hey guys....so let me tell you guys what a nightmare i had with my tl...so last week, my girl and i were driving to her dads house so he could help me change out my driver side axle...well, i guess my axle couldnt wait for me to get there so it went out on me while i was driving...the front driver side just kinda dropped and i felt alot of vibration...i thought i was gonna total the car...rite away i knew it was the axle...so then i called triple...so they towed my car the rest of the way to her dads house..
so when we got there, we took the rim off and started to take everything apart...then what we noticed, the lower ball joint somehow got screwed up when the axle broke...and know i know on these cars its not changeable...so i went ahead and ordered a new knuckle for $220 and a new bearing for $60...also while i was at it, i ordered 2 new front upper control arms for $55 a piece..
so it has been a week now since i have been without my car...so yesterday i picked up all my parts from the dealer and headed back to my girls dads house with my girl..i opened up the box that has the knuckle and found out that the new knuckle allready has a pressed in new bearing....so i was happy knowing that i can go return the bearing i bought and get some money back....so we then took the old knuckle and the new one to the machine shop so they can press out the old hub and press it back in the new knuckle....they charged me $30...
we got back and started to put in the new knuckle...as we put in the lower ball joint into the hole of the lower control arm, we noticed there was alot of play...so we looked at the old lower ball joint and saw that there is a sleeve that goes in first then the ball joint....so we pulled it off the old ball joint and placed it in the hole of the lower control arm..
it worked out perfect...we then went ahead and changed both upper control arms...they were really easy to put in...i then took my car for a test drive and everything is back to normal...
so there u have it guys...i thought i would just share my nightmare with you....overall its not that much work to do it all...its just the money man...it just sucks how you have to buy the whole knuckle for a ball joint...but what you gonna do.....and also my car did not get damaged when the axle broke...thank god.....

 

Glad it worked out for you and better hold on to the girlfriend.

 

Glad to hear! =)

 

+1

 

x2, she's a keeper!!!

 

is your tl lowered?
how could you tell that the axle was done? Was there a lot of vibration. after i lowered my car i got this very SLIGHT vibration for like 5 secs when accelerating from a stop but it goes away after a few seconds. should i be worried?

 

yes my tl is lowered on tein basics coilovers...i think im about 2 inch dropp....i have about just a bit over half inch left before i would be bottomed out....but yead if you feel a vibration only while pressing on the gas pedal, then you have a worn axle...thats what i was experiencing...

 

how bad was your vibration tho

 

i had the same issue (the vibration with acceleration)...drove with it for over 5K miles or so (this is a guestimate). mine was really subtle, but would cause the the steering wheel to shudder a little when accelerating or accelerating out of a turn. had mine replaced...while i was getting the other axle replaced for the worn outer CV jt. my suspension was stock at the time with OEM spec'd wheels and tires.

interesting that it can actually fail and cause other breakage. scary.

i suppose, you could go with...better safe than sorry.

@OP, nice to hear everything worked out. i agree, the GF is a keeper.

 

yeah, she is defitnely a keeper...

 

glad it worked out, i was without my tl for 6 weeks due to repairs