Removal of the left and right drive shafts is carried out as follows:
- Apply the handbrake and engage first gear.
- Loosen the wheel nuts while the vehicle is still raised.
- Remove the cotter pin from the drive shaft, bend back the locking tab on the drive shaft nut and loosen the drive shaft nut. Do not loosen the nut when the vehicle is raised and the handbrake is applied, as this may cut off the brake disc mounting bolts.
- Loosen the drain plug on the gearbox and drain about 1 liter of oil into a clean container. This will prevent any oil from leaking out of the gearbox. Naturally, you can drain all the oil from the gearbox.
- Raise the vehicle and place it on stands so that you can work underneath the vehicle. The stands must be reliable.
- On each side of the wheel suspension, loosen and remove the tie rod bolts from the underside of the steering knuckle and disengage the ball joint pin from the steering knuckle. The steering knuckle has a tension spline, which, however, must not be widened with a screwdriver to facilitate removal of the ball pin. Grasp the steering knuckle as shown in Figure 198 and pull it down. If a wheel is installed, it can be held accordingly. Before performing this work, be sure to ensure that the vehicle is securely supported on jack stands.
- After releasing the ball pin, pull out the protective washer of the joint. It is indicated in Figure 198 by a side arrow. Wrap both ball joints with rags to avoid damaging the drive shaft seals.
- On the right side of the vehicle, unscrew the two torque support nuts (Figure 199) and turn the eccentric heads half a turn from their original position.
- If there is an ABS system, remove the wheel speed sensor from the steering knuckle.
- Pull the bottom of the wheel outward and remove the drive shaft from the wheel hub. First pull the shaft out of the hub, then pull it out from the gearbox side.
- The seal on the inside of the gearbox must be replaced, otherwise, if the seal is poor, oil will leak out of the gearbox.
Figure 198. Releasing the transverse lever from the bottom of the pivot kunak. Pull the lever down in the direction of the large arrow until the ball joint pin is released. The left arrow indicates the hinge protective washer.
Figure 199. Loosen the nuts (1) of the torque support and turn the eccentric heads half a turn (only on the right side of the car).