Is my car screwed?

[getyourgunn]

93 camry le 23K miles 5s-fe
I was driving down the highway and while accelerating and turning slightly left I experienced violent jerks in my steering wheel so I pull off to check it out and noticed the boot where the axle meets up with the wheel assembly is completely torn open. How much is this going to cost? And what parts would I need if reasonable price?

[reluctantmechanic]

Originally Posted by getyourgunn

93 camry le 23K miles 5s-fe
I was driving down the highway and while accelerating and turning slightly left I experienced violent jerks in my steering wheel so I pull off to check it out and noticed the boot where the axle meets up with the wheel assembly is completely torn open. How much is this going to cost? And what parts would I need if reasonable price?

diy, maybe 150 bucks...you need a new axle assembly, not a bad idea to do the diff seal where the axle shaft inputs into the trans.. You might also want to conisder the outer tie rod for that side, sometimes removing them to get to the axle will destory them, they are super cheap (less than 20 bucks?)

Keep us posted, thanks, and good luck!

[ty**20]

car is not screwed..its fixable as stated above..time and money will be screwed a bit..

[getyourgunn]

let me make a correction to my original post, my car has 230,000 miles on it. but ill look into the situation.

[hairball]

The "car" is not screwed... YOU ARE!

Just kidding! But I've never heard of any "violent jerks" when a CV boot rips. But the others were correct, it's an easy fix. Just an axle. Auto Zone sells them for about $60 plus $10 core. Other places may vary.

But no, it's nothing to get worried about. You can fix it yourself if you're handy with tools and have jacks and stands and a torque wrench. Otherwise, you might be better off having a reputable local shop do the work. Although it's not "hard" to do, it certainly isn't "fun"!!!

[getyourgunn]

so napa has axle assemblies with to boots and everything all together for about $50 and the cv boots are shot on both sides so it will be both replaced. when replacing the tie rods for insurance. is it the inner or outer tie rods that need to be replaced?

[hairball]

NEITHER! Unless you find signs of wear or damage! Just replace the axles and you'll be smiling! You get the entire axles at Auto Zone. The price I mentioned was for 91 Camry but I'm sure the other years and models are not very far from that price.

But no, you don't have to mess with the steering (tie rods or tie rod ends). ONLY the axles. But if you want to do it just for "insurance", you'll only need to change the OUTER tie rod ends. There are no inner ones. And hey, if money is no object, you might as well replace your bearings too while you're at it, but it's not mandatory.

[getyourgunn]

Ok my day just got better then. For some reason I had it in my head that cv shafts would cost more. I was in a bad mood considering I drove 60 miles home doing 35 mph. I should be able to swap these out in a couple hours. Next is a timing belt job!!! hurray for old cars.

But I love my camry...

[hairball]

yeah, they're basically pretty easy to replace (the CV axles) but you DO need a torque wrench for putting everything back together. Yes, you should be able to tackle both sides in a matter of an afternoon. I would suggest having a friend help you, but it's not mandatory.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[ycartf]

The carrier bearing on the passenger side axle can be a little challenging if there is any corrosion (a great possibility when over 200k mi). I wrote a tutorial on it here:

Gen 4 Camry Passenger Side CV Axle Tutorial

I recently did my son-in-law's axle on a 1993 2.2L wagon and it was exactly the same, all torques, socket sizes, etc. The way I do/did it, you don't have to do any tie rod removing at all and is not that hard.

HTH

[reluctantmechanic]

make sure you break the axle nut when the car is on the ground, with the tire on...just a 1/4 of a turn, so when the car is in the air you're not trying to do it.

Also, it's the outer tie rod. You need to remove it without damaging it - not easy to do. Once you have the nut off, screw another similar nut on, but only enough so that the threads aren't exposed. you can hit the nut with a hammer, and maybe pop it. The right tool for this job is a tuning fork - problem is, the fork will rip the boot of the tie rod, destroying it.

[hairball]

Well, you're right. That's what I meant also . Just replaced both my outer ends and it was one of the easiest jobs I ever did. I was picturing that the OP meant he had to physically remove them. Boy, don't I look like an idiot now.

[reluctantmechanic]

Originally Posted by hairball

Well, you're right. That's what I meant also . Just replaced both my outer ends and it was one of the easiest jobs I ever did. I was picturing that the OP meant he had to physically remove them. Boy, don't I look like an idiot now.

I think you are closer to being right on this - you really don't "remove" the tie rod ends, you just disconnect them at the outer most end...leaving it installed on the rack.

[getyourgunn]

Ok so this was one of the worst jobs I'v ever done. The driver side shaft went fine but the passenger side was a whole different story. The mid bearing was seized in the bracket. So I rented the cv axle puller from autozone and beat the hell out of it, no luck. So I heated the bracket up and beat on it, no luck. So I soak it in pb blaster over night then spray it some more beat it with the puller, no luck. Heat it again and beat it no luck. So finally I had to pull out the engine mount and the bracket with the stuck axle. I set the bracket on a 6X6 piece of wood and had my dad beat the axle out with a sledge hammer, and it still didnt come out easy. putting it back together then was no problem but getting it out was a bitch.

So if anyone is planning on tackling this job, be forewarned that the mid bearing on the passenger side axle can be a bigger job than it should.

[Mister_Perkins]

did you remove the C clip before prying? I replaced mine and it came out fairly easy. didnt even use a puller ??