Now I know!

I think brute force is the way on the driver side.

 

My only question now is how you install the new seal? It has to go over the steel sleeve that is on the inner stub shaft. (Chevrolet Workshop Manuals > HHR L4-2.0L Turbo (2010) > Transmission and Drivetrain > Automatic Transmission/Transaxle > Seals and Gaskets, A/T > System Information > Service and Repair > Front Wheel Drive Shaft Seal and Output Shaft Sleeve Replaceme)

While installing the seal on the passenger's side, it took me some time to get it to seat in the casing before pushing it farther in. I assume that while seating the seal, the sleeve that is on the inner stub shaft will mess with the rubber part of the new seal.

I would think that wedged rubber tip of the sleeve on the inner stub shaft acts as a protector to prevent any damage to the seal during installation. If that is the case, then installation should not be a big deal.




Would be nice to hear from someone who has first hand experience in the process.

 

If I understand right; what I did is attach the stub shaft to the new axle first, then installed the assembly.

I don't think you can get the driver side stub out, if it is a stub.

For the record I did break the nylon bushing on one and just re used it no leaks no noises.

Mitchell says to replace the sleeve in the case for the left side. The second is the installer tool, they say is a must for proper depth.

 

This is the seal remover they say to use. the hole on the end id for a slide hammer.

 

My tool of choice

 

There is no way a sane person will pay for all these tools to use them once! Anyway, today I went for a test drive to see how the car feels and to check is there are any leaks. The passenger's side is nice and clean. The driver's side, however, was leaking some kind of strange lubricant that definitely didn't look like transmission fluid.


It wasn't leaking past the seal, but from the inside of the sleeve that goes over the inner stub shaft and where the cv axle plugs into. I decided that I should finish installation of the other seal and take a look at what is going on.


That is not transmission oil!


Before putting the car on jack stands I loosened all the wheel nuts and the axle nut. The axle nut the I received together with new rebuilt cv axles was very fragile and after the first unsuccessful attempt to remove it, it stripped. I decided to reuse old stock nut and washer. They seem to be heavy duty and more reliable than what I got.


To level transmission, I jacked up the car and put it on 4 jack stands.


Here is a little trick that I learned from another forum. A hockey puck on top of the 3 ton jack. Since there is no front jack point on HHR, this little trick saves the frame from scratches.


I then place a bubble level on top of transmission pan and kept adjusting the jack until I was satisfied with the level.


Before removing CV axle from the hub I disconnected ball joint and moved it out of the way.


I found that it is a good practice to disconnect brake hose bracket from the body before removing cv axle from the hub.


CV axle inner joint is removed.


No matter what others say, I had terrible luck using other methods of removing inner cv axle joint. Using this methods may seem barbaric but it works. Simply swing sledgehammer away from the car with enough force to crush a concrete block and you will see your cv axle flying far way into your neighbors backyard.


Here is another detail.


Looks pretty dirty! I think all this lubrication created that mess in the first place.

 

Here is female cv axle joint that is also full of lubricant.


There is no way one can get to that seal with a screw driver. To remove it I had to use small pry bar. I kept on hitting the very edge of the seal at a few locations until it separated from the casing. Hitting it created a small lip which I could eventually use to pull the seal out with the pry bar.


Here she comes and along with it some transmission fluid. That fluid doesn't look like the stuff that was leaking.




Then I decided to clean the casing before installing new seal. While I was cleaning the inside of the sleeve and around it I moved it slightly and a stream of transmission fluid began leaking out.


The only way to stop it from leaking was to install the new seal FAST. The seal has two lips, the inner and the outer. When it is placed over the sleeve the lower lip will not go in easily. I tried to push it in with the end of plastic bubble level that I used to level the car. It worked a little bit.


The I faced another problem. The "tool" that I used to install the seal on the passenger's side is not hollow on the inside. That means that the seal can only be pushed in only so far until the plastic geometry that is inside will hit the shaft.


This project became an adventure. Having plugged the hole with the seal to prevent transmission fluid from leaking out, I quickly took out dremel tool and made a round cut on top of the plastic.


The rest of plastic connectors on the side were knocked out with a screwdriver.


Back to work Doc!


The amount of fluid that leaked out is actually not that bad. The picture is just a close up of the puddle.


Here is the new seal. I cleaned out the inside of the sleeve from all that excessive lubrication and also cleaned all the mess around the seal.


CV axle slides in place over the shaft until retaining ring sits in the groove.


Everything is put together the way it was. The brake hose bracket too.


I went to Home Depot and purchased new lock nuts for ball joint retaining bolt.

 

Afterwards, I decided to check how much fluid leaked out by spilling about the same amount of water on the floor and then measuring that amount. It came out to be 1/2 of a cup.

1/2 cup = 0.125 qt

Transmission Fluid
Automatic (Bottom Pan Removal) 7.0 qt

0.125/0.07 = 1.79 %

Is that something I should worry about?

 

Twice you've mentioned about losing fluid and if you should be worried about it.
Why not just check the fluid level ?
When the car was back together but still on jack stands, that would have been a great time to check it.

If you're not familiar with the "check" and "fill" port locations on the transmission, do a Search. There are several older threads about this.

By the way. Great write up and pictures about your experience.
One little bit of advise on removing old seals. A flat blade screw driver and hammer is usually all that needed. Just punch the screw driver through the metal portion of the seal and pry it out. Some seals may need to be punched in several places.
Done it hundreds of times that way. Just be careful not to hit the casing with the screw driver.

 

If the pictures were on this site instead of photobucket; I would move this to the how-to.

But I hate it when I find a how-to and the contributor's photobucket account has expired.

I learned the hockey puck trick on this forum. They come in 3 packs, glue 2 together if you have a low profile jack its just enough to get under the car and lift the car enough to get jackstands under it.