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Ran in to an interesting problem and thought I would share how I resolved it. Our 2004 Toyota Sienna has 175k and during another job, I managed to strip out the threads on the end of the right CV axle. The right side axle on the Sienna (and apparently most Toyotas) is long enough that it has an inner CV joint about mid-length. Just behind that inner joint is a bearing that rides in a bracket bolted to the back of the engine. There is a circlip and a bolt that hold the bearing in the bracket. If you read your Clymer manual, it will say “remove the circlip and the bolt holding in the bearing, grasp the shaft and firmly pull it away from the transmission.”
Of course, after 175k, it did not want to move. The other treat: the bracket that holds the bearing is bolted to the back side of the engine with three bolts. Two of them are easy to get to…the third is not. You cannot remove the third “outer-most” bolt because the inner CV joint is in the way.
I read all the forums I could find, watched all the ETCG videos and other Youtube videos I could find. I tried using a slide hammer, penetrating oil, and a little encouragement with a 4-lb hammer. No luck…that bearing was NOT going to move. I was a concerned about using a torch to heat up the bracket near all those flammable liquids. I was also hesitant to destroy the bracket because they’re about $100 to replace.
Finally it occurred to me that with the two bolts removed, and the third one loosened, I could use a 4 1/2″ grinder to cut the axle in half between the transmission and the bracket. This was surprisingly easy. Once the axle was severed, was able to grasp the bracket and finger-loosen the bolt while pulling away from the engine. Once that was out of the way, the half left in the transmission pulled right out with almost no force necessary.
The end with the bearing was still in the bracket. It took quite a bit of force from a 20-ton shop press to push that bearing out of the race. There is no way a slide hammer would have ever gotten that bearing out of the bracket.
I’m attaching a picture of the axle and the bracket. In this picture, the bracket should have been rotated 180 degrees…
I hope this helps, sure would have saved me a lot of time with a slide hammer!
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Yes, those carrier bearings are a pain on high milage/high wear cars. They are on Lexuses and Camry’s… They get stuck pretty darn hard and the only good way out is to cut the CV shaft in a couple of places and try to hammer that piece out the other direction…If that doesn’t work, the technique you mentioned is the last resort…
Karl!
In my particular case, even after I had the carrier bracket off the block I could not budge the bearing, even with a 4-lb hammer. Besides the fact that there isn’t a ton of room to really get a good swing at it while it’s still on the car, without using a torch to expand the bracket.
I used an “obstruction” wrench..basically shaped like an S-curve with a box-end to loosen that tricky bolt that is under the “tulip” (nearest the right side of the car). Once it was loose, I could turn it with my fingers.
Fortunately, I had just bought a 20-ton press to do the wheel bearing job that started this little adventure.
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