Pulling axle question

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supton

supton

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Couple Q's on pulling axles from my '99 Camry: do I need to drain the transmission first, and can I use a pry bar to pop the axle out of the case? I'd like to avoid the brute force method with a slide hammer. [Would it be the transmission or the diff that needs draining? Now that I think about it, it's not the trans that would be drained, if at all, since it's to separate sumps on this car.] I realize the axle nut has to be pulled, along with either the ball joint or the strut, so that the knuckle is free to get out of the way.

[At some point I want to reboot the CV's but right now I just want to unload the wheel bearings and see how they feel--I think I have one going bad on me.]
 
You don't have to remove it from the transmission at all to detach the outside end.

Prying out is standard practice. Be ready for some fluid to run out when the axle is removed, then top it up with new fluid after re-installing.
 
Geez, you're right, duh--just to check the bearing I wouldn't need to pull altogether. I'm confusing the work required for two different jobs.

Now that I think about it, draining the diff isn't that hard. I was thinking of a pan drain on the trans and then wanting to do a full trans flush as it's due, and basically I didn't feel like doing that much work just to check a wheel bearing.
 
No need to unload to check bearings. You'll feel it if they have play or feel and hear it if spinning them. As for draining, it will make the job cleaner. I've done it both ways and I would rather drain first. Lastly, I wouldn't reboot any axle these days. Either the boot is bad or it isn't. When it does go bad, axles are so cheap now that I just replaced them. The last one I did cost $88. Expensive cv axles are around $130-$180 bucks. Trust me, if you've pulled the axle and rebooted it, then install and road test just to find the band came loose or fell off, replacing the axle once beats pulling it twice to fix.
 
Boots are like $20. I don't have any reason to believe the axles are bad, and the internet is rife with complaints about cheap reman axles. Just not worth the risk to me.

I've had bearings get noisy long before they have play. This car has a roar above 40mph and while I know the tires are chopped, I had it aligned this fall with the new tires. So I need to check all the usual places. I'm probably being uber-sensitive but this car lives on the highway. "Minor" noises become annoying real quickly.
 
Struts aren't leaking, but they are Monroe quick struts with like 80k on them. I think they are kaput and would like to replace, would like to just go through and replace all wear items at this point, but not sure if that is the right avenue. I didn't see any flat spots at last rotation, just feathering. Struts might be fine, I've noticed that it rides better than my truck on some of the worse roads.

Huh, just looked, and it's been longer than I thought. New RT43's back in April, with an alignment, only 20k ago. For some reason I thought I got new tires this pas fall.
 
It really depends on the design of the transmission. Not all of them will lose fluid when the axle is pulled.
 
Autozone has a lot of rent-a-tools that help with this job... the nondestructive ball joint tool, slide hammer, prying forks.

Some cars will not need the ball joint popped.

If you jack it up one wheel at a time, you may spill less fluid...
 
Off topic, I'm guessing you've done a transmission drain and fill on it.

But what about the diff? (The fluid doesn't mix)
 
Just checked the records, did trans flush at 140k and 180k (at 223k now). Didn't record but I think I only changed diff fluid at 140k; I was surprised at how good it looked. Nice and red. Lives an easy life I bet. Overdue on it all I know, been a busy time.
 
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
No need to unload to check bearings. You'll feel it if they have play or feel and hear it if spinning them. As for draining, it will make the job cleaner. I've done it both ways and I would rather drain first. Lastly, I wouldn't reboot any axle these days. Either the boot is bad or it isn't. When it does go bad, axles are so cheap now that I just replaced them. The last one I did cost $88. Expensive cv axles are around $130-$180 bucks. Trust me, if you've pulled the axle and rebooted it, then install and road test just to find the band came loose or fell off, replacing the axle once beats pulling it twice to fix.


