CV boot change > axle fell out > gearbox dumped > "problem"

[Prostheta]

Well, there you go. So this all started out as a CV boot swap.

Followed the YouTube video for weekend fun and the like:


Fast forward to the bit at 3:15 (parting CV joint with a hammer), and cue the entire axle coming right out of the gearbox and dumping liquid fun all over my brother-in-law's drive. Nice.

Add into that, the circular clip splitting. Even better.

So, we fabricobbled a new spring clip out of a keyring and managed to swap the CV boot and sort her out. Unsurprisingly, it was easier not doing this in the arch....not that this is preferable given the circumstances. Somehow we managed to get it all back together, however was totally unable to locate the speedo pinion filler. Gearbox low on the good stuff and an important hockey game in TV in twenty....so we drove it home 15km....uneventfully.

So, I located the speedo pinion gear for refilling and after a fair bit of annoyance got it open. Poured in half a litre of 80w and great....it pissed out of the axle oil seal at the gearbox side.

It's just going to have to be taken up on a lift and the axle re-seated. Any advice on what else we might expect given all the shenanigans so far? This was supposed to be a bit of rubber and grease, not changing the laws of physics....

 

[fuzzy-hair-man]

The driveshaft seal you can just lever out with a screwdriver, get a new one or preferably 2 (may as well do the other one) and tap them in square (not too far) they should be just level with the edge of the diff case or a bit below, (a big socket can help)

Please get that keyring outta there a proper spring clip won't cost much and that keyring might make an awful mess floating around in your gearbox.

Not sure which micra you have but there's a filler/level bung on the front of my gearbox I filled up through.

 

[Prostheta]

The split ring we used is in the CV joint, so it's far less of a problem. Yeah, I certainly wouldn't mess around with it anywhere near the speed grinder. That split ring seemed to weather the adventures okay. The only reason we used that as a split ring is because nobody around here stocks it....infuriating is one way of putting it.

Ours is a 1.0l K11 pre-facelift. No power steering. In fact, I actually prefer non-PS on smaller cars....no idea whether that makes me weird or not.

I couldn't identify any other place to fill the box up, other than the standard speedo pinion hole. Worked well enough, in spite of the axle seal not playing ball.