis-assembly would have been the only option.
I would not recommend anyone removing the inside shaft to replace a boot, but rather slide the inner boot back and remove the circlip in the inner CV joint, as per what Royce said earlier.
I have learned my lesson the hard way.