CV Joint R&R

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Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 15:08:44 +1000
From: "Chris Senungetuk" 
Subject: CV Boot Repair Experience
To: "toyota mailing list" 

Last weekend I took the plunge and repaired a blown cv boot
on my 92 4x4 extracab. I'd like to share my experience in
case anyone is thinking about taking this job on. My truck
had a blown inner boot. I bought both the inner and outer
ones, just in case, which come with a new clip, the boot,
clamps, and a bag of special grease.

Getting the drive axle off, I started with the wheel and
hub. There's a little hub cover to pry off and a bolt with
big washer under it. Then there's 6 nuts holding the main
part of the hub on. There are some cone washers here, which
can be a pain to get off. My Haynes manual says to use a
tapered punch. Closest I had was a cold chisel, which
worked pretty well, but it banged a couple of 'em up a bit.
On reassembly, try to orient the slots on these so that it
will be easier for the next guy -- it could be you. A
couple of mine were turned around so that it was hard to
get my chisel in there. Then take the clip and splined
washer off the drive axle.

Gotta get under the truck to remove the 6 nuts connecting
the drive axle to the diff output. These are tightened
pretty tight, I had to use my big breaker bar. Looking
back, it would have been better to do these first with the
front diff in 4x4 so the axle would be effectively locked.
Since mine was spinning I put a box-end wrench on the bolt
and let the axle spin enough to catch on the A-arm or frame
or whatever.

OK, ready, but the axle can't come out yet. The shock
and/or the end of the sway-bar are definitely in the way.
Since I didn't have a socket big enough for that shock
mounting nut I went for the bolt on the sway bar. Still
wasn't coming out -- the angle of the wheel hub was level
with the ground, when it needed to be angled up a bit. I
ended up removing the 4 bolts on the bottom of the lower
ball joint (I think that's the name of the part) so that I
could lift the wheel hub assembly away from the truck. That
enabled the axle to slide out towards the middle of the
truck. So far, way more effort than I had planned. Be
careful not to get any grease on the brake rotor, it's
pretty easy with all that grease everywhere. I spent a
while cleaning all the grease off the A-arms and frame. 

Now the axle is out of the truck. My inner boot came off
pretty easy, it was ripped. Take the tulip off, but not
before marking it in relation to the axle. I used some
paint, but that came off in the solvent. Next time I'll use
my carbide tipped etching pen. Inside is a lot more grease.
Get rid of that and there's a bearing tripod inside. Before
you take this off, punch mark it in relation to the axle.
This part has all been pretty easy, clean-up no big deal.

The outer joint was another story. This one was intact, but
I decided to replace the boot anyway, since I was already
in there. I don't think you can take this bearing apart, so
cleaning it is a real pain. I spent a while flushing the
grease out and letting it dry. Next time I'll leave the
outer alone if I can help it.

Re-assembly of the axle is pretty easy. The little bag of
grease doesn't look like it's enough at first, but there's
plenty. Just make sure those clamps are snug.

Getting the axle back in went faster than taking it out.
Torqued the 6 nuts on the diff side to 60 lbs. I'm still
not sure what to torque the 6 on the hub to -- the Haynes
manual is a little hard to decipher. I guessed and set them
at 15 and I'll check 'em later. I set the lower ball joint
bolts at 25, again, guessing.

In all I spent probably about 7 hours, I know it looks a
little long compared to you shop guys, but I didn't have
air tools or a solvent tank -- both would certainly speed
things up a bit. Also, I was taking my time with beer
breaks and such.

I think on my wife's 4runner I'll look into buying the
driveaxle assembly and do the core return. That will take
an hour or two off and be a lot less messy. Anyway, it was
a big job and I don't recommend it for the casual
fix-it-yourself type unless you're really up for some work.
Glad to be done with it, though, and my total outlay was
40$. Saved a bunch at the shop!

Chris Senungetuk

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