canucklehe

I looked in the sticky section and the thread for DIY mechanical repair. I could not find a thread on replacing the CV axle(s).

I have replaced CVs on several other vehicles. I usually end up removing the knuckle/hub, by unbolting the 2 nuts on the strut, to free the hub from the outer CV stub. but this means you have to get an alignment. also, the axles typically had inner & outer stubs so you just pull out and shove in. this one doesn't seem the same.

CV rebuilder guy in our area told me with the 6 allen head bolts removed from the inner CV on my 1993 Lexus ES300, i shouldn't have to take hub apart. Not sure where all the wiggle room comes from cuz it seems tight to me to get this axle out.

The replacement axle I got has a new outer, and the inner has the cage and ball bearings kind of loose. So I probably don't need to pull the inner axle stub??? Just unbolt the 6 allen bolts, pull it off?? how do I re-connect/re-assemble these ball bearings & cage to the inner stub?

how-to, or good picture DIY thread would be a huge help.

thanks

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Is this for both sides or only one? Driver side is the simpler one.

Not sure if it's anything like the 3ES.... I believe it is. You can unbolt the strut, which I did, but then you risk damaging your ball joint/tie rod from too much movement. The factory procedure asks to remove the bottom ball joint and the tie rod end. This way you can just swing the whole knuckle and get the axle out. This is a good video, for reference.

canucklehe

i believe driver side only is what I need to fix. I watched the vid. Interesting he never had to remove the 2 strut bolts. I'd prefer that, as strut bolt removal means alignment after. Not sure if my lower balljoint hooks up the same way. if so, I will do that.

this axle is different as my CV axle has 6 allen/hex head bolts that hold the inner stub to the axle. when you remove those 6 bolts, the inner stub remains in the tranny. but the inner cage and 6 ball bearings fall out. I'm trying to figure out how those get re-assembled and then reconnected.

also trying to confirm if info from CV guy is correct: that I can avoid all of the hub disassembly by first undoing the allen bolts, then removing inner first, and pull out axle inward.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Interesting setup.

canucklehe

YES!! that's it.

guessing grease holds ***** and cage in place, then I just bolt it back together. would sure be nice if CV guy is right and i can leave hub stuff alone.