SkiMe

Doing my lower control arms (thank you Alchemist!!!) and everything is going along smoothly so far. But when I was taking the bushing bolt out I was moving the steering knuckle around and I pulled the boot and shaft out of differential. Grease was globing out. I got the shaft back in but what about the grease that fell out? Do I need to put some more in somehow??

thomas1

I did the exact same thing, It is not ruined, buy a lube kit and strap kit for the boot, Lube it and put in back together carefully. Make sure the area under the boot is dry on the metal and you will see a groove and six sided shape. You will be fine, I just did mine three weeks ago and did the same stupid thing...I was panicked, but all is well and we have been rolling fine.

SkiMe

Great thanks! Feel stupid and otherwise it went well. Oreillly gave me some wimply clamp and doesn't hold. They said just put some more bearing grease in there and clamp it down. I"ll look into your new boot kit idea.

I can't find the torque specs for the front engine mounts (in front of tranny) and the single rear motor mount bolt. Do you know?

Is it the same as the sides (64 ft lbs)?

thomas1

I went to Autozone and they had metal clamps similar to original, I would definetly buy the pack of CV joint grease and liberally put that in the bearing area packing it in with your hands...The clamps are stainless steel and cost less than $10 When adjusted tight and trapping the rubber boot in the groove of the bearing housing the boot will not move.

SkiMe

Looking at the service manual, they show an "alignment mark" on the axle shaft and the housing. I looked at my housing (where the 3 ball bearings go into) and don't see any alignment marks. Am I missing it? I know the shaft was rotated, pulled out, etc so back in the same spot, I am not confident in that fact. I'll check again tonight if I can see some alignment marks by taking the boot off again. Oreilly clamp sucked so will get some napa ones tonight too. Probably clean up the grease again and install new grease too.

thomas1

Oh man didn't look for alignment marks, but mine didn't turn, so maybe I lucked out. So far has worked fine.

SkiMe

OK, reading manual better (and not skimming), the alignment marks are from a previous step on disassembly where it tells you to "Mark Alignment Marks" on shaft and housing. Later on, it says to use those same reference points on re-assembly. So, by factory, there may not be any marks (based on manual).

Now, after I looked at it last night, there was one mark on the inside bearing but I could not find anything within the receiving sprocket housing. I did see one, tiny mark but don't know if that was just a mark, or some left over mark designation. Anyways, I put it all back together, new grease and a new CV Boot clamp. Test drove it last night and all is good so far. I will take it up on the freeway tonight to see if the slight vibration is still there....just don't know.

The steering does feel tighter and overall ride better, so that's good.

alchemist

iTrader: (1)

Exactly. I think I've had to do this on every car I've owned lol