How do you remove the front CV axle on on a 1992 Toyota Camry?

Answer 1

Boy, did you find the right guy! I own a 92 and a 94 and I've done three of these little devils in the last two months! Hopefully you are accomplished enough to jack the car, remove tire, remove the hub nut, and remove the entire strut assembly. Push the end of the shaft out (back in the hub) of the hub and move the assembly out of the way. The bottom of the strut assembly can be a thrill to remove but remove it and remove the tie rod end and you should be ready to proceed. On the bottom of the bearing is a small bolt that holds the bearing in place and that must be removed. Inside the bearing is a retaining ring that needs to be removed with long pointed nose pliers and pryed out. Get a repair manual and it will show what I am saying. Now the fun begins. The passenger side strut has a bearing on it that rides in a steel assembly and that bearing can be difficult to remove. The entire shaft has to come out of the tranny and that is not usually a problem but the bearing can be. The repair manual say that the shaft should just "pop" out of the tranny but that is not going to happen. Try taking two pry bars and prying on the shaft between the bearing housing and the metal housing on the backside of the rubber boot. You should see what I'm talking about once you get in there. It has to pop out of the transmission by prying really hard and sometimes it will come out. If it doesn't then find a small mini sledge hammer and you will have to beat the old shaft out and it may take a while. On one I did, it popped right out after only a few hits, but on the other one, well you don't want to hear what I had to do! Just keep beating it until it starts to move out of the bearing housing. Once you get the old one out, the worst is over. Take steel wool and clean the bearing housing really good and coat with anti-seize. Put the new one in and put a wood block on the end of the shaft and GENTLY tap the shaft until it goes in the tranny. Look at the bearing and there you should be able to see it going in and when it finally seats it will kind of "pop" in. Do everything in reverse and put it back together. The drivers side shaft is easier because there is no bearing to deal with. It simply has to be pryed out of the tranny with a couple of pry bars. It took a while but was a breeze after doing the passenger side. Good luck.