Axle removal
 

Can I remove the axle after removing the bolts by just undoing the exhaust a bit so it can clear the transmission??

I want to replace my wheel bearings while leaving the carriers on the car using the SIR tool but having to drop all kinds of suspension and such as in the Pedros DIY CV joint page, why bother using the tool, there must be a simpler way.

Any ideas?

my shop said all they had to do was drop the exhaust.

Of course. Carriers stay in the car. Get a long 6 mm hex key socket for the axle flange bolts; it helps a lot. Undo the 32mm nuts from the axles while the car is still on the ground. Just pop the wheel center caps off and remove the nuts. Once the car is in the air and the shear plate & exhaust cat pipes are out of the way, remove the axle flange bolts. Nce they are out, you can slide the cv joint out of the axle flange. Now pound out the axle from the wheel side and remove the axle.

The job is fairly straight forward. Post if you get stuck.