I am installing a PowerTrax posi unit in my diff. and the retainer bolt/roll pin that holds in the pinion shaft broke off in the carrier.

Needless to say I can't push in the axles to remove the c-clips with that shaft in. I can't remove it since it snapped off. There are a few threads left in the carrier that are holding the retainer bolt in.

With the angle involved, there is no feasible way to get a drill bit in there to drill it and/or get an Easy-Out in there to remove it.

I am royally screwed until I get this thing outta there.

My friends and I have even tried pounding on the shaft with a sledge hammer and drive pin, hoping to shear off the bolt, but it's obviously too strong.

Any ideas? I'm pretty much open to any, short of taking the entire rear end outta the car. Although I will if necessary. I honestly fail to see how that would do any good though.

Thanks in advance,

AJ

 

ouch, you are in one hell of a mess if it broke off inside. hate to say it but with the way you have to get at that bolt, your gonna have a long struggle getting that thing out. do yourself a favor when you get it out, use some medium grade loctite on the threads of that bolt when putting it back together, ive seen the results of the pin comming loose and it wasnt pretty.

 

Any chance you could cut a grove with a die grinder and cutting wheel then use a screwdrive tip 3/8" socket and "unscrew" it?

 

That is absolutely amazing because the exact same thing happened to me last week when I was installing my Powertrax!!!!

Are you sure there are threads left on the bolt? Mine broke off just below the threads, which made the situation a lot more complicated. If there still threads on the bolt, you might try taking a small precision slot-head screwdriver and banging the hell out of it with a sledge hammer into the end of the bolt. If you're lucky, it will put an indention in the bolt and you can unscrew it.

If there are no threads on the bolt, you can do what I did. I simply pounded the pinion shaft (from the retaining bolt side) with the sledge hammer using a socket extension. If you pound on it enough it will chip away the end and you can see the bolt. Then I used a screwdriver to slide it out as far as it would go. It still wasn't far enough to reach, so I blew compressed air into the hole I'd made, and the bolt shot out the end. Presto!

This technique is obviously only to be used if you don't mind destroying the pinion shaft. You'll have to use the one from the kit anyway, so no big loss. Let me know if this works for you...