Before taking off the axle shaft, lift the vehicle on a hoist and then take the front wheel off. After that, use your tools to take out the bolts linking the adapter to the knuckle and carefully remove the whole caliper/adapter unit by supporting it with wire so you don't put pressure on the flexible brake hose. Take out the brake rotor next, then take the tie rod-to-
Steering Knuckle nut off by holding the
Tie Rod End stud with an 11/32 socket and loosening its nut. Use Tool MB-991113 to take the tie rod end off the steering knuckle arm. After that, take out the halfshaft-to-hub and bearing nut, along with the cotter pin and castle nut from the lower ball joint assembly. Pull the steering knuckle away from the vehicle and whack the steering knuckle boss with a hammer to untie it from the lower ball joint stud, making sure you do not harm either part or the grease seal. Don't separate the inner joint in the ON unit and carefully hold the driveshaft during this step. Pull the halfshaft away from the steering knuckle by hand or using Puller 1026 if it won't budge. Jam a pry bar inside the tripod joint, supporting the other end outside, so the snap retainer is released. Hold the two parts of the inner tripod joint and shaft and pull the inner tripod joint straight out from the transaxle with care not to touch the sealing lip. Before installation, make the spline and oil seal sealing surface on the tripod joint clean, apply a little oil and manually install it on the transaxle side gear. Hold the tripod joint in the side gear and press until you can hear the clip bite and confirm it stays in by trying to pull it back out. After cleaning the steering knuckle area, first remove any dