Lucille's, or Chrysler Sebring, Day 2

I made three trips to Lucille's Tool Store today. Couldn't figure out what size wrench I needed. The first trip I made this morning with my son and picked up a couple 18 millimeter wrenches: a socket and a combination wrench, but forgot to get the ball joint tool. After lunch I made a second trip with my friend Jack who had never been to this little slice of heaven. I picked up a couple of suspension joint tools and a 20 mm combination wrench. They didn't have a 20 mm socket. I was shocked. They had a place for it, but it was empty. When I got home I finally figured out that what I really needed was a 21 mm wrench, so back I went for a third time.

So now I finally have the enough tools and I was able to remove the left side steering knuckle, all of which was in preparation for pulling the half shaft. My on-line instruction manual says you just use a pry bar to pop it loose. Well, there isn't any room to insert a pry bar, so I went to talk to Eric (of Eric Heaton's Automotive, god of all things automotive). Eric was kind enough to fill me in, however the tale he told filled me with tredpidation. He's had to "pop out" these half shafts before, and it's an ugly business at best. His tool of choice is a six foot long, hundred pound torsion bar (from an old Chrysler suspension) with one end sharpened to a chisel point. Raise the car on a hoist over your head, set your stance, set your eye on the point between the transmission housing and the tripod joint and then STRIKE, O MIGHTY WARRIOR, with your mighty spear. If your aim is true, the clip on the shaft inside the transmission will compress, and the shaft will slip free.

I don't have a hoist. I have a Costco floor jack and a couple of antiquated jack stands. I don't have room to stand under the car, much less room for a six foot spear, nor do I have such a spear.

But maybe it won't be that bad, maybe they will just pop loose with a little help from my handy dandy two foot long crow bar, just like the instruction manual says. We shall see.

Update February 2017 replaced missing images.