95 Camry CV Boot Replacement HELP!!

[dimwittedmoose51]

Following the Haynes Manual on the 4 cyl motor and I'm having two big problems getting the half shafts off the car. One: the passenger side circlip that holds the intermediate bearing assembly doesn't want to come out. I got a pair of the bigger vise grip needle nose on the tangs, but it doesn't want to budge.
Rust is the likely culprit, but after shooting the PB Blaster in there and leaving the tangs compressed for 2 hours, it still doesn't ant to come out. Any magic tricks in getting it out cleanly?

Two: The driver's side shaft just plain doesn't want to come out. It will move about a half an inch and then no amount of judicious prying(as described in the Haynes) is giving me any further progress. I don't see any pin or speedometer like drive gear in the vicinity, so what's up? Car has 89k on it and theses are the GKN shafts if that helps.

Thanks

Max

[Eye8Pussies]

the driver's side axle...not sure why you're having problems...but just keep on prying...it's the only way...the axle IS off the hub already, right?

as for the passenger's side half-shaft....why do you need to take it off? to change the cv boot or whatever, all you need to do is replace the outside axle, not the half-shaft

and good luck getting the half-shaft out of the carrier bearing...some people have been lucky enough to hammer it out at home, but not many. It's more of a job for a shop with a torch and a big sledgehammer. just remember that after torching the mount to get the shaft out, the bearing needs to be replaced then

[dimwittedmoose51]

Yeah, the axle's out of the hub. I finally go the pass. side circlip out, really rusted in there. I haven't had any luck prying the pass side from the intermediate bearing so far and now that I'm sure there's no side cover leak on that side(and the hassle of getting the bearing out of that housing), I'm going to leave that alone.
..... and yes, I need to replace all 4 boots before they crack any further and let nasties inside the joints. The inners aren't that bad, but the outers are close to toast.

I'll keep prying. I had the same problem a few days ago with our 94 Town and Country Driver's side driveshaft. I still don't have it out.

thanks

Max

[dimwittedmoose51]

Shaft update: Turns out you don't need to remove the big metal inner part of the GKN shaft. All I did after cussing the fact that I couldn't get them out, was remove the boot clamp on the big end and the tripod end came out effortlessly. Fortunately, they did not need replacing, so cleaning the innards was pretty simple.

The report card on EMPI CV joint boots from Autohausaz.com is not good. they are no where near OEM quality, and although I ordered the right boots, the inners do not follow the weird inner contours on the female half of the GKN CV Joint. They're just as round as the outers and that would make for an interesting sealing issue once the big end clamp was installed. I think I will re-sue the OE inners as they are not in terrible shape for being 13 years old. The neighbor that owns the car is uloading it, so the leaky main seal and the oil in the coolant issues are for someone elsle to screw with.

thanks again for the assistance.

Max

[Heat]

I had a ripped CV boot a couple months ago in my '95. Rather than messing with replacing the boot, I paid my mechanic $210 to replace the whole axle (parts & labor).