Hi all. 1995 854 Turbo.

The boot on my driver's side outer cv joint split open, all the grease was thrown, and the joint developed a click. I decided to replace the halfshaft with a rebuilt unit that arrived this week.

I am trying to get the darn thing out with no luck. I've also broken the cardinal rule of auto repair - I've ended up worse than when I started.

Problem 1:
The Haynes manual says to tap the end of the axle in about half an inch to free it from the hub. I banged on the thing forever, it didn't budge. Getting tired of the "soft mallet" approach, I wacked it with a hammer a few times, and you guessed it, damaged a thread. Not thinking, I decided to try to put it back together and a trashed the threads on the axle nut. Using a file I was able to fix the slightly damaged thread on the axle, but the nut is now trashed, and the nut from the new halfshaft is a different style. So, I am forced to take it apart.

Problem 2:
I decided I would continue on the steps and remove the ball joint. The bolt / nut came out easily, but I cannot get the ball joint out of the socket. I worked at it for over two hours with pry bars, punches, etc. In 2 hours it has come about half way out. I've been fairly careful of the boot, but all bets are off at this point. Any ideas on how to get this thing off? I've tried prying apart the socket, but I can't get anything of a decent size in there, and smaller screw drivers, etc. don't seem to do the job. Any tricks?

Thanks for any advice on this job.

-Dave