My weekend car repair adventure...
2006 Camry has 167k miles on it. Not in bad shape for the age, and I've been keeping up on the things like suspension & steering components. I'd love to get another 3 years out of it (until the new car is paid off), shouldn't be an issue. This weekend's project was to change the passenger side CV axle.
It's pretty straight forward in terms of disassembly, you just have to pull the swaybar link and 3 nuts/bolts that hold the ball joint to control arm in order to yank the axle. No big deal, all of that was replaced in November so it'll come off with little trouble. However I confused my lefty-loosie since the bolt was upside down (and my 1/2 ratchet doesn't ratchet so well anymore). I wind up tightening a ball joint nut, realizing my mistake, and begin to loosen it. However I spun the pressed in stud that the nut was on. I figured I could tack weld the stud and save the relatively new ball joint, so off to Depot to rent a welder. That went way smoother than my welding skills, which left me with a bunch of slag and a screwed up stud. I was able to pull the nut, but had to replace the ball joint. No big deal, I was in there already.
With everything out of the way I could now pull the axle. The passenger side is the long shaft which rides on a carrier bearing in the middle. In Toyota's wisdom the bearing seats into a bracket, so it must slide out of the bracket to remove the axle (vs. having a clam shell/u-shaped type bracket). Naturally it likes to seize in the bracket, and the design is such that you can't pull the axle and bracket together. The easiest way is to cut the axle. I thought my sawsall + carbide blades would make quick work of it. 1 hour and 3 blades later I finally made it through and pulled the assembly (arms are still sore from that one). At this point called it a day since guests were on their way (4 hours in). Hit the bracket with some PB blaster to soak overnight.
Day 2, replaced ball joint which went smoothly. This was my method to get the bearing free from the bracket: Stand on the cinder block and swing. Took about 10-20 solid hits with the 4lb hammer. I'd still be trying to get this thing out if I didn't cut it.
I pulled the old trans seal, which went fine aside from flinging ATF all over. This was directly above the exhaust, so it's a complication that will reward you with some nice smells. Upon seating the new seal I learned that there is no stop inside the trans housing, meaning I drove the seal too deep. No one stocks this thing locally so at this point I figured I'm screwed, but I miraculously was able to pull the new seal without damaging it. (more ATF all over). This time I used the end of a socket extension to tap the seal in, this was it wouldn't go deeper than the trans housing. Crappy pic, but it gets the point across.
After that the rest of the reassembly went smoothly. In the end it was worth it, because the freeway vibration I had before is now gone.
Damn that was too long.....
Up next, replace the original drum brakes. And pull the DTC from the check engine light that appeared yesterday.