So someone took the tires off the junkyard car, I had to scrounge for a decent GM spare tire jack (instead of those flimsy import ones), lift the car up, break the rusty bolts free on the diff cover, crawl among bugs and odd looking plants...

And the pinion lock bolt snapped. The guy at the yard said I could try taking a cold chisel to it and splitting the center in half... that would free up the pinion shaft. But there's not much room to move on that junkyard floor. It'd be hard to swing a BFH to drive out the pinion shaft. So I was thinking; what if I can get a drill in there, and drill out the shaft itself. Sound like an idea? Don't really care what happens to this center; it's an open diff anyway. What kind of bit would I use for that shaft?

Then my only problem would be getting a power wire long enough from their office "shack" to the car. Maybe it's time to get a 1000 foot extension cord from Home Depot!

 

Easiest way i've found to bastardize that pinion shaft out is with a cut off tool / dremel (with HD wheel). Just cut into it right on both sides of the pin.

I reckon you could try drilling it too, but thats a big hole you'd need to make to be sure you were takjing out the whole cross bolt.

 

Excuse me for being a bit ignorant here... what's an HD wheel? And by cutting into it on both sides of the pin, you mean to shear the sides of the bolt off? Would I cut into the pin or the center case itself?

And yeah, that is a big hole... plus I don't know how easy it'll be to get air (cut off tool) or power (drill) out of the junkyard office to the car. A 100 foot electrical cord is enough of a hassle; never mind a 100 foot air line. (And that's if it's only 100 feet away!)

 

If the bolt broke and left just the tip (long straight end in there) which has happened several times when I have pulled them. just drill a Hole between the unit and pin joint where the bolt was,then work it out with a small screwdriver.

 

flyin89, so I'd be spinning the bolt by it's side with a screwdriver? I assume I'd be drilling in the direction of the pinion shaft, but at the edge, where the bolt is?

It's times like this that I wish the axle was in my backyard instead of under a junkyard car...

 

Actually you would just be wedging it out little by little. This method will only work if it broke off at the end of the threads(Re: No threads holding the rest of the pin in it.

 

Just beat ot the cross pin with a big hammer and a long metal bar, it will break the carrier housing a little. I had to do it once and I still use the carrier.