94 camry front driver side axle tends to slip out of differential housing

There was a thread similar to this a few months back. The fellow had to reinsert the axle several times and eventually it turned out to be a defective aftermarket axle.

I noticed the problem 2 months after replacing the axle. I took the car to mechanic yesterday and had him replace the axle. But now the problem has aggreviated. Its almost impossible to make the car drive straight and on turns it makes hell lot of noise. So I have 2 theories here.

1. As badgolferman mentioned, it could a problem with aftermarket axles. And the new axle I put yesterday, may be worse than the one I bought 2 months ago. So the problem is more visible with this new axle.

1. As my mechanic suggests (he is not sure), it could be a differential housing problem. Hence my axle started making noise after 2 months and the problem doesn't go away even after putting a new axle.

The question is how do I drill down further. My mechanic's solution is to have differential rebuilt which would cost me a fortune and after opening the whole thing it may turn out that there is nothing wrong with differential.

Thanks Uday

badgolferman wrote:

Toyota makes a remanufactured axle for your car that is like new - but less costly. I recently paid $132 for the passenger axle on the '94 Camry which is longer and includes a carrier bearing. The Toyota axles use the right grease, the latest compound for the boots, clean the splines free of any burrs, and balance the assembly - plus you know they're made to fit your exact vehicle. Unless the axle you had installed chewed up the side gear, or a lot of leakage occurred and was driven low on fluid, the differential should be fine. Maybe the best advise would be to take the car to a Toyota dealer. They change axles all the time and they never fall out even a little bit. I got the competitive price by shopping online, doing the installation labor myself, and embarrassing the parts manager by pointing out they had the wrong part number - one digit was off and it would fit Solara, not Camry. The other poster is right. Not long ago someone got an axle from AutoZone that was the wrong length for their car, and it came loose. Again, if the correct part is properly installed, that will never happen.

Daniel

Thanks a lot for the reply. By any chance do you have the part # for the right type of axle (or even the part # for the wrong part provided by store will do)? Even I have a remanufcatured toyota part. But I still want to verify that its not the same wrong parts problem you faced.

1. BTW, Its a 94 automatic transmission. Car runs smoothly.
2. There is no fluid leakage.
3. Changing gears (automatic) is very smooth.
4. I changed left front axle assembly with a remanufactured part 2 months ago. For last two months every thing was fine.

Suddenly (yes, I mean it. I drove the car for 80-100 miles on Sunday with no issues. Monday morning the car started showing following problems.

1. Loud noise while makking turns (It sounds like the noise generated when your tyre passes over those yellow lane marking reflectors)
2. Car drifts towards left.
3. I immediately took it to my mechanic. His first resolution was to replace the axle with another remanufcatured axle. This stopped the noise. But my mechanic did not see anything wrong with the axle he pulled out. So he asked me to drive with the new axle for a while. I started driving back home and after few minutes on a right turn again I heard a loud noise from axle and again car started drifting towards left. But this time it was worse, it was almost impossible to control it. So I stopped by a friends house and parked it there. I am going to tow it back to my mechanic.

Thanks Uday

Daniel wrote:

The lefthand axle has a set screw which locates the axle carrier -bearing. Now on the road-wheel side of that bearing is a sliding joint which allows axial-movement of the driveshaft,...so on the diff side the axle (or driveshaft) should remain rigid and in place.

Now it could be the axle is sliding in the carrier-bearing inner track, which could allow the axle to move out of the diff. This shouldn't happen if the snapring has locked into place inside the differential.

The mechanic is supposed to tap the axle end into the diff until firm resistance is felt and presumabley the snap ring has expanded into place. If the external support bearing is allowing axle movement, the axle may need remanufacturing.

Jason

Jason - the left axle in Autralia has the carrier bearing and lock bolt, but in the US, the left axle is the shorter one.

Uday, Assuming you have the steering wheel on the left side, -- the part number for my '94 Camry passenger side axle -- not the one you're replacing, but the other side was: 43410-06151-84 - for Japanese manufacture (not sure if it makes a difference, but was specified). So if they find that number, the axle for the other side should be listed right next to it. Also bear in mind the snap ring is listed in the Factory Service Manual as a "non reusable part." It would seem obvious, but seems to me mechanics tend to ignore this -- you're supposed to replace that part - not reuse it. The reason I say mechanics tend to overlook this, is that originally, I was going to have the dealer install the axle after I ordered the part

- and we were ordering the axle only. After I decided to replace the part myself, and began studying the manual I saw the non reusable parts - for the passenger side: snap ring, carrier bearing lock bolt, plus tie rod end and axle nut cotter pins. When I did the work, I found the old carrier bolt - with a missing tip

- the actual part that holds the bearing, plus re used tie rod end cotter pin. The snap ring looked fine, but I can only assume, the prior mechanic who replaced the axle boot previously, didn't replace the snap ring either. Dealer list on that part was $32.39 and I paid $18.58. Both seem ridiculously high for a simple part, but when the manual says replace, I replace it. If I'm understanding correctly, you have the shorter left side axle without the carrier bearing - but you still have a snap ring on the end of the axle at the differential side that where the manual calls for replacement - and if you didn't pay separately, looks like you didn't get a new snap ring. Personally, I always use only factory Toyota parts. I'm less concerned about the price than getting something that fits and functions like new. But I do shop online and strive to get the best pricing. Sometimes though, for smaller parts, I buy at the local dealer and help pay for their overhead and profit. By the way, for the driver side axle, the snap ring is much smaller, thus should be lower priced, since it secures the axle end, not the carrier bearing.

Wouldn't tht mean the transaxle itself is also reversed? I dont think the diff is ezactly in the middle of the car's axis. The other point is describing LHS and RHS of the vehicle. Some mean when viewed from standing in front of the car (facing the car), others when seated in the car.

In Australia, the longer driveshaft (axle) is on the RHS when viewed standing in front of the car.

:-) Jason