Good morning gents... First the good news... I set out yesterday to remove my right hand side front axle. I expected an all day effort that might end in a disaster. After a few attemps with air hammer and pry bars, I went to my back up plan which involves a specialty tool that I made up. If you've ever done this kind of thing you sometimes find a few things to fix or refine before it even gets mounted. Not too much of that this time though.

First the there a few things in the way including the hub, rotor, caliper. And then the outer part of the right front axle is separated from the inner part of the axle. You guys all know about that better than I. Finally the tool, which is a simple adapter to mount a slide hammer to the "tri-pod can" can be mounted and it quickly did the deed. BAM BAM BAM and the inner axle was free. I can't really explain it being that easy as my car is a 09 Chicago car with 160k miles. That's how it was for me.


Ready for the pull.

AWD front axle with my new removal tool.

The old carrier bearing on the right has a sort of ring on it. Do I have to transfer that ring to the new axle?

So now the bad news - the part I need help with...
The new axles come from Megazip. The old axles make a obnoxious clunk or clunk-rattle that was caused by torn inner CV boots. I guess road grid got into the boots and acted like an abrasive to the insides of the tripod. Anyway, can anyone offer some guidance on the carrier bearing ring? ....Arnie

 

I got my left axle from Megazip as well. The left side is much easier to do than right. That carrier bearing is tough to remove. Please, provide more detail how to removed it. Why is there a piece missing?

You will need to replace the following:
The bolt (9090119060) - https://parts.lexus.com/p/Lexus_2010...090119060.html
C-clip (9052065002 ) - https://parts.lexus.com/p/Lexus_2010...052065002.html
Ring (9008152006) - https://parts.lexus.com/p/Lexus_2010...008152006.html

Make sure it fits your car, I used 2010 AWD.

 

Here is a pic of removing the carrier bearing. Its easy if you have a small press.

Avoid damage to axle.

Easy to remove carrier bearing from axle.

It just dawned on me what happened. When I pulled the axle, I expected the attachment sleeve to stay in the engine. But it was so rusted to the old bearing that they came out together. So I think I can clean up the sleeve and re-use it.

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Why is there a piece missing?
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I think you are referring to what I'm calling the attachment sleeve. I hope to re-use it.

PS : did you order two oil seals 90311-35070 & 903-47033? I don't know where the are to be placed on the axle assemblies.... Arnie

 

Why didn't you just hook the slide hammer under the axle "bulb" vs screw it on? Did it not fit?

Heat always helps with these, I've given up trying to remove any without it since it just ends up being a waste of time.

 

Striker... I did try that although maybe I didn't give that method a fair chance. Have you been able to make that work? Its in the workshop manual but I just knew that the dealer and indy shops had to have some sort of special tool. I first bought the otc 4579 slide hammer and then a slightly bigger hook otc 519375. That one had a sharp edge to it and I could at least hold the slide hammer in one hand and pull back on the weight with the other. Its awkward at best and far from a good striking blow. Its kinda funny now but at the time I thought maybe I could zip tie the hook to the green bulb, cup , can thing. Next I thought I'l weld fingers to the hook and have them wrap around the bulb. I read and watched utube videos and realized this is a big maintenance challenge for toyotas and Lexi. I welded a wrecking bar to a air hammer chisel and even that failed. The risk is high too. How easy would it be for a diyer (me) to get himself in over his head with a car that is torn apart and in an untowable situation. I finally quit driving the car due to the noise and put up the money to order the parts from Japan. They came in in January and while it was cold I was back to making sketches of what might work. Now its warm and I've seen the tool work exactly one time.
What if I offered this tool as a loaner for Club Lexus members? Is that against any sponsor rules? I did that years ago in the Porsche community and it worked out well for me. ... Arnie

 

When replaced the left axle on my car, I have replaced the seal. The seal goes into differential and around the axle.

I meant, how did you remove the sleeve and the bearing out of the engine. It is notoriously hard to remove.

 

That's probably why he rigged it up like that, it would take a SLAM to do or a lot of heat cycles.

I was just curious if you used heat at all, you method does makes sense if you are going to replace the axle and don't have heat. If you only needed to remove the axle I feel like it would risk destroying it too much

 

I get it now, thanks. I used an OTC slides hammer with a hook on the left side. I have my doubts that it would work on the right side.

 

So last night I got the "attachment sleeve" back into the engine wall. You can see in this pic the 3 foot stick I used to together with a hammer to drive it in. That took me about 20 minutes but most of it was watching the alignment to be sure the hole in the side of the sleeve lined up with the pinch bolt hole. Next there was a clearance issue preventing the insertion of the new axle assy. I just used a floor jack under the balljoint to lift the suspension a little. Then the axle slid home. Once I had that suspended I went after the damn snap ring. What a battle - it beat me and I gave up for the night.

Caution: whenever handling the full axle assy be protective of the green tripod joint. Don't pull on it! The only thing holding it together is the boot.

 

OK so the right axle went back together. I spent a embarrassing amount of time dealing with the axle's snapring. Access is the problem; there's just not room in to do much to push it into place. I finally resorted to using a zip tie and an old cheap pair of HF specialty pliers.

Harbor Freight pliers.

Snapring save with a zip tie.
So next, I turn to the left side; its supposed to be so much easier. I said that same thing about 6 months ago after pulling this same left side front axle and all I did was wiggle and yank it. Well its not coming out so easy now. If any of you guys have done this, please let me know what you did to get the left side out.

 

I see, you did not replace the bolt..

I did the left side. It took 4-5 hits with a slide hammer for the axle to come out.

 

Yea, I don't have a new replacement bolt for that Anfanger. I need to order a bunch of little things. Its lucky I had a few new snap rings.

I have to get back to my day job but here is what I've been thinking about....

This is from the workshop manual depicting the left front axle removal. There's so little there for the hook to grab onto. But beyond that I was thinking this was also the method for the right front axle but I'm just noticing that the right axle doesn't even have that groove. Anyway, just something to think about.

I've taken this picture a few times and photo just doesn't show them very well because the grease is also gray. But see those horizontal marks at about the two o'clock position. Those are smooth but deep enough I can feel them. They have grown quite a bit since i first got the car and swapped in new boots. I think those are the problem in that they are evidence related to the clunking noise. Maybe that damage happens with high miles (160k) or maybe grit gets in the open boot.

 

I removed the left axle with a slide hammer and a hook made by OTC. The hook that comes with the slide hammer set did not work for me.

 

I finished up the "axle job" yesterday. I did have some trouble finding a place to use the slide hammer hook but once the axle was out all was good. The only other thing was the new one didn't want to seat fully until I realized I have to push and turn the axle. Once the splines meshed, it dropped in. The noise is gone finally the car drives smooth and quiet... Arnie

I opened up the driver's side suspension just like I did on the other side. I separated the old axle at the tripod to get better access. At this point I am trying to get the new axle to fit into the differential. Push and turn at the same time.

This is from earlier in the day where I'm trying to find a place to position the slide hammer hook and pull the axle. This spot worked out well with the hook wedged between the frame and the cup.

 

Good work! I used an adjustable hose clamp to hold the hook in place. And then I attached a slide hammer to the hook and gave it 4-5 hits. The axle came out without issues.