So, i changed my front struts and springs and while i was doing it, i heard something break. Sounded like a spring popped and some bolts fell. Nothing on the ground and nothing found in the engine bay, so i didnt think much of it, while doing the other side strut, i heard the same things while i was reconnected the knuckle to the strut. A pop and what sounded like something fell. I lowered the car and tried to back out of the garage and the car wouldnt move forward or backward. I put it back up on jackstands and tried to put it in gear.

The speedo goes up when in gear but the wheels dont move (idles at 1mph in 1st, 10mph in 2nd, 20ish in 3rd, etc...). Also, i left it in gear and crawled under the car, I can hear something spinning in the diff but obviously not the axles themselves. Im assuming the axles are broken or something got damaged inside the tranny.

Anyone have any suggestions? Is it more likely to be a broken axle end or a damaged diff? Im a bit short on cash and I dont wanna buy new axles if I dont need to because then Im gonna need that dough for a tranny shop. I dont know much about transmissions but Im competent enough to get through it if I have a proper plan of action.

Are you sure you did not possibly pop the axles out of the trans while doing your struts? make sure both axles are pushed in all the way.

I'll look into that when i get home. But why would i have heard those breaking sounds?

okay... well it looks like this might be the case. I grabbed the axle right were it goes into the tranny and it moves a round a bit, both sides. Before I start taking things apart... ive never done this so give me heads up. How am I supposed to get those back in there? just shove em in? i dont have any left to right play in the axles so i dont see how its gonna go back in, which might be why it popped out in the first place? or do i just have back the nut (on the hub) up to give it more slack to be able to shove it in...? or is there more to this? thanks

Take the nut off the axles and knock them loose from the hubs. You just need to push the axles in until they seat. You should here them click.

Oh, here's my concern. When the axles came unseated (allegedly), i heard a pop and ringing. Wouldnt that have been the c-clips falling off? How am I gonna get these out and placed correctly again?

Ok, i tried to reseat the axles and Im either not doing it right or there's another problem. Okay just so that we're speaking the same language. The axle setup has a few parts:

On the right side:

axle nut > axle thread > washer > hub > outer axle splines > Outer CV boot > about 2.5 ft of axle shaft > inner CV boot > some canister looking thing > Transaxle

I took off the nut, disconnected the hub from the strut and knocked the axles loose from the hub. I grabbed the canister on the inner cv boot and pulled it out as much as i could to try and inspect it but i couldnt pull it out very far without removing the tie rod end so that i could drop the hub far enough to completely remove the axle. I didnt see the need to do that considering the goal. I couldnt see if there was a c-clip on the end of the canister thing but made the following notes. I dont know much about this stuff, i am a jet mechanic lol so please clue me in if this stuff is normal or not.

- What is the canister looking thing between the inner cv joint and the transaxle? I didnt appear to have any sort of c-clip on it, is that where that clip is supposed to be?
- Consequently, there was no click when i pushed that canister back into the transaxle
- When I was pulling the axle out by the shaft, I notice that the inner boot would stretch quite a bit, as if the shaft wasnt connected to the canister

Here's what happened. I pushed that canister back in and turned it while the car was in gear and saw that both wheels were moving, in opposite directions. I had a friend hold it in so that it wouldnt come unseated while i reconnected everything. I pushed the hub in as tight as possible while I tightened the nut, then reconnected the steering knuckle to the strut a frame. After that was all done, we checked and everything was tight. With it up on jacks, i started it up and put it in gear, hooray, the wheels moved. Put everything back together and torqued everything, and wunderbar, i was able to back out of the driveway and I drove around the block, i was happy. So to test out the new struts, i drove down the main street annnnd.... when I slowed down to turn around, i didnt hear anything, but when I attempted to put it back in gear, well... back to square one. I ended up pushing my car back alone about a half mile.

Im unmotivated to break into it right now, but tomorrow Im going to get the car back in the garage and on jackstands and check to see if that canister is still in place or loose again. In the meanwhile does ANYONE have any insight?!?!

the "canister" is another joint. there are 2 joints on the axle, one on each end, the outer joints pivots in almost any dirrection kinda like a ball and socket joint. The iner joint lets the axles extend in and out . That is normal.