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Halfshaft replacement, 91 Corolla

7K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  punter 
#1 ·
Has anyone replaced the driver's side (left) halfshaft on an American built 1991 Corolla, 4afe, ae94?

A couple questions about it:

It looks like the most difficult part will be removing the connecting rod from the steering knuckle and removing the lower control arm from the steering knuckle.. Do you need a lot of physical strength to do this??

1. Do you need any special tools aside from a ball joint puller?
2. How do you know if you need to replace the oil seal on the manual transaxle (where the axle connects)?
3. Can you reuse cotter pins or is it a good idea to have a couple replacement ones?

Any other advice/hints regarding this procedure are appreciated. Also if you know of any links that show a step by step procedure and/or pictures please send them to me!

Thank you
Jen
 
#2 ·
Are you replacing just the shaft or the entire hub? If you are replacing the entire hub it is easy, just remove the caliper and rotors of the brakes, the ball joints and tie rod ends, then the lower ball joint connected to the wishbone, then the two bolts on the strut and pull.

In answer to your questions:
1. No. Even if you dont own a ball joint puller it is ok... just get under/above them with a plastic mallet and give them a few taps. These should just pop out, edpecially if you have a way of supporting the hub (which i strongly reccomend, coz when they drop, they are fairly heavy!)

2. The oil seals are a good idea to replace whenever you pull an axle out, as they have a tendency to damage the seal. The last thing you want is no oil in your tranny, without realising.

3. You can re-use them, but again, better to be safe than sorry and get some new ones, coz they have a tendancy to snap easy.

Hope this helps,
Scott.
 
#5 ·
Halfshaft Replacement Procedure (Drivers side, manual 91 Corolla ae92)
Did it today.. with some help wasn't too difficult... Here's as best as I remember, don't blame me if I got some details wrong.
* You do need a ball joint puller of some kind
* Need large sockets for lock nut and transmission drain (24mm?)
* Check to see if the seal between transaxle and halfshaft is leaking... if so, you need to purchase a new seal from a dealership (mine didn't need it, but it is a special order part so leave time for them to order it if you need it, $12

Remove wheel, protective underpanel and transmission fluid
Remove cotter pin, castle nut and lock nut
Remove 2 nuts and 1 bolt (17mm) holding lower control arm to strut assy (don't remove the lower control arm from the steering knuckle like it tells you in the manual, its harder)
Remove tie rod end from steering knuckle (this is where you need some type of ball joint puller)
No need to remove rotor or caliper or anything, just move all this stuff out of your way
Pull halfshaft from the back of rotor
Pull half shaft from transaxle
There is a c clip holding it in place which I've heard people have problems with, my halfshaft came out pretty easily
Put it all back together and don't forget to refill the transaxle/transmission fluid!!
 
#6 ·
Much simpler method
'shop style'

remove large pin and nut from center of wheel/hub
jack car up, look under control arm and remove 2 bolts and nut holding ball joint to control arm, pull these two away from each other
tap axle to loosen from hub, use bungee cord to hold hub as far out and back as it will go, outter joint will slide out
use prybar to pop inner joint from tranny
reverse procedure to reinstall
be sure to drive axle firmly back into tranny
expect plenty of oil lo leak when axle is popped out.
Takes about 20 minutes on a rack with air tools and experience
need pics?
 
#7 ·
Quote:
3. You can re-use them, but again, better to be safe than sorry and get some new ones, coz they have a tendancy to snap easy.

I agree very much so. Also if you're gonna have something out, might as well go ahead and replace what you can, even if not totally necessary, learned that one when i was helpin my cousin and uncle put new gears in my cousin's tranny. Good luck!
 
#8 ·
If you find that there are some bolts/nuts that you are not strong enough to get off (and it happens to ALL of us eventually!), just get a length of pipe to slip over the end of your ratchet/wrench. This will give you extra leverage. The castle nut (on the center of the hub) is torqued down particularly tight, and you will need a friend to step on the brakes hard while you are turning the nut off. Otherwise, the hub and tranny will just turn and you won't make any progress. It also needs to be tightened to 137 lb/ft, according to my service manual. That's pretty tight! I performed this procedure on a '90 Geo Prism (exact same car as a Corolla) and it is pretty straightforward. Fortunately, the halfshafts on my '90 Corolla were replaced shortly before I got it. Good luck! Regards, Aaron
 
#9 ·
I just did this to my driver side '90 corolla LE automatic w/overdrive. Just to recap. Since this is a great thread!!

1. Remove cotter pin, castle nut and center nut (30mm). Center nut required breaker bar and my foot and full weight on the bar to loosen.
2. Jack up car and remove wheel.
3. Remove 2 - 17mm nuts and 1 - 17mm bolt.
4. Separate ball joint bracket from lower control arm. Don't worry, spring isn't under tension (I was skeptical about doing this myself, but I trusted the forums :)
5. I hit the half shaft stud protruding from the hub of the disc and pulled on the disc. Took a bit of finagaling but it came off.
6. Next yank on the half shaft to get it off of the transmission. Prybar definitely helped here!!
7. Get new half shaft and attempt to put the transmission end in first. Then hub end. The transmission end didn't go in so smooth for me. So I put the hub end in first and screwed it in a few turns. This enabled the half shaft to straighten up rather than hang down. The transmission end took a lot of time to get in. But if finally "snapped" into place after a bit of up and down left and right pushing.
8. Connect control arm to ball joint and tighten.
9. Torque center bolt 137 ft/lb.
10 Attach wheel and lower car and recheck torque on center cap with car on ground (not sure if neccessary but I did it anyway)

Part cost me $55 at Kragen with a $45 core that I just got back tonight. Simpler than I thought and happy that I did it and found this awesome forum!! Thanks guys!!

