REPLACING A BROKEN HALF SHAFT
What follows is an account of how I broke my rear axle and in the process destroyed the rear diff. How to fix it and what you need for the job.
Ok I will skip the "how it got broken part" and just go to the replacing of the broken bits.
Have a look at the photo's which will make it a bit easier to understand. First of all it is VERY easy to do and doesn't take a lot of time. The only "unpleasant" bit is draining the diff oil (especially if you replaced all the oil 14 days ago) there-after it's a fairly straight forward job.
First undo the six bolts holding the axle. You have to undo both the axles if you want to change a broken axle or if you need to take the centre portion of the diff out. The axles will just slide out after the six bolts' removal. (unless someone previously used some gasket maker "glueing" the flange.) Now if it's a broken axle that you need to replace, a small stub of the offending axle will remain in the diff. It normally will not be stuck, so from the other side you need to take a long, thin bar to "push" the stub out. The reason why the bar should be thin is simply that the pinion shaft is between the two axles and you only have 6mm on either side of the pinion shaft to slide the bar past. (Nobody ever told me this, so I got a 15mm bar and started whacking away with a 4 pound hammer, thinking that the stub is stuck! NOT a good idea.) The lenght of this bar should be about 2.5meters else you'll need a magnet from the "broken" side to "pull" the stub out after pushing it loose from the "non broken" side.
Now if you don't have a long thin bar then you are going to have to take the diff centre portion out. Also a relatively easy job. First you have to undo the 4 bolts holding the propshaft to the "flange" on the diff. Just let the prop shaft rest below the diff. The next job is to undo the 10 nuts holding the diff centre portion to the diff casing. As soon as this is done you can slide the diff centre portion out of the diff casing. If it comes out 5-10mm and then gets stuck you probably haven't removed BOTH axles. If both axles have been removed then the diff should just slide out. A screwdriver will push out the small piece of axle in the diff housing and you can re-assemble the whole lot again. New gasket on the diff casing, a bit of grease on both sides of the gasket will ensure a good seal.
The new axle will need to be mated to the flange. Just undo the split pin then the big nut (which isn't very tight, you just might be able to undo the nut with just your fingers) pull the flange plus the little piece of material of the broken axle. To assemble first put the small piece of material on the new axle, slide the flange over, put the nut back on and then secure the nut with a new split pin. Put a new gasket on the flange and push it back in the diff/axle casing, insert the flange bolts and tighten. Do that on both sides and you are mobile again!
I broke pieces of the diff centre portion so I had to either rebuilt the diff or get a whole new one. I got a second hand diff centre portion for two thirds of the price I would have paid just for the parts, so first shop around. I can now rebuilt the old centre portion at leisure.
Hope this helps! Oh, before I forget, if the axle brake you can still get home. Just put the vehicle in 4 wheel drive and she will take you home albeit via "frontwheel" drive.