How To Remove CV Axle+Replace Front Wheel Bearing 2nd Gen

Do I need to lube the axle splines? They were dry from the factory but it seems like they should have something, as BMW MC drive splines do. I put nickel anti-seize on the dust cover and both sides of the disc rock shield. Hopefully there is no problem with this.

 

You should be ok. I put grease on the splines when i did mine.

 

I ordered replacement assembled bearings from member NJ636 at this thread in the 2nd Gen Marketplace: "https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-complete-save-custom-built-available.288055/" and highly recommend him if you need replacement bearing assemblies. Speed, quality, fair price, responsiveness, and attention to detail. Have no reservations.

Spectacular packaging, secure and well wrapped!

I do light maintenance on my truck, but nothing as involved as this and reading this and the other threads gave me the information and confidence to undertake this job. I wanted to post this for others like me who were thinking about it. It is totally doable and will save $$$ so don't think you can't. Note: I just did the bearings not the CV axle like OP.

A couple of points from my process, which is to be continued tomorrow as I ran out of daylight and had a couple of misques, pictures will be posted when finished.

1) I cannot emphasis the importance of PB Blast and Leverage, especially if your truck is more than a few years old and has not had any work in these areas. The bolts are tight and breaking them free requires the right tools and leverage. The brake caliper bolts were my hang up. they would not come loose until I had worked on them for a while. I took the time to apply PB blast to all the areas and have broken them all free so finishing will be easy.

2) If you have 4X4, lock the hubs and use a breaker bar to wedge it to keep the hubs from spinning when removing the 173 ft/lb bolt. I forgot at first and had already disconnected my battery which cost me time. To help you get the hub nut off I put two lug nuts on and wedged a pry bar in to lock it down. there is a tool at Auto Zone which will help you get the hub off no problem. Part # 27011 2/3 jaw puller 8". rent it it will get the hub off instead of beating it with a hammer.



3) The removal of the axle hub grease cap was a pain. I tried to use a dead blow hammer with no luck, you need a real hammer and a screw driver like it says in the instructions above. But be careful with the angle and how hard you hit or you will punch a hole and cost yourself $27 to replace it. I took pictures to show how/where it goes and what it looks like when you get it started which I will post later. If it has never been off, it is on there pretty good and you will spend time on it like I did before figuring it out finally.

proper axel hub grease cap removal screwdriver placement

the middle hammer is what you need to remove the cap not the left or right hammers...

4) I was worried about removing and hanging the disc brake calipers as that seemed sketchy to me and I did not know if I would have to bleed the brakes or if it would require anything else I had not seen since it was brakes. However after FINALLY removing the two 17 mm bolts it was not hard at all and the reinstall was nothing special, other than lining up the holes to put the bolts back in ( i used a mirror to see). I test drove it and no problems with the brakes. no leakage, nothing. It is as easy as it appears. Be sure to remove the attachments for the brake lines so as not to stress them like the instructions show and it is good to go.

5) when you get the tires off, spray everything down with non chlorinated brake cleaner to get all that brake dust off and keep it out of your body.

6) I identified what causes that maddening pad slap noise every time you hit the brakes after they have worn down a while. I will post a picture and and going to lube it to see if that helps. It appears brake dust binds up the pins and the force of applying the brakes causes them to slap and cause that noise.


7) remove the front speed sensor by using a screwdriver in the slot to hit the detent and then pull it off. I will post a picture for reference


I appreciate everyone's helpful comments which made this doable for me! Thank you OP!

FLJB (edited for pictures found later.

 

I read this over and over again as I was preparing for my great wheel bearing replacement adventure (first time) and as I grabbed my big-ass hammer and screwdriver, I kept saying to myself "Be careful, don't punch a hole into this thing." So I place the screwdriver carefully into the cap/hub crevice, making sure the angle is correct. Then I give the screwdriver two solid whacks. Apparently, the first whack did nothing but bounce the screwdriver off the initial original placement and it landed on the soft (very soft) part of the grease cap. The second whack punches a nice clean hole into the grease cap.

Like so...


So, cheap-ass that I am (didn't want to pay $27 bucks to replace it.) I cleaned the area around the hole down to bare metal and soldered the damn thing.


I even painted it a nice hear resistant gloss black...


When I reinstalled it, I added anti-seize along the rim contact point. Next time, I hope that it will come off easier.
Thanks FLJB! It it weren't for your advance warning, I could've torn an even bigger hole

 

It's a dust cap, so no big worries

 

Right on. That works. I was going to just seal mine up with some JB weld, but I bought one from the dealer since mine hole was a bit larger than yours... Glad I could help and pay it forward!

 

Best way to clean off the rust/baked on brake dust on the caliper pins: Chuck it into your drill, hold the pin against a wad of sandpaper and let it spin away. Every last bit of rust will magically get sandpapered off, leaving you with nice, smooth pins. Believe it or not, these four pins were crusty with rust and dust.

 

Once the bearing and hub is removed, what kind/type of grease should be used on the axle spline before inserting it into the new bearing and hub assembly? Thanks.

