Reddit mentions: The best axle tools

Having had a VW of that vintage, straight cash is best.

In all seriousness, this is useful in a couple of ways, other wise a gift card or something from the VW (Jbugs and the like) catalogs would be awesome, since it's unclear what the van will need.

Some gift ideas (disclaimer, it's my website): http://truckdrivergifts.com


Personally the gifts I would love most to receive would be either a Sta-Rat Tandem Release Tool or Audible.com gift certificate.

Yes! That. But hey, don't forget that it changed after 2004. 2005+ has a different one!

I actually made my own of the first style, with a piece of pipe and a flange. But it doesn't work with the second style, there's not a big enough flange to drive the seal in.

You are going to need the hub seal tool. Depending on year you'll need this. That hub seal you need, and your 4x4 wont work right if its not on there. Needs to be airtight fit.

2005+

https://www.amazon.com/OTC-6698-Knuckle-Installer-Current/dp/B004FZCH70/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=6.0+hub+seal+installer&qid=1570149049&sr=8-2


99-2004

https://www.amazon.com/OTC-6695-Shaft-Installer-1998-2004/dp/B0015PKC5W/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=6.0+hub+seal+installer&qid=1570149049&sr=8-1

2015 Scion TC with a clutch 100% smoked at ~30k last month. I did it for about $800, local shops in the area wanted about $1200. Should have thought a few more moments about it, but I needed a little money. Took about a week and a half in the guys garage on weeknights. Parts were $75 flywheel, $150 clutch kit, $30 MTF oil, and $30 for two axle nuts. However, there are a lot of tools you need.

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You had to remove the battery, remove intake, loosen three motor mounts, disconnect the ball joints, drop the lower control arms, remove the sway bar, pull both axles, drop the steering rack...just so I could drop the sub frame, support the transmission, then drain the transmission fluid, and drop the three motor mounts I loosened. Then, you can go ahead and pull the transmission to take the clutch apart. Job took 11 hours...with about 9 hours in delays, and gave him a free oil change (labor) since I had to pull everything else apart anyway. The hardest part was lining everything back together again.

The threads on the axles weren't great, so I had to re-thread both axles with a re-threading die I borrowed from a machine shop at my old work. However, apparently I can do clutch jobs on 98% of all vehicles now. Got one of the hardest out the way. It all depends on the vehicle, it can be a $300 labor job to a $1000 labor job.

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Budget double the time you think it will take for your first time, make sure you torque the most important bolts...flywheel bolts, clutch plate, axle nuts...to spec with a torque wrench (ideally all bolts torqued), use appropriate strength loctite, and have the correct tool to pop the axles out of the tranny. With the right tool, it literally takes 30 seconds with a shim and a hammer to pull an axle. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/OEMTOOLS-27305-Axle-Popper-Fork/dp/B01N5SP368

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You're going to need some real tools - like a ratchet set, including some sort of torque wrench.

There's no way you're getting an axle loose with just an L Allen key alone. You'd need a cheater pipe. And then you still have no proper way to torque it when you re-install it.

You can get a 22mm Allen socket for $8 US. It's not the best one ever, but it'll work just fine for home gamer duty.

Various companies also make 4 size allens for axle removals. They also need a ratchet to work - but usually fit 17, 19, 22, and 24 mm allens

If you're running a tighter budget - look into beam style torque wrenches. They cost a fraction of clicker type torque wrenches and do the job just fine. Their down side is being a bit awkward to use.