What? I cant find much of anything in this post that is correct. Only a fool would prefer a cheap crap cv axle over a properly rebooted used original in good shape.
Joint can and do wear even if the boots are perfect especially tripod types where the grease tend to thin out and fail.
Expensive non OE units can be well over $400 not $130-$180.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Originally Posted by mpgo4th
No need to unload to check bearings. You'll feel it if they have play or feel and hear it if spinning them. As for draining, it will make the job cleaner. I've done it both ways and I would rather drain first. Lastly, I wouldn't reboot any axle these days. Either the boot is bad or it isn't. When it does go bad, axles are so cheap now that I just replaced them. The last one I did cost $88. Expensive cv axles are around $130-$180 bucks. Trust me, if you've pulled the axle and rebooted it, then install and road test just to find the band came loose or fell off, replacing the axle once beats pulling it twice to fix.


What? I cant find much of anything in this post that is correct. Only a fool would prefer a cheap crap cv axle over a properly rebooted used original in good shape.
Joint can and do wear even if the boots are perfect especially tripod types where the grease tend to thin out and fail.
Expensive non OE units can be well over $400 not $130-$180.

I'm only speaking from experience. If your experiences have been different than so be it. I've been doing this professionally for 23 years and have yet to get a crap aftermarket cv.
 
I have the tools to do boots, bought them to do the boots on my Jetta. Reused them on my ATV as the boots were available and as a 25 year old machine I didn't want to think what a reman could cost.

Just a couple hours of time and effort, and if it fails then I'll just redo it--it's time and effort, but I have a spare vehicle if it goes sideways.
 
Originally Posted by supton
I have the tools to do boots, bought them to do the boots on my Jetta. Reused them on my ATV as the boots were available and as a 25 year old machine I didn't want to think what a reman could cost.

Just a couple hours of time and effort, and if it fails then I'll just redo it--it's time and effort, but I have a spare vehicle if it goes sideways.


I have rebooted axles on my last two cars due to cracks in the boots. Both times were successful; still driving on one set. In both instances the cracked boot was found by visual inspection, not by noise or vibration.

For me, DIY auto work is about saving money while learning about cars and gaining mechanical skill...
 
Sounds like a lot of work only to find out it's the tires making the noise. Usually you can tell if a bearing is bad by it getting louder when you load it in a turn, and quieter turning the other way un-loading it. When I tried to spin a bad bearing by hand it felt perfectly smooth.
 
Noise doesn't seem to change in turns. I've resorted to wearing ear plugs lately and have noticed a low frequency component, hence the thinking that maybe it's bearings. I really can't tell anymore, all I know, I'm losing my hearing lately, and I can tell that my car has a louder ride than my truck.

I figure, it can't hurt to check. At some point I'll find a few free hours and dig into it, see what can be found/detected.
 
Originally Posted by brages
Originally Posted by supton
I have the tools to do boots, bought them to do the boots on my Jetta. Reused them on my ATV as the boots were available and as a 25 year old machine I didn't want to think what a reman could cost.

Just a couple hours of time and effort, and if it fails then I'll just redo it--it's time and effort, but I have a spare vehicle if it goes sideways.


I have rebooted axles on my last two cars due to cracks in the boots. Both times were successful; still driving on one set. In both instances the cracked boot was found by visual inspection, not by noise or vibration.

For me, DIY auto work is about saving money while learning about cars and gaining mechanical skill...


Did you use OEM or aftermarket boots?
 
I suggest you get on youtube and search for your vehicle with your symptoms .

I have replaced both complete CV joints / boots and boots only , after removing the half shaft from the vehicle . Best I remember , I have also replaced the wheel side boot , with a split boot , w/o removing the half shaft from the vehicle . Not sure if split boots are available for the transmission side CV joint ? Kind of think not ?

My impression is most CV joint wear / damage occurs after the boot fails & lets the grease out , dirt & water in .

Have never replaced a wheel bearing on FWD .
 
Originally Posted by diyjake

Did you use OEM or aftermarket boots?



On my Volvo, they were GKNs. I wasn't expecting it, but they came in the Volvo blue box with FoMoCo grease, so I guess that would be called OEM, more properly OE.

They are soft rubber. My first order, I got an opened box with a no-name boot in it was more like a stiff plastic. Now I see that thermoplastic boots are actually better than rubber... I didn't know that then, and I got a replacement.

On my Honda, I don't remember 100%, but I think I bought the boots from Honda. (so, OE again).
 
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