I'm having a hard time switching my driver's side axle.
I'm trying to get the new one in and have several probs:
1. It won't come out of the intermediate shaft at all. Its the new one, yes, but I've been trying to get it out so that maybe it would be easier to put into the hub first. I've tried hammering the expletive out of it at all different ppoints, it won't budge.
2. The inner joint is fucked up somehow. While I was jiggling the axle around trying to get it to slide into the hub, the inner joint got disconnectd or pulled out somehow, and won't go back in. I'm talking about the joint inside the boot. It feels like something slides into place in there, but it won't slide all the way in. So the axle is slightly longer than it should be because of this. What does that inner joint look like, and how do I fix this?
3. The axle won't slide into the hub. I've lubed up the splines on the axle, and inside the knuckle, I've hammered on the hub, and lining up the splines a million times, nothing works.

 

the inner joint is called a tripode joint. YOU MUST REMOVE THE AXLE COMPLETELY AND
AND fiddle with it until it slides back in. i recommend you remove the big clamp on the boot to see exactly what you're dealing with since it's your first time. as for the splines.
don't use a hammer, it isn't necassary and if it is it's not the right axle.

 

Shoot, I have been trying to fix it with the axle still on. The problem is I can't get it off the car again for some reason. If I remove the clamp and boot, won't the grease inside come out?
Are the GSR axles different from other models?

 

gsr's axles are nonthing special; it's the same as other models. if you can't get the inner cv joint off the halft shaft then just unbolt the half shaft and pound the joint out.

 

Ok I just measured the splined sections on both, it looks like my stockers were about 3-4mm longer.
I guess the fact that the autozone replacements didn't have that boot in the middle of the shaft shooulda tipped me off. But the overall lengths were the same so I figured I had the right one. expletive.

 

OK I'm thinking back on it now... the furthest I could get the axle into the hub still left roughly an inch of the threaded section (for the axle nut) inside the spindle.
So, even if the correct axle has a ~4mm longer splined section, the threaded section would still not be long enough. I measured the threaded sections on both of the axles (stock and new), and both were the same length. Any ideas on this?