[straycat22]

I was wondering if someone could help me out ? I want to change gears in my cougar, is there a way of telling what splines i have without pulling axles, i've tried pulling them not sure if i'm missing something. I was told just remove the four bolts to the backing plate and axle should come out for some reason it does'nt .any help would be great. thanks

 

[Mark]

Pull!

Pull Hard!

 

[Cougrrcj]

Axle removal

If the axle doesn't come loose easily by just tugging hard, you can either rent an axle puller (looks like a giant slide-hammer dent puller) or just put your drum on loosly backwards amd put a couple of lug nuts on there by just a couple of threads and use your brake drum as a slide-hammer. It works!

 

[Logan]

ooooooooooo...Slide-hammer technique... coool...

I'll have to remember that one.

 

[straycat22]

thanks guys, was'nt sure if i'd not did not loosen something i could not see. I'll try using the drum first thanks again

 

[Cougrrcj]

If the axle is [i]really, really[/i] stuck...

A word of caution, or just plain common sense:

If the axle still won't come out with a couple of light-medium slams with your 'brake-drum slide-hammer axle-remover tool', get a scrap drum and use it! You can bend the relatively thin brake drum flange if you go too wild and you wouldn't want to wreck your own Cougar's drum, eh? I have a spare scrap drum from a car I parted out long ago so I don't feel guilty about wailing on it. Heck, I've even taken a three-pound hammer to that drum to 'encourage' an axle removal.

You can use this method with any crop-out rear like a 8" or 9". Of course, you can't use this method with integral (non-drop-out rears) until you remove those C-clips!