How To: Replace IRS Hub and Axle

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Grandpa_spec_au’s guide to Replacing the Rear hub and Axle in an AU IRS.

Ok well it’s been a long time coming but I've finally gotten around to putting together a “How To” guide on removing the rear hub and axle on an AU with IRS. Bear in mind this was done over the course of 2 weeks or so when I had the time between uni and work so a lot of the photos (if not all) were taken at nighttime, my best mate and I slaving away as illustrated below.

First things first, you will need:
- Socket set with 10mm, 15mm, 18mm and 21mm (deep socket)
- Spanners of the same size (or additional socket set, we used a shifter and a multigrip because we’re cheap)
- Car jack stands
- Diff jack or other means to lift the car
- Hammer (for those stubborn bits)
- Phillips head screw driver
- Breaker bar (or a long heavy duty screwdriver)
- Wheel chocks
- A clear space around you to curse freely
- Additional options: A helping hand (almost a must), cigarettes, beer, soft drink, chips, music etc.

Now that the supplies are gathered we can begin.

I have had various people advise to drain the diff oil before doing this however I chose not to and I’ve driven roughly 5000k’s and not a hitch so far.
First off you will need to place wheel chocks under the front tyres to ensure the car does not move.

Place the car in “Neutral” and then take the hand brake off. Loosen the rear wheel nuts off then jack the car up and place it on jack stands, proceed to take the tyre off. Although the image below is hard to make out, we placed the stands just slightly forward of the diff.



The next step is to take off the brake caliper, which has two 15mm bolts holding it in place from behind.



To save hassle we simply zippy tied the caliper up as seen below. This is not recommended, and removing it would be best practice however for now we will ignore this discrepancy.



Next we have to remove the handbrake cable. There are other threads on how to do this but a picture is included for reference.

We also removed the bracket that was holding it to make things easier. (Phillips head IIRC)



You now need to remove the retaining screws holding the rotor on. These are Phillips head screws and can clearly be seen when looking directly at the rotor. Mine was missing which was a tad worrying however you can get them from Ford for around $3 per screw.

Once you have removed these you will need to provide some (gentle) persuasion to remove the rotor from the hub assembly. A tap from behind will see it quickly pop off. (For further assistance see the “Useful AU Threads” section on removing rotors)

Now the fun begins!

We used a diff jack to do this but another form of support could also be used. The main thing here is to ensure the hub is being supported.



Using your 18mm socket, loosen off the top bolt and nut using one socket or tool to undo the nut and the other to hold the bolt in place.



Now using the 21mm socket, loosen off the bottom bolt with the same procedure. It was so seized up that we had to use the pipe from the diff jack to squeeze our socket into for better leverage.



See: Stupidity



Ensure that these are both only loose at this stage as you do not want to remove them until you have someone ready to take the weight off the hub. With both bolts now loose, remove the nut on the end of the tie rod with a 15mm socket. (Ignore wherever that hand is pointing)



Now you will need to get under the car and follow the axle to the diff where you will see a ring with a bunch of teeth on it, there lies your ABS sensor which will need to be removed with a 10mm socket. Below is a picture of where it is normally mounted, the module will have a wire running off it, take the time to clean the sensor off while you’re at it as they get gunked up pretty easily.



Ok so here is the part that gave us the most grief. Undo and remove the top and bottom bolt from the hub and carefully wiggle it away from the upper and lower arms so that it is free, also ensure your tie rod is well out of the way.

For this part I held the hub up myself and got my mate to go under the car, then lowered and moved the jack out of the way, however as long as the hub is supported you should be ok doing this by yourself. Place the breaker bar / heavy duty screwdriver between the diff housing and the ABS ring and pull/push so that it is levering the axle away from the car. There is a retaining clip inside that holds on for dear life so ensure to apply a fair bit of pressure but don’t break anything!



Your axle (if everything goes accordingly) should “pop” out, and you can now proceed to slide this out gently from the diff. If you are going to leave it for any time plug the hole with a rag of some sort

The installation of the new hub and axle is simply a reverse of the above, slide the axle in and make sure you have it all the way in and that it is sitting correctly.

Jack up or get your helper to hold the hub up and reattach the upper arm first (do not tighten up yet) so that the hub has some support, then reattach the lower arm (we used the diff jack to help it into place).

Replace the ABS sensor you removed.

Replace the tie rod and then the handbrake cable.

Tighten up the upper and lower bolts from the previous step as well as the tie rod nut.

Replace the rotor and ensure to put the retaining screw back into place.

Replace brake caliper and ensure screws are done up tight (as one of my bolts fell out and almost caused a major disaster)

Replace wheel, jack up car, remove jack stands, lower car, enjoy your beer :

A major thank you has to be given to the following people:
Aufairmontghia
MrHardware
RG
Ronwest

Without their help I would have been extremely lost and confused.

I would also like to thank the other members of the forum who provided their input.

Car was a Sept 1998 Ford AU Fairmont Ghia