The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

I am not familiar with China Garden Spring but just looked it up and yes it appears you can get there from Darwin. But it looks like the long way to get there. Did you access it from Darwin or from deeper into Death Valley which appears to be the shorter way?

Edit - Oh I see the shorter way is via Darwin Falls Road, which I believe was destryed in 2023 flooding. It was closed except to hiking when I was there.

Anotehr Edit: Looks like all military to the south of town, which is where I thought of exploring. Looks like a no go!

 

I've come at it from Darwin and the "old toll road" that departs highway 190 just west of Panamint Springs. But the last time was probably 10 years ago so my knowledge of road conditions is severely dated.

 

I've turned off 190 at BM 4873.5 drove back into Centennial Flat, and then walked up I think Black Rock Canyon to a real interesting area. From there drove east toward Darwin and then out the Darwin Falls road. several years ago. I don't know about the map apps, can't comment beyond this.

 

Crews struggling to reach Crest Fire outside Bishop

 

It's like they should send spotters and a giant tanker and just dump. I know that's over simplification but sometimes I wonder if, at least for now, that shouldn't be the default response for some of these fires. Even if all it does is slow the fire down until crews or resources can get there.

 

I am kind of stranded up at laurel lakes with a broken axle at the inner joint. Any tips for getting the shaft to slide out of the outer joint? I got the boot off at least.




The fishing is pretty mediocre too

 

Dislike.

Hope someone can run up there with a spare for you. No tips on getting the outer joint apart; but a good reminder that I really want to start carrying an outer in my OSK.

Also, despite your situation, I'm jealous of your location.

​

 

Yeah it's otherwise great. I can drive out with 3 wheel drive if I can get this stupid flailing shaft out of there.

 

No idea if you have a good way to hold the shaft, or a sledge... or if this even works on a Toyota CV... but:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FL14Jgu4bEc

 

@mk5 don't have the tools to remove the outer splines from the hub? axle nut socket and breaker bar?

 

He probably has that, but then he needs to get the shaft out of the cup so he can reinstall the cup and keep his wheel bearing from exploding. At least, that's how it works on a 1st gen.

 

if the inner is free from the diff already since its broken maybe he can just tap it out like the video

 

in my head he can use the hub/axle nut as his vice or anchor and tap the shaft the opposite way of the video, but the inner has to be out of the diff. Potential to use vice grips around the shaft and tap the vice grip with a hammer or something like that

 

Damn, forgot to take a picture before hiking to the saddle. But the axle is now out and on the ground. I can't get the shaft out of the cv joint, now I'm going to go try hammering the fuck out of it. I don't have a bench vise up here. Nor an especially large hammer. Wish me luck!


View from cell signal, its beautiful up here!

Edit: Photo of progress at this point, taken after I walked back down the hill:

 

Possible "vise" - put the axle shaft on a big-ish rock so the cup is hanging in the air. Drive onto axle shaft. But don't drive too far...you know, since you don't want to drive without that cup in there.

Hammer away. Use your axe?

 

I have forcibly disassembled a left side outer from a mid on a 1st gen about 6 years ago. There may be a more sophisticated way to do it but we didn't have that option. It took several hours of pounding and the axe I carry shows the scars. Wish I had photos. Was not fun. Had the half shaft strapped to a fencepost to do the deed. Worked eventually though.

 

This video at 3.25: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wqBCrbrXUo9VIO6gMClGQxHBJneGQzb5/view?usp=sharing&t=205

 

Good luck! I’m headed there Friday if you haven’t sorted things out. I hope by then someone will have helped. Let me know though if you need it.

 

Thanks y'all! Couldn't hammer out the shaft splines, hard as I tried. Then decided to hammer the 'cage' thing inside the joint, luckily it turned out to be quite brittle and I was able to shatter it and poke out all the balls. Then was able to wiggle the shaft out of the socket. Victory at last.


Shatter the cage around all six balls to remove the shaft in the field...

Don't know why the inner joint blew. No damage apparent, other than the fact that the boot tore in half and the axle shaft fell down onto the lower arm. The shaft and the tripod were both fine. Wasn't doing anything extreme at the time, and front locker was inop for this trip (until I had to hotwire it to get out in 3WD). My only thought is that... well I just rebuilt my LCAs, maybe they are too bent out of shape and overextended the axle? If it happens again maybe I'll have to buy new arms.

Made it to the top in 3wd, wish me luck to the bottom!

Edit: Made it home. To summarize the story:

1. Don't break your axle
2. If you do, and need to remove the shaft from the outer CV, pull it from the hub and smash the cage to pieces with a hammer.
3. Wear safety glasses for that
4. You need a front locker to get out of Laurel Lakes with a missing axle shaft... at least under your own traction



Hey, at least my BOAT worked this time!

 

Glad you got it sorted. I do have a question though. Why did you need the outer cage? On a 1st gen you need to do that since it's a pressed bearing. The cage and axle nut are what hold the wheel from working the bearing out of the spindle. I thought 2nd gens had a unit bearing style. Meaning the cage had nothing to do with keeping the wheel on?