stub axle

[Mektek]

I'm in the process of overhauling the axle disconnect. I couldn't remove the cv axle so I separated the tripot and removed the disconnect with it in place. The stub axle came out with the assembly and gear oil is dripping out.
I thought that the stub axle would stay in the differential. The stub axle appears to be attached to the disconnect and can't be easily pulled out.

Did I do something wrong?

 

[xavierny25]

I'm not sure how you attempted to remove it while on the truck. The way I and many of use here remove them is by lifting the front end on Jack stands and getting under the truck. You can use a multiple of different objects (pry bar, long extension, screw driver) and a bfh. On the tripod there are 3 different spots you can lay the edge of the object on and take a few wacks at. I usually get it with the first wack if not I turn the cv axle a little to get to the next spot and give it another go and it should come out. If not turn it to the next spot till eventually it come loose.

There shouldn't be axle gear oil on that side so I think your axle seal on the oil pan side is shot.

 

[Mooseman]

It can take a good smack to get the axle out of the disconnect. When you remove the disconnect, the shaft inside should stay in the oil pan, keeping the differential sealed on the other side. If it's stuck to the disco, then it might be damaged and stuck to the disco's internal gear. This could happen if the shaft is stripped, which happens quite a bit, especially with the AWD trucks.

Stripped Intermediate Shaft

 

[Mektek]

Things rarely go exactly as they should. The stub axle was really stuck inside the disco and I could not pull it out by hand. But when I first pushed it in, then it came out easily. For the tripot housing, I split the disco and hammered it out from behind. Not the "proper" method, but it worked.
There was no damage inside, and very little wear to the internal parts - surprising for 230k mi.

I would have liked to replace the gear that the cv axle goes into, since there was some pitting in the area where the bearing rolls. It was minor enough that I used fine sandpaper to polish it smooth.
Is there a GM part number for that gear?
Only the outer grease seal was totally cracked and I already had a replacement for that.

For those that don't want to go through the greasy messy process of refurbing the disco, fleabay has new ones for $120.

Is this orange and brown stuff what the OEM grease is supposed to look like? I replaced it with Duralube gold synthetic grease - looks much better.

I am no longer a disco newbie

 

[Mooseman]

This article shows how to rebuild the disco and has the part numbers:
Disconnect rebuild (OffRoadTB.com)

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

I need to buy a new or rebuild a spare and with the price down to under $110 new i am not sure i can buy the seals n washers n bearings even having a housing and sleeve and justify the time to do a rebuild.