I had a bent one. Got a new one. New one doesnt go into the axle.

They're both driver's side axles.

The bearing race is out.

The new one doesn't fit into the carrier, but I can pull it back out, and take myo ld one and it will slide right in no problem. Take it back out, and try to put the new one in, and it gets stuck an inch before it can properly seat.

I just cant figure out why. Im about to just buy another one.

This is the result of some gentle-moderate persuasion... some big chips on the splines.

Anyone have any ideas why this would happen that make sense?

I know passenger/driver side are different lengths, as I have both removed from the car and this is definitely the right length. But Im getting ready to pull the carrier out of the rear end and see if I can slide it over the new axle outside of the car.

 

When in doubt, you force it?

 

IIRC there are bearings out there that are not correct for the 9 bolt but advertised as being for them... I don't remember if it was here or on another 3rd Gen site that I saw that. They had run into the same issue and it took some searching to get the correct ones.

 

The 9 bolt differential has splines in the axle gears and in the cones. If the splines are not lined up then the axle will not go in. Have someone turn the axle on the other side while you try to push the axle in. When the splines in the cone and gear line up the axle should go in.

 

If I was forcing it, it would be bolted in already. I was tapping it with a rubber mallet while trying to turn it and lean it various directions to see if I could make it line up. I am 98 percent sure all 9 bolts have 28 spline axles that are the same size so I don't see why it wouldn't fit... Hence why I was willing to try a little harder to convince it to go in.

Thats why I checked to see if my old axle would still go in, and it seats in all the way no problem. This confirms that the splines are lined up just fine with the cones. The new axle just wont go in them. And like I said, the bearing race for the old bearing IS out of the axle, so that's not the difference.

The bearing isnt even touching the axle flange yet. It may well be the wrong bearing, but it looks identical to the one that came out. Just a set 9 bearing. I coudlnt find anything more specific than that, but it definitely looks right.

 

I just put it back together with the old axle. Screw it. Its gotta be bent at the spline end or something.

I spent another hour trying to get the new axle in.... tried a bunch of different methods to see if I could get it past whatever was binding in a non-destructive way, and the best I could do was get it more stuck. So I just pulled it back out, put the old axle back in and put it all back together. This axle is clearly haunted or something. Looks like a waste of a hundred bucks at this point. Guess I need to save my pennies and buy some Moser axles or something.