Erik
 
#11 ·
I've always found the hardest part of half axle replacement is the part about prying the half axle out of the transmission. This takes considerable force. By comparision, the end of the axle near the hub is a piece of cake, at least here in sunny, dry New Mexico. The service manual for the 91 Corolla says to pound out the passengers side half axle from the transmission and pry out the drivers side half axle. The driver's side is the harder one.
See: http://www.corolland.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19128&hl=axle
 
#12 ·
tashirosgt said:
I've always found the hardest part of half axle replacement is the part about prying the half axle out of the transmission. This takes considerable force. By comparision, the end of the axle near the hub is a piece of cake, at least here in sunny, dry New Mexico.
I've always found the exact oppisite, strange.
 
#13 ·
kongmen said:
How do you know half shaft is going out? The reason I ask is because my 91 corolla viberates when in drive at a stop light but when I put it in neutral it stops. It's been doing this for about a year.
HHAHAHAH uh dude, helloooo lots of miles on a small econo engine (4afe) thats auto, it's going to give ya a good butt massage if you don't put it in neutral. For me I always put it into neutral whenever I'm at a stop light or going down a hill, for me it's a habit now, also you get pretty much almost the same fuel economy as if you had a manual. 39mpg on Vpower on a 229K mi 4afe. Woots =)
 
#16 ·
First, my thanks to jenniferimai for starting this thread.... very helpful!!

also, corolla1990 was very helpful w/ this section. I wanted to add some additional pointers that helped me pull off the drivers side half shaft on a 89 corolla.

corolla1990 said:
I just did this to my driver side '90 corolla LE automatic w/overdrive. Just to recap. Since this is a great thread!!

1. Remove cotter pin, castle nut and center nut (30mm). Center nut required breaker bar and my foot and full weight on the bar to loosen.
2. Jack up car and remove wheel.
3. Remove 2 - 17mm nuts and 1 - 17mm bolt.
4. Separate ball joint bracket from lower control arm. Don't worry, spring isn't under tension (I was skeptical about doing this myself, but I trusted the forums :)
5. I hit the half shaft stud protruding from the hub of the disc and pulled on the disc. Took a bit of finagaling but it came off.
6. Next yank on the half shaft to get it off of the transmission. Prybar definitely helped here!!
7. Get new half shaft and attempt to put the transmission end in first. Then hub end. The transmission end didn't go in so smooth for me. So I put the hub end in first and screwed it in a few turns. This enabled the half shaft to straighten up rather than hang down. The transmission end took a lot of time to get in. But if finally "snapped" into place after a bit of up and down left and right pushing.
8. Connect control arm to ball joint and tighten.
9. Torque center bolt 137 ft/lb.
10 Attach wheel and lower car and recheck torque on center cap with car on ground (not sure if neccessary but I did it anyway)

Part cost me $55 at Kragen with a $45 core that I just got back tonight. Simpler than I thought and happy that I did it and found this awesome forum!! Thanks guys!!

Erik
For item #6, I perfromed the following and don't "yank" on the half shaft, you run the risk of seperating the entire half shaft at a boot (ask me how I know). If equiped, remove the top cover shield over the half shaft near the tranny. This will allow you to place a big f'ing pry bar on the axle hub and pop it right off. You get better leverage from working up top and placing the pry bar against the bolt boss from the cover you just removed.

For item #7, your better off placing the tranny end of axle in first and then tapping it into place. Leaving the new nut on the hub side of the axle and place a block of wood over the nut. You can tap it onto place w/ a hammer and not mar up the new hub end.

That said, I'm also looking for some additional information. I need the torque values for the ball joint to control arm, the hub assm to strut and axle end nut. Is the 137 ft/lb good for a 89 corolla?

thanks in advance
 
#17 ·
As I mentioned above, I have always found this takes considerable force. (Perhaps Punter has the secret.) Get the half axel completely out of the wheel side and prop it up so it is level and the wheel end isn't blocked from moving away from the car. Put the car on a lift or up far enough on jackstands so you have clearance to use a big pry bar. Figure out where the ridges on the "tulip" are where you will put a pry bar ( a pry bar works better than a crow bar). If you try to remove the axle by pulling on the shaft, what usually happens is that it pulls apart at the tulip joint. This doesn't matter if you are installing a new axle but the rubber boot around the tulip will rip and the very sticky grease inside the tuplip will make your work less pleasant. I grind the tip of the pry bar so it fits well on the ridges of the tulip. There is no natural fulcrum on the car body to use. I used a jackstand to hold a piece of metal (the body of squarish tie rod puller) in the cranny below the tulip. I hold the bar tight with one hand and hit the handle of the bar with a 2 lb sledge. If you aren't making progress, turn the tulip slightly and work on a different place.
 
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