Inner CV Axle Puller Slide Hammer Kit for FWD Transaxle

Before a front-wheel-drive transaxle comes out, both inner CV joints have to come out of the differential side gears, and that is where most jobs stall. The stub shaft is held in by a circlip seated in a groove inside the side gear, and years of heat and gear oil varnish weld it in place. Prying on the joint housing with a bar chews up the case, tears the axle seal lip, and on a bad day pops the spider gears loose inside the differential. This kit pulls the shaft straight out along its own centerline, which is the only direction the circlip will let it move.

The set is built around a 10.5 lb, 26 inch slide hammer with an M18 coarse thread nose, roughly twice the head weight of the light-duty hammers sold in most axle kits, so the shock load actually unseats a stuck clip instead of just ringing the axle. Two forked adapters, 48 mm and 63 mm across the throat, slip behind the inner joint housing and sit against the case boss. There is also a threaded external CV adapter for pulling an outer joint off the shaft, a steel cable adapter for awkward angles where a fork will not fit, a 24 inch breaker bar, and a pry bar wrench adapter head.

On the bench or on the lift the sequence is short: drain the transaxle, unbolt the lower ball joint or knuckle so the hub swings out, seat the correct fork between the inner joint and the case, thread the hammer on, and give it two or three firm strikes. The joint walks out with the circlip still on the stub shaft. Replace that circlip and the axle seal every time before the shaft goes back in, and set the new clip with the gap up so it compresses evenly on install.

It fits mainstream front-drive and all-wheel-drive half shafts across GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and VW applications, so the same kit covers a 6T40 in a Malibu, a 4F27E in a Focus, and a 62TE in a minivan. Steel construction throughout, and the hammer nose threads accept standard M18 extension rods if you need more reach into a tight subframe.