Questions and Answers

Toyota Camry Getting The Shaft? Q. Dear Vincent Ciulla, My family and I have been very impressed with the advice we have received from you so far. Currently, I have a couple of quick questions, that perhaps you could answer: 1. I was told by two separate mechanics that the boots on my axles are broken and that the axles need replacing. I have not experienced any symptoms though.

They both say that manufacturer recommends axles be replaced after 3 days since holes appear in the boots. They say that the axles have accumulated some damage (well over 3 days has passed, but no symptoms). Is this correct for a 1993 Toyota Camry?

2. I was also told that if I asked them to just redo the boots, the amount of labor that would go in would make it easily equally or more expensive than just replacing the axles.

3. Here is what the cheaper of the two mechanics said (the other said $500.00.):

Parts = $139.98
Labor = $303.30
Total without tax = $440.00
Tax = $12.00 even. Is this reasonable?

Thank you very much for your time,
Stas

A. I'm going to assume you have a 1993 Toyota Camry Sedan 2.2 liter DOHC (5S-FE) with an automatic transmission without ABS. There are a number of flavors for the 1993 Toyota Camry.

New, from Toyota, the left and right axle shafts are $393.66. If you have ABS, they are about $5.00 cheaper. The labor to just R&R the axle shafts, for one side, is 1.4 hours. So at a Toyota Dealer this job would run about $1,000.00 to $1,100.00.

Now I can get a rebuilt axle for about $85.00 a side. So his parts prices are in line. His labor is a little high, assuming 2.8 hours at $65.00 an hour equaling $182.00.

So mechanic #2 is low on price, but high on labor. But the total is in line for this type of job.

And if the CV joints are quiet and have no excess play in them, replacing the boots is an option, but because the whole axle shaft is so cheap in comparison, it doesn't pay to just replace the boots anymore.