DIY: 2000 Toyota Echo Drive Axle Replacement

[nperera86]

Notes:

I apologize in advance for having no pictures available. I took many pictures on my cell phone however transferring them to my PC yields "corrupt files" and the pictures that do work do not provide enough of a comprehensive overview of the process. Given that fact, this is just a simple step by step for anyone attempting to save them selves the money of having a shop replace your CV axles.

Furthermore, this how-to is for the driver side axle however the procedure is the same for the passenger side.


Disclaimer:

1. I cannot guarantee that this how-to is 100% accurate as I am doing this from memory
2. I accept no responsibility for your workmanship or any damage caused to your vehicle
3. I accept no responsibility for any injuries caused during or after the attempt of this how-to


Tools Needed:

1. Socket and Ratchet Set
2. Jack & Jack stands
3. Ball Joint Puller
4. Rubber or equivalent Mallet
5. 12 point 30 mm Socket
6. Breaker Bar
7. Torque Wrench
8. Crush washer & Transmission fluid
9. Short Bungee Cords
10. Chisel set


How-to:

1. Start by taking the hub caps off your vehicle (ensuring you are on level ground).

2. Using your chisel and mallet, un-stake the axle nut from the axle. The easiest way to un-stake this is to take a small chisel and slide it in on an angle towards the key way on the axle and pound out indent of the axle nut. Make sure that the key way is facing the ground to ensure this becomes as easy as possible.

3. Now using your 12 point 30 mm Socket and breaker bar, remove the axle nut from the axle. Make sure the car is still on the ground (otherwise you will need someone to hold the brakes while you do this).

4. Jack the car up and remove the 4 lug nuts holding the wheel onto the hub.

5. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the right to make sure you have adequate room to work and undo the cotter pin from the steering tie rod end.

6. Remove the castle nut holding the tie rod end in place and using your ball joint puller, extract the tie rod end from the knuckle (if you don't have a ball joint puller or cant rent one, you can use a rubber mallet and a flat head screw driver to pry it off but this is considerably harder).

7. With the steering disconnected, you should be able to rotate the knuckle freely. Turn it so you can access the brake caliper and remove that (17 mm socket).

8. Use your short bungee cords to hook it up to the strut so it is out of the way. Make sure the brake lines don't kink!

9. After removing the caliper, the rotor should just slip off. Set it aside carefully and using your rubber mallet hit the axle with a couple of good hard whacks.

10. You should now have enough play in the suspension assembly to slip the outboard end of the axle off of the knuckle. With some clever geometry and some muscle it should slip right out. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get mine to slip out however so I undid the strut from the knuckle (there are two bolts, 19 mm if I recall holding this on). This allowed me an extra degree of freedom to finally get the axle off of the knuckle.

11. Removing the inboard joint from the transmission is MUCH more tricky. Now a lot of DIY out there say that a long screw driver, some "love taps" from your handy mallet and the inboard joint should just pop out. Unfortunately our Echo's have extremely tight confines between the transmission and subframe making it nearly impossible to get adequate leverage on this bastard part.

I highly recommend renting a slide hammer for this. There is a snap ring holding the axle inside the transmission that you must over come to break it free of the tranny. A slide hammer will allow you to apply a perfectly axial force and make simple work of this. If you are reusing your axle you may want to be careful hooking up the slide hammer using appropriate tools that comes with your slide hammer kit.

I was replacing the axle so I just yanked on the axle breaking the tulip joint apart so that the tripod and axle came apart from the casing that was still stuck in the tranny. I then used an adapter that came with my slide hammer kit and some vice grips to pull it out - took literally 2 minutes (as opposed to the 3 hours of banging/prying it off with a mallet and screw driver)

***Make sure you have a bucket to catch the transmission fluid that WILL pour out***

12. Lube up your inboard joint on the new axle with some ATF and line up the splines as best you can on your new axle. Using your mallet tap it in to the transmission until you have the same gap between the inboard joint housing and the tranny case from your old axle.

13. Using anti-seize or equivalent, apply to the splines of the outboard section of the axle.

***Do NOT get anti-seize on the threaded portion!!!***

14. Reinstall everything in reverse of disassembly making use of the proper torques:

Tie Rod Castle Nut: 36 ft-lbs
Axle Nut: 159 ft-lbs
Lug Nuts: 76 ft-lbs

***Remember to restake the axle nut!!!***

15. Remove your transmission dip stick, get under the car and remove your tranny drain plug making sure to drain the tranny fluid.

16. Use the drain time to inspect your transmission drain plug and clean it well. There is a magnet integrated onto this plug that catches metal filings. Inspect the amount of metal filings caught. If it is excessive this could be a sign of impending tranny damage.

17. Once drained, replace with new crush washer and install cleaned drain plug, torque to 27 ft-lbs.

18. Fill the transmission back up (2.9 L for a drain and refill), start the car up and run through the gears so that the transmission oil can coat everything nicely.

19. Check the level of your tranny fluid and top up as necessary.

20. Take her out for a drive and with the money you saved, take your lady out for a nice dinner

-----

Hope this helps some of you. Again I apologize for not having pictures. If I missed anything or need to revise anything, please feel free to correct me! I have an image from the service manual of all the components of this assembly. If anyone wants it, just send me a pm and I will be happy to supply you with it.


-----

Searchable Tags:

Toyota Echo
CV Axle
Drive Axle
Replacement
CV Shaft
Removal