Complete G80 Rear Axle assembly replacement

[NaGall78]

I need help! I'm stalled out literally at the half way point. To sum up my predicament, my rear differential literally exploded and blew a hole through the bottom of my axle back in December 2022. The garage that replaced the axle assembly screwed me over with a salvage yard axle. The factors leading to this second failure are: not enough gear oil in the diff cover, the wrong differential, the wrong gear ratio, not 4WD compatible, not ABS compatible, seized/stuck parking brake assembly. After 8 months thinking all was right with my little red Chevy, that axle failed (obviously).



Now to where I have found myself tonight. I've successfully removed and disconnected everything from the bad axle and the axle is supported with jack stands, as is the drive shaft. I have removed the u-brackets from the axle/drive shaft joint, but I can't dislodge the drive shaft from the rear axle. I am hoping someone reads this and can direct me on what I should do next, otherwise I am going to start beating the hell out of that joint with a pry bar and a 5-lb mallet. Oh, yeah, during the process of disconnecting everything from the failed axle, my phone was destroyed after the passenger coil spring fell on it, so I'm double f'ed at the moment.



Please help..........

[xXxSilveradoxXx]

If you already have the bolts out and the straps off, you should be able to tap the driveshaft/u-joint out of the yoke. get a small hammer and tap the rearmost, aluminum part of the driveline that the u-joint presses into. Tap a few times on one side, then tap the other.

If you use a pry-bar and mallet, get another u-joint and just replace it.