I was in the process of removing my axles to figure out what spline they are when i ran into a problem. I got it up in the air and took the cover off and drained the fluid. then took out the pinion shaft bolt. But only like a quarter of the bolt came out. the rest is broken off inside of it. So now i cant remove the shaft to free the axles. Is there any way of removing the rest of the bolt without destroying anything. And does anyone what spline axles are in my rear end. Its an 84 firebird and has 3.08 gears non posi.

Going on the hope it's the original rear end you are workin with 26 spline.. a bit newer would be 28 spline.. if you cant save that rear i'd recommend going to a newer model 3rd or 4th gen. 28 spline 3.23 or better will get you a stage 3 carrier [posi]

There is a special tool that's made to get these out. I can't find the link to it right now, but I'll post it later if I find it. This is a very common problem.

Check post #17 of the following link for the tool:

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tr...ing-axles.html (Tips/Tricks for Installing Axles, Bearings, Seals)

JamesC

thanks. ive never seen this happen before

I had this happen to an axle I put in my C/K pickup. I tore it apart to put a locker in it, and the bolt was broken like yours. That tool looks pretty nice, wish I would have had it when this happened, however, I will throw out my method as well. I have to credit my girlfriend, she was the one who came up with the idea.

I tried to drill into the bolt remnant to get an easy-out into it, but because the bolt is hardened (or I have REALLY crappy drill bits) and I was only able to make a small divot. My girlfriend came up with the idea to use a chicken skewer (little short one, about 3 inches long or so) to grab the lip of the divot I had made. One of us wiggled the pinion shaft while the other slowly unscrewed the rest of the bolt using the skewer to rotate it.

Good luck!