i plan to change my left front axle next tuesday, i simply dont have the money to goto a mechanic nor the time right now. I bought the axle, how hard will it be to put on myself. I have the majority of the tools myself, but is there anything special i need to make note of or do before i go do this myself?

 

No expert on the car yet, but I've done the right axle on a 94SE auto and was told the left was just as easy. Had air tools and a lift so it was a little easier than a driveway, but it took me about forty minutes(that includes a drink break). If you go into it looking before pulling, you'll save yourself time and stress in the long run. Remember, learning is usually a hands on thing. Go slow and good luck.

 

would that be the control arm?? or a whole different part??

 

drain the ATF/gear oil or you'll get a nice bath.
changing the axle seal is optional.

driver side...there's a retainer clip on the tranny side...line up the spline and slap it in. make sure you have a socket big enough for the axle bolt.

 

try not to unbolt the spindle, that way you can save yourself an allignment.

 

you need milk crates.

(ask MrGone to provide pictures)

 

Whole different part

 

you can also use a jackstand

 

no

 

oops i meant right...but i guess it shouldnt be that hard

going to give it a go today instead

 

I was half kidding and half serious. You use the milk crates to hold the spindles up, so you don't have to take them off completely. I guess you could used something else, but the milk crates work perfectly.

MrGone, I know you have pics

 

havin a hell of a time gettin this transmission fluid bolt to come off. any suggestions

 

I did, until Dave's server went down and now I cant get them

I knew I should have saved them to mine but ugh

I can try to find one, but it will take a while

 

bleh, im stuck gettin the tie rod end to come apart. ill try again tuesday

 

you dont have to knock out the tie rod ends to replace axles, you dont even have to unbolt the spindle from the strut, makes it easier but you dont have to.

 

ill try this again as soon as i can, just going by my chilton manual

thanx

 

how do i get the 3 retainer bolts off without taking the crossmember off?

 

Holy crap. I was going to stay out of this thread BECAUSE THE INFORMATION IS IN THE STICKIES but even the advice in this thread pains me. Milk crates??????????? Where do you goobers come up with this stuff? Can your advice be ANY MORE vague??

Read this. In fact put this into your favorites. You will be referring to it alot. And read the stickies!
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d801f558b.jsp

 

the bolts are in an awkward position and i cant reach them, i cant even fit my hand where they are at let alone fit a ratchet or wrench where they are at

 

I use a normal open/box end wrench. Not rocket science here. I guess it might be harder if you have the stock Y but who knows?

 

can i remove the y pipe, thats the only option i see

 

Sure.......

 

If you dont have a helper or air tools, do it in this order, if you do, then jack up the car first:
before you start: make sure you have all the parts and tools you will need!
1. remove cotter pin and cap, loosen axle bolts (36mm ones on the end)
2. loosen lugs (not alot, just break the initial torque on them)
3. jack up car, put on jack stands
4. drain tranny (remove fill plug before drain plug for 2 reasons, makes it drain faster, and you dont want to drain the tranny just to find out you can get teh fill plug out). Put the bolt back in once most of the fluid is out, it will drain for days if you let it (make sure you torque it, as you will most likely forget when it comes time to fill the tranny back up).
5. seperate the ball joints (this way you dont have to get an allignment) or just unbolt hte ball joints. To make it uber easy you can just unbolt the spindle from the strut and ball joint from the LCA, thats when milk crates come into play, but its not necessary.
6. unbolt 3 12mm bolts that hold the carrier bearing in place for the passenger side axle (drivers side does not have this). You DO NOT have to remove the y-pipe to do this, if you have a decent set of tools you can unbolt them with the y-pipe in place. On a VG you can even unbolt them by using a number of extensions, a swivel joint and go up behind the engine.
7. work axle and spindle until you get the splines out of the hub, push spindle aside (this is where it's easier if you unbolt it all, but it is not necessary by any means).
8. Pull the axle out of the tranny, sometimes you have to go back and forth with it pushing then pulling, but it will come out.
9. clean/replace the axle seals
10. compare new axles to old axles (you should do this with any part, but it is even more important with axles because there are so many choices and it is easy for you to get the wrong one). 5mins here will potientially save you lots of time down the road.
11. Install new axles in the same fashion you removed the old ones (probably going to have to go back and forth to kind of "hammer" them home.
12. Get under the car and make sure the axles are in all the way, they will trick you and make you think they are, but get under and make sure.
13. Bolt the carrier bearing on the passenger side axle down again.
14. Bolt the spindles down again
15. Install the axle/spindle nuts
16. Fill tranny
17. double check all your bolts, make sure you didn't forget any/etc
18. put the wheels back on
19. Lower the car
20. double check the torque on the wheels and axle bolt (and install the cotter pin).
21. go get an allignment unless you only knocked out the ball joint, then you saved yourself $60 (unless ofcourse you bought a life time allignment ).

now put that in the stickies (unless it's already there, who knows, I hate them )

 

I've done axles atleast 3 times leaving the y-pipe in (maybe its 5? cant remember anymore)
and 1 time with it out (because I bought a WSP and it had to come out anyway).

It is a heck of alot easier to just take the y-pipe out if you have the stocker, but if you have a wsp or cattman, just leave it alone and deal with it.

 

Why should your post be in the stickies? The autozone link you quoted says the same thing

 

autozone is ghey
I dont really care, it was more because you called our advice vague, and besides, alot of times FSM's/etc add in extra steps that are unnecessary.

example:
VTC replacement, remove powersteering pump and lines
remove AC pump and lines

you dont have to do it, and not doing it can save yourself alot of time and money.

 

Still don't understand the milk crates thing. And you don't have to undo any ball joints. Just undo the 3 lca nuts and swing the strut assy away. Nothing sits on any milk crates.

 

unbolting the ball joints can mess with your allignment, but not much (I'm saying this for other people, not you jeffy )

The milk crates are for if you unbolt hte entire spindle from the strut, milk crates are generally the perfect height to rest spindles (calipers/etc) on.

 

Unbolting any part of your suspension can mess with the alignment

 

well i got the bolts off, took over an hour but i did it

 

where can you even get milk crates?? Most civilized places have upgraded to cartons/plastic bottles...j/k

 

plastic milk jugs still come in milk crates

 

You didn't hear this from me, but if you need a few you're likely to find them hiding out back of your local safeway/albertsons