Not quite stumped...

[David Head]

Look at it this way - with the bolts loose its easier to take apart!
Assumes factory rim without immediate access to nut.
break torque on lug bolts
Jack up the car, remove tire, pop out center cover, reinstall wheel,
lower car.
Break torque on axle nut, remove
Jack up car, remove wheel. Remove bolt/nut retaining the outer lower
control arm ball joint.
The method below obviates the need to drop the sway bar:
Take a long (3 foot or better) pry bar/pipe, place it at a 45 degree
angle in front of the wheel well. Insert between the sway bar and the
big u-shaped stamped steel lower suspension piece (can't remember
exactly what its called. There's even a diagonal indentation to help you
locate it.
Down force and jiggling will pop the lower ball joint out of the strut.
2 people is helpful, but not necessary.
Remove inside bolts and remove axle...
If you move the car with the axle removed it will damage the wheel
bearing. That is the issue.


Al Powell wrote:

>So, I'm still contemplating my front drive axles on the 200. Today I get to
>contemplate them in between trips to the smoker; for Easter dinner I'm
>smoking a turkey - that's @6 to 7 hours of smoking with apple wood, along
>with a chicken and pork tenderloin which will get freezer bagged and go into
>cold storage for future dinners.  (Bob Myers, sorry you're so far away or
>I'd invite you over for dinner!) Since those trips to the smoker are far
>between, I get to do mechanical stuff in the interim.
>
>Based on a response from Cobram, I'm theorizing that the design of my front
>axles is a result of Audi parts held over into 1990 from earlier models.
>The 1990 200 is supposed to have a retaining bolt at the brake hub which
>secures each front drive axle, but mine has the (evidently older) axle
>design in which there is a threaded shaft sticking out past the splines
>which interface with the hub.  Pulling the axle requires removing the nut
>and backing the splines out of the hub.  Cobram suggests a re-install torque
>of 210 lbs/ft for the retaining nut, which I can figure out a way to apply
>before re-staking the nut.
>
>Unfortunately, there are still a couple of unresolved questions,  The main
>one is "wheels up or wheels down?"  All my manuals start at 1990 and go
>newer; the 1990 manual says to remove and reinstall the axle with weight ON
>the front wheels, so I'm proceeding that way. OTOH, a Chilton's manual which
>shows a more similar (threaded shaft) axle design on the 80 and 90 says it's
>OK to do it with no weight on the front wheels.  Reinforcement that I'm
>making the right move (maybe from someone who has done this process on a 5K
>series) would be welcomed.  I don't think it will hurt anything to leave
>weight on the wheels as long as nothing moves while the axle's out.
>
>I have the front wheels up on ramps (12,000 pound rating) which give me nice
>working room underneath, although I think that snaking the axle out with
>weight on the front wheels is going to be a bit tight.
>
>One more interesting detail: I got my triple-square sockets and went to
>loosen the inner bolts holding the axle to the transaxle, and all of them
>are LOOSE.  I think the shop that did this same job about a year ago is
>going to hear about it.  It's not their fault that something punctured the
>outer CV boot resulting in a premature axle replacement, but their
>negligence could easily have caused my wife to get stranded 100 miles from
>home when the RF drive axle came loose.  It could have also torpedoed the
>engine with an over-rev.
>
>Time to load the smoker!  Happy Easter!
>***********************
>Al Powell
>Fort Collins, CO
>apowell at gocougs.wsu.edu
>***********************
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