I am having a time removing the driverside axel as it appears there is not enough room to pull it out without removing the HE and shifter rod. I've read that some say you can remove the shock but I cant see how that would help. I am thinking of dropping the rear of the transaxel a few inches to gain clearance above but I am unsure if the front motor mounts have that kind of play. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Elliott

While the car is on the ground, loosen the castle nut on the stub axle. Jack up that side and remove the wheel. Remove the bolts from the cv joint at the transmission and loosen the cv joint from the transmission flange. The hardest part can be pushing the stub axle inward. Sometimes the splines are stuck pretty bad. This is also when you need to remove the shock absorber. Put a jack under the aft end of the trailing arm and raise it up high enough to slide the axle out with the inner cv joint sliding above the transmission. When the splines of the stub axle are free, lower the trailiing arm and pull the axle out. I've only done this once and maybe I didn't do a good job of describing what I did but it CAN be done. I didn't have to remove the trailing arm or lower the transmission. Good luck.
Cheers, Elliot

Thanks I think I may have seen the light. As of the posting of my question the stub and main axel are loose from the wheel and trans. but I dont have enough room to maneuver it out. But now I think I see why the shock removal is necessary.

Thanks again.

Removing the shock allows you to move the trailing arm further up and down without removing it and having to do an alignment. Hope this works out for you.