Super Jet Mid-shaft C-clip removal - how do you get this thing out???

[96superjet]

Doing some winter maintenance on my ski and noticed that the spline on my drive shaft was cooked. So, I pulled the mid-shaft unit to inspect it's spline. It was also cooked.




So I decided to do a complete rebuild of the mid-shaft unit and all has gone well up to this point. The C-clip pliers that I have keep flexing and aren't stiff enough to compress the C-clip. I even took an old pair of needle nose pliers and filed down the points to fit inside the C-clip holes, but they just keep slipping out under pressure.

So... how do you get this damn C-clip out?

 

[loictahiti]

i think the clips is blocked with dust and rust and habits, you need to use a flat screwdriver to unblocked it , afterthat you ll could use your clip plier, but choose a heavy duty ones

 

[Kohldanielzimmer]

It may be easier if you use snap riling pliers that are on a 90 rather than straight. Have you tried that? May allow for some more leverage and wiggling to get the ring out

 

[theVetteman3]

You should have no problem removing that retaining ring with a good pair of retaining ring pliers. If your pair isn't doing the trick, you need a beefier pair.

 

[Matt_E]

Use a quality pair of snap ring pliers.

 

[davy87nj]

i think the clips is blocked with dust and rust and habits, you need to use a flat screwdriver to unblocked it , afterthat you ll could use your clip plier, but choose a heavy duty ones

^^ this is what I did when I rebuilt mine, mine was stuck in there pretty good, just worked around it with a small screwdriver.

 

[96superjet]

C-clips (snap rings) are all out now. I looked online for beefier snap ring pliers, but they are all whimpy like the ones I have. So, I had another idea and went to Harbor Freight. For $3.99 each I picked up both a straight and 45 degree set of 11 inch needle nose pliers. I filed down the tips on the pair of 45 degree pliers so that they would fit in the snap ring holes. The 11 inch pliers were plenty beefy enough to remove the C-clips (snap rings).