I have been able to replace/remove drive shafts from my previous cars and never I have encountered such problems as I am with my Evo. I have tried removing the drive shaft by rotating the spindle back and forth, pushing in and out and it will not budge. I even ended up pulling out the whole thing (not by choice) minus the coupler that is still stuck the the tranny. Is there something I am doing wrong? Usually a couple of rotations back and forth and it would just come off on ther cars, but this one seems like it is locked in there really good. I even ended up putting a needle hole in the ball joint . Any direction will be greatly appreciated.

 

Hit it with a mallet

 

Hahaha....tried that too..no go...thx

 

Ok, so after a couple hours and calling all my Evo buddies, it turns out the drive shaft is real pita to take out and it needs to be pried out with some form of crow bar. Luckily I posses a small pry bar and within half hour the shaft was out along with the transmission fluid. So for you guys that will need to replace your drive shaft any time soon, make sure have have an oil pan ready, pry bar and enough clearance to pry that sucker out. Save yourself the headache and be cautious of your ball joint as it does get in the way of your work and unlike me, you can save yourself money of having to replace it. Now I have to dish out $175 for a used control arm because of this crap. Alright im done here.

 

Are you talking about the drive shaft or drive axle? Axles nearly always need to be pried out if their the c-ring locking type found on evos. The drive shaft on the other hand easily slides out the rear of the TC case. Either way its usually a good idea to drain the fluids from either the tranny or TC.

 

Yeah, it was a tough lesson to learn. I was able to remove/replace the old driveshaft as well as do the tc and rear diff fluid change. With this being my first Evo, i got to learn something new.