This morning I installed new trd springs on my wifes 2001 celica. Very nice. but in doing so I got the erge to change my pas. control arm. I was rearended and it pushed me over a 8" curbn and messes it all up. Anyway they are expensive. 200 dealer specific only. Non aftermarket in this town. Anyway went quite well. the only issue was that when it came loose my wheel was in my lap.. Anyway while I was changling thte conrol arm I noticed that my cv boot were torn and I will need to replace the shafts.. Are these easy to do. I am mechanically inclined and don't have a problem tearing stuff apart.. But just wanted to know what type of time we are looking at. ( harder or easier then replacing the struts?

 

Two main hurdles:

- Remove the axle nut. You'll need a 36 mm socket, a 1/2" breaker bar, and likely a large cheater bar. They are torqued down to 180 ft/lbs, so they're hefty.

- Swing the hub out of the way to remove the axles. You can either use a ball joint remover tool or a Pitman puller to separate the lower ball joint from the LCA, or you can dismantle the suspension parts connected to the LCA (and the LCA from the chassis). The angles can get really ugly with the latter, while the former tool is fairly specific.

Someone recently posted about ball joints, search the recent topics, and someone posted a link to some of the ball joint pullers that are usable on Accords. DON'T use a fork.