tie rod

Installing a new passenger-side half axle. The one I bought online doesn't quite look like the one that came off on the transaxle end. The old one had a lip that I don't see on the new one, and the boot looks different. Anyway, without that lip to judge by, I'm not sure I have it fully seated. If it wasn't, would the other end match up with the strut bolts? Thinking that since it all went back together, it must have fully seated.

I'm also assuming the new axle comes with grease inside the boots for the CV joint.

On the out side, the hub one slid on and off the new axle easily unlike the problems I had getting the old one back on (never did). May just be that I greased it up this time. However, same question - do I have it all the way in? I still see the edge of the gear teeth outside the hub on the inside. I don't have the axle nut cranked down yet, so maybe that pulls it in closer. Also, don't see how it could be not fully seated on the transaxle and still be short at the hub.

The problem I know I have (the above may not be problems), is that the tie rod ball joint spins as I try to tighten the nut down. What am I doing wrong there?

My ability to make a hard job out of an easy one is impressive.

 

aah, ok. thx.

 

Nope, it doesn't have a torx plug, just a smooth end. I'm thinking the two arms need to be pressed together - the opposite of when I broke them apart with a tie rod fork taking the hub off - which would keep the ball joint from spinning. Just not sure how to do that without, what I suppose, is a special tool Toyota probably sells for a few hundred dollars.

I'm thinking most cars aren't built like this. The bolt is usually fixed in place and merely passes through a round ball joint that swivels to provide the needed functionality.

 

Yeah, that's all I could think to do as well. Just don't have access to my impact and air compressor - behind a bunch of junk in my garage, but I getting closer to it, lol. So, I've got to drive it somewhere, real slow and real close, lol.

Another crazy thing...when I was taking the axle out, my first effort was to just pull on it, and dang if it didn't come off in my hand. I thought that was it - didn't look inside at the transaxle - until the new one came in and was longer. Turns out the original just separated at the inside boot(? - a hard plastic shell with three indentions for the CV joint). The other half of the boot and the rest of the shaft with splines was still in the transaxle.

That boot tore apart, or was already apart. The shaft that came out ended at the CV joint (?) with a stub end. WTH attached that to the shaft/splines that go inside the transaxle? It didn't look like it snapped; the end was smooth and uniformly rounded. I would have thought there was one long shaft, or that the CV joint somehow joined the two together. I couldn't see anything except the boot holding it together, and that sure came apart easy. I couldn't see how the shaft from the splines attached to the shaft ending after the CV joint, and hard to imagine all that torque being held together by a plastic boot.

The replacement came as one assembly, which I didn't want to take apart to discover how it works. Just wondering it that shaft was actually broken, but can't imagine it would have driven smoothly like that.

 

That's what I thought. The remaining part didn't want to pry out of the transaxle either, although I couldn't get much leverage with the long pry bar I had since it was only up on jackstands - no room. I tried wrapping a ratchet strap around it and pulling it out that way, no go, then using that strap to put constant pressure while I pried, still nothing. Finally got a short wooden block on the back of that boot from the driver's side and a couple of whacks with the BFHammer popped it right off.

 

I guess you're right; I'm no engineer. Just would think there is torque in the axle itself as it tries to propel the vehicle. How is it different from rear wheel drive cars that have solid connections?