 

I can't remember what I used when I replaced the bearings. Either silicone spray or wheel bearing grease. One is certainly tempted to put something to ease removal next time. If you put grease or anti-seize, use a a very thin amount as some will get pushed into the hub cavity and you want to avoid any risk of the grease coming in contact with rubber/nitrile seals, unless you use a silicon based grease such as Silaramic or SuperLube products (92003, 41160, etc).

 

What's better than having the thread.......the man himself.

I'll just go to tour house and do it there

 

nice post! I'll have to do this to my 2000 at some point...this gives me an idea of what Im up against...

 

LOL, yea its fun having someone else over who loves tacomas as much as I do. Plus, you get free food! I know I used to be a poor college student.

FYI, I'll be doing another write up on the Rear wheel bearings and replacing them. I took a whole lot of pictures, I just have to put them in order and write the thread part. Just need the time to do it. Yes you can do the rear bearings yourself. You just need the proper tools.

 

I just used regular hi temp wheel bearing grease, nothing special. Unless you have something special...then use that.

 

So, over the weekend I replaced both front wheel bearings and hub assemblies, both inner and outer bearing hub seals, plus went ahead and installed a pair of raybestos re manufactured calipers, as I had a bad piston on the passenger side. I also installed new oem toyota rotors and pads. I bled each new caliper several times with a Motive brand power bleeder. After burning through two bottles of oem Toyota brake fluid, it's safe to say they are bubble-free.

To my dismay, my test drive at the end of the work broke my heart. My truck still makes a crappy grinding noise, easiest to hear around 30 mph when going straight, gets a little louder if you turn slightly to the right. The vibration can be felt through the gas pedal when your foot is resting on it going down the road.

Anyone have any ideas on what to go after next? I'm leaning towards replacing both front CV axles with a new pair from Dallas Toyota, but parts and seals alone are going to run about $800 I think. All I want is to be able to drive down the road and not feel like my truck is grinding itself to bits.

For what it's worth, my BF Goodrich tires showed some "weird" wear, according to a toyota tech, but still have some tread left on them. I'd like to go another year on those if I could. The noise sounds more like metal on metal than uneven tire wear to me though. I've heard tires with uneven wear can mimic a bad wheel bearing.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Do yourself a favor and purchase Toyota OEM reman axles from CVJ Axle in Denver, Co. You can have them built with OEM boots or high angle silicone boots, plus they will do the boot slide mod for you when they build them if you specify you want it done. You can get both cv axles with a core charge for about half what Toyota wants.

http://www.cvjreman.com/

 

Instead of replacing parts, you need to figure out what is causing the noise. Seek a professional if you can't pinpoint it.

 

I'm leaning towards letting the dealer have another look at it now that all the parts have been replaced. Just gave them $400 last week for a coolant flush and fill, new plugs, and some diagnosis on the noise. They came back with a $3200 quote for new tires, alignment, caliper, and wheel bearings. I told them to hold off and would tackle what I could on that list at home. I agree, throwing parts at it is not the best fix. I'm just to a point where cv axles are about the only thing left that spins and hasn't been replaced when the truck is in motion and could possibly be the culprit. It always sux to spend money just to get things back to the way they are supposed to be. When you drop big money on something, it's normally for something new and shiny that blows your mind.

It's nice knowing there are some good re manufactured axles out there though. I was not thrilled at the cost of $450 OEM axles, yet somewhat suspicious of a $60 axle from the big box parts stores. Seems like a good happy-medium if they end up being the issue. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow I guess, hopefully they can get me back in there. Thanks for the replies and advice.

 

Sorry to hear about your anguish. Hope you sort it out.

 

So before throwing any more parts on the truck, I decided to take it back in to the dealership to have them take another look at it. I got the truck back from the dealership today. I went ahead and got 4 new tires and an alignment done on it. The alignment results showed some angles way out of whack. I can't remember the last time I had one done. Probably 2+ years. Neglecting this most likely caused all the feathering to the BF Goodrich TA KOs that were on there. $1000 tires down the drain. Yah.

Anyways, I'm a little scarred from throwing $1000 tires back on there, so I went with some cheaper Cooper Discoverer TA/3s. Size 265/75/R16. They are not quite as aggressive as the BF Goodrich ones, but in the end, with new tires and an alignment, the truck feels and drives a lot better. There is a lot less road noise then the BF tires, which after making an honest assessment of my use of the truck, although they look awesome, I don't need that aggressive of a tire for most of my usage. These are considered "light truck" tires. At this point in my life, with a 1/2 hour commute each way for work, I'll take a smooth quiet ride and look a little more tame versus looking sweet and hating driving my truck around for any length of time.

I just hope the new tires aren't masking any remaining issues with the front end. So far, so good though. I can live with it as it rides now. I will most likely hold off on replacing the CV axles for the time being, as I don't think there is anything wrong with them and the dealership techs agree.

So in the last 2 weeks:
New front calipers
New rotors
New Pads
New front wheel bearings and hubs
4 new tires
Alignment

Hopefully that's it for a few years now........

 

Great Write up! Printed out for my haynes because those pictures are crap!