Hello, guys
Bought a 2006 LX in January in Silver with 174,000 (barely broken in ?) . Shortly after I notice that the RH CV outer boot is missing 1 clamp .
Since I was leaving for a ski trip next day I had some local guys put a new clamp on it only to find out it was torn. They were able to fix it up with silicone, and I had it in the back of my mind that I should repair it soon. Surprisingly the silicone held for some 1000mi, after that it began developing tears. Decided to drive like that until I could hear clicks when turning. Sure enough shortly after they came; to be fair, only on hard turning starts.
Early March was considering rebooting, regreasing by myself, kit was 100. But don't really have time to be changing this by myself, considered several options:
Guys who silicone repair said $350 for rebooting
Called Landcruiser shop here in WA : booked until April
Toyota Bellevue: A joke ($1000 not sure if they thought both axles or whether I wanted a new one and not the rebuilding)
Since it was clicky, decided to just replace and I would do it myself. Considered the a new axle but saw CVJ had remanufactured and they seemed to be meticulous and know their stuff, plus it could come out to be around $200 if I returned my old axle)
At some point I couldn't stand knowing the clicks were there, drove up to a DIY mechanic shop, thought it would be a easy 2hr job. (At this point I had never touched a wheel assembly other than to change the wheel, but was feeling pretty confident) Let's just say, when taking of the flange, it simply wouldn't move. I hammered at the cone washers, at the axle, it managed to move a bit but they simply wouldn't come off. Got a three clawed puller and got if off.
Thought the hard part was over but no, getting the reman CV into the diff took me what was probably a half hour, good thing I'm fairly young and go to the gym, otherwise I would have been dead on the water. Eventually, the stars aligned, I pushed and it just clicked in. Good grief! Thought the hard part was over (oh s*** here we go again) but no...
The CV should come out the flange fairly easy right? Well, the old CV axle had messed up the splines of the flanged very badly. Not sure how but they seemed all to be kind of twisted. After trying a bunch of stuff, I figured out the center of the axle has a thread that I can put to use. Using a socket, some washers, and a nut I began twisting and surprisingly the shaft was coming through. Then the thread bottomed out and broke inside the axle... Thankfully, some of the shops attendants could weld a nut and I could back it off. Not wanting to break another bolt inside the shaft, we figured out that a steering pulley puller had the same thread. POP it went and it came out of the flange.
At this point if your are wondering why not just get a new flange and have replace it: The COVID19 hit WA pretty hard and that day a lot of things closed, including the Toyota dealerships (1 was open but didn't have it in stock). So it was a thing of do or die to get that axle through that flange.
I have avoided driving long highway miles and speed until I got a replacement flange so I wouldn't mess up the splines on the axle (the old one was beat up pretty bad). Well I ordered one and guess what, USPS damn lost it. Finally, I got the flange, and today I just went for it. (Had already ordered the snap ring kit from Cruiser Outfitters as I was thinking maybe replace the bearings while doing the CV). Got a rental three claw puller and today went at it on my driveway.
Was a bit scary when I couldn't get it to budge at all, but eventually got enough of an opening, let the puller do the work and got this replaced. The new flange slid right up....
Everything pretty good except the lock ring, I think I need to axle to come out just one tiny bit more as not even the thinnest lock ring fit. Tried going around in AHC Lo and going over a bump to get it out but no luck... I think the old lock ring wearing down caused all this issues, see the last picture below.
TLDR; Use new lock rings, change hub flange if in any doubt when doing front axle work.
Bought a 2006 LX in January in Silver with 174,000 (barely broken in ?) . Shortly after I notice that the RH CV outer boot is missing 1 clamp .
Since I was leaving for a ski trip next day I had some local guys put a new clamp on it only to find out it was torn. They were able to fix it up with silicone, and I had it in the back of my mind that I should repair it soon. Surprisingly the silicone held for some 1000mi, after that it began developing tears. Decided to drive like that until I could hear clicks when turning. Sure enough shortly after they came; to be fair, only on hard turning starts.
Early March was considering rebooting, regreasing by myself, kit was 100. But don't really have time to be changing this by myself, considered several options:
Guys who silicone repair said $350 for rebooting
Called Landcruiser shop here in WA : booked until April
Toyota Bellevue: A joke ($1000 not sure if they thought both axles or whether I wanted a new one and not the rebuilding)
Since it was clicky, decided to just replace and I would do it myself. Considered the a new axle but saw CVJ had remanufactured and they seemed to be meticulous and know their stuff, plus it could come out to be around $200 if I returned my old axle)
At some point I couldn't stand knowing the clicks were there, drove up to a DIY mechanic shop, thought it would be a easy 2hr job. (At this point I had never touched a wheel assembly other than to change the wheel, but was feeling pretty confident) Let's just say, when taking of the flange, it simply wouldn't move. I hammered at the cone washers, at the axle, it managed to move a bit but they simply wouldn't come off. Got a three clawed puller and got if off.
Thought the hard part was over but no, getting the reman CV into the diff took me what was probably a half hour, good thing I'm fairly young and go to the gym, otherwise I would have been dead on the water. Eventually, the stars aligned, I pushed and it just clicked in. Good grief! Thought the hard part was over (oh s*** here we go again) but no...
The CV should come out the flange fairly easy right? Well, the old CV axle had messed up the splines of the flanged very badly. Not sure how but they seemed all to be kind of twisted. After trying a bunch of stuff, I figured out the center of the axle has a thread that I can put to use. Using a socket, some washers, and a nut I began twisting and surprisingly the shaft was coming through. Then the thread bottomed out and broke inside the axle... Thankfully, some of the shops attendants could weld a nut and I could back it off. Not wanting to break another bolt inside the shaft, we figured out that a steering pulley puller had the same thread. POP it went and it came out of the flange.
At this point if your are wondering why not just get a new flange and have replace it: The COVID19 hit WA pretty hard and that day a lot of things closed, including the Toyota dealerships (1 was open but didn't have it in stock). So it was a thing of do or die to get that axle through that flange.
I have avoided driving long highway miles and speed until I got a replacement flange so I wouldn't mess up the splines on the axle (the old one was beat up pretty bad). Well I ordered one and guess what, USPS damn lost it. Finally, I got the flange, and today I just went for it. (Had already ordered the snap ring kit from Cruiser Outfitters as I was thinking maybe replace the bearings while doing the CV). Got a rental three claw puller and today went at it on my driveway.
Was a bit scary when I couldn't get it to budge at all, but eventually got enough of an opening, let the puller do the work and got this replaced. The new flange slid right up....
Everything pretty good except the lock ring, I think I need to axle to come out just one tiny bit more as not even the thinnest lock ring fit. Tried going around in AHC Lo and going over a bump to get it out but no luck... I think the old lock ring wearing down caused all this issues, see the last picture below.
TLDR; Use new lock rings, change hub flange if in any doubt when doing front axle work.