That sounds like the outer CV joint came apart inside the boot.  Especially
if the large nut is still on the outer end of the stub axle that goes
through the hub.
not a good thing of course.
Syncro front suspension is 'different' or challenging the first time you
ever work on one.
Be gentle with the CV joint boots, the outers mainly, I've had them go from
fine to having a split in one, from horsing around getting the cv joint
angle more severe than the boots like,  just changing springs and shocks.

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Klein" <david@ASHTEC.CA>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2009 10:38 AM
Subject: Re: axle connected to hub bone?

>I didn't remove anything that is part of the cv and/or axle. I am
> just changing the strut/spring and to get better access I removed the
> two top bolts of the upper ball joint. Now the end of the axle moves
> around inside the cv boot and I can tell it is no longer inside the
> hub because I can move the rotor and it doesn't turn the axle.
>
> Thanks, David
>
> On Aug 8, 2009, at 10:20 AM, David Milo wrote:
>
>> The stub axle should not have come out of the hub unless you
>> already removed the retaining nut. Did you do that / mean that? Or
>> did you mean that the axle came apart from the outer CV joint hub?
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 8, 2009 at 11:30 AM, David Klein <david@ashtec.ca> wrote:
>> HI, I hope I am posting this right.
>>
>> I am replacing the strut/spring on my 91 Westy Syncro. When I removed
>> the top ball joint (two bolts) and moved rotor/brake assemble off to
>> the side I noticed that the axle came out of the hub. Is this suppose
>> to happen or it suppose to held to the hub the a snap ring?
>>
>> Thanks in advance, David
>>