Removing 2000 Sienna XLE Right Driveaxle

[RRitenour]

I am trying to remove the right side drive axle.. It is fully separated from the hub, the snap ring is off the bearing support bracket and the lock bolt to the intermediate shaft bearing housing is off. So, nothing should be restricting it from coming out. Still, I cannot get the intermediate shaft to pull free from the differential side gear.

I have read the bearing housing sometimes rusts so you have to use penetrating oil to help break it loose, which I will do.

My question is....can this shaft be pried out using a large pickle fork? If so, where can I get one that large It must have a spread wide enough to get over the shaft.

OR... Can a hydraulic hammer or manual hammer with a large drift be used to drive it out?

Looking thru the differential from the other (driver's) side, I see that I can not put a long pipe thru it to drive out the shaft either.

OR...what have been your successes in getting this shaft out?

This has been a permanent California car, no rust is evident.

I would appreciate your help on this.

[toyomoho]

Not up on Sienna but typically there is just the retainer ring and nut in Toyota.

Other have: used a bar on the inner joint-if OEM it there may have a slot in the CV body, removed the bearing holder to allow working on it at the bench, torch to apply heat.

Suggest a TN history search as this issue with the bearing has come up before.

[05DCLB]

Here in Ohio after 1 winter that bearing is seized in housing. Dont use heat, that will melt mount rubber. Did you drop front exh pipe for room to swing hammer?. Worst case is taking axle out with housing and pressing out.

[RRitenour]

Originally Posted by 05DCLB

Here in Ohio after 1 winter that bearing is seized in housing. Dont use heat, that will melt mount rubber. Did you drop front exh pipe for room to swing hammer?. Worst case is taking axle out with housing and pressing out.

Thank you for your input...
Here are my discoveries so far:
1. The bearing housing is part of the rear motor mount which can't be removed without raising the engine.

2. I have removed the exhaust system which gives me better access to the imtermediary shaft. However, it is still going to have to be either removed with a large slide hammer and a chain around the rear CV housing (conical shaped) OR...hammering it out via a large pipe placed against the CV housing.
A large pickle fork + 2 1/4" open may work also.

I can't believe a tool hasn't already been made to attach to the shaft and hydraulically force it out.

3. Any more ideas out there?, please.

[jaspersk]

Sorry for replying to an old thread but I struggled with this same problem for several days and found a solution that I wanted to share for anyone else that finds this thread googling for an answer to this problem like I did. I was in a day long panic when I realized there was no way to get the carrier bearing free.

Some posts suggest removing the entire mount that holds the bearing but I found that to be impossible also. I couldn't even get three of the bolts loose. What did work for me was to take the axle apart at inner joint. You don't have to take apart the cv joint which sounds intimidating. The shaft will pull out of the joint after opening one ring. All you need to do is pop off the CV joint cover and clean off enough grease to find the ring holding the shaft in place. It needs to be opened and the shaft pulls right out of that joint. You don't need to take the joint apart. When you buy a replacement axle be sure that you buy an identical one (usually one that requires a core since those are identical). I found that Advanced Auto parts axle used a different style joint and wouldn't work. Autozone however had absolutely identical axle. I just took it apart the same way. Putting the axle back into the joint is easy as the end of the shaft is tapered so the ring just opens up on its own as you push in the axle. There is no need to hold the ring open while putting the replacement axle in.

This isn't as good as replacing the entire shaft because you don't get the bearing replaced or the actual inner joint replaced but most folks doing this job problem have problems with the outer joint and/or the cv joint covers. This method replaces the outer joint and both cv joint covers.