offside rear halfshaft bearing replacement

i am trying to repace theoffside rear halfshaft bearing on a 99 T reg petrol
explorer. Could'nt pull the shaft out of casing so i pulled the diff cover
off found a circlip on the halfshaft holding it into the diff gear any clues
as to how to get the clip off been at it for ages and still no joy.

"spannerhandy" <u23244@uwe> wrote in message news:6211ea9d2259e@uwe...
>i am trying to repace theoffside rear halfshaft bearing on a 99 T reg
>petrol
> explorer. Could'nt pull the shaft out of casing so i pulled the diff cover
> off found a circlip on the halfshaft holding it into the diff gear any
> clues
> as to how to get the clip off been at it for ages and still no joy.

According to Haynes:

""Remove discs, calipers, etc at the wheel end of the axle.
Drain differential and remove diff cover.
Remove the differential shaft lock-bolt and differential pinion shaft. On
Traction-Lok diffs, it isn't necessary to remove the preload spring.
CAUTION: if the axleshafts or pinion is rotated while the pinion shaft is
out the pinion gears could fall out and possibly be damaged. reinsert the
pinion shaft and lock bolts while the axle shafts are being removed.
Push the axleshafts toward the centre of the vehicle and remove the C-locks
from the button end of the axleshafts.
Carefully remove the axleshafts taking care not to damage the oil seals,
etc.""

As usual, the Haynes manual for the Explorer is as clear as mud... I don't
get the notion of removing the lock bolt and pinion shaft if you've got to
put them back in to remove the shafts... did I miss something???

Anyway, I hope this helps...

Cheers
Simon H