Question

A rear axle must be removed from its housing. Technician A says a retainer plate may be used to hold this axle in its housing. Technician B says a C-clip may be used to hold this particular axle in its housing. Who is right? Option 1: Technician A is right. Option 2: Technician B is right. Option 3: Both Technician A and B are right. Option 4: Neither Technician A nor B is right.

Answer 1

Option 4: Neither Technician A nor B is right.

Step-by-step explanation:

In most cases, rear axles are retained in their housing using a combination of bearings, seals, and retaining devices such as axle shaft bolts or nuts. Retainer plates and C-clips are not typically used to hold rear axles in their housing.

Retainer plates are commonly used in some front-wheel-drive vehicles to retain the axle shafts, but they are not typically used for rear axles.

C-clips, on the other hand, are used in certain designs of rear axles, specifically in live axle setups. Live axles are commonly found in solid rear axle configurations, where the axle shafts have splines on the outer ends, and C-clips are used to secure the shafts within the differential carrier. However, C-clip usage is not universal, and many rear axle designs do not rely on C-clips for axle retention.

Therefore, in the context of a rear axle being removed from its housing, neither Technician A nor Technician B is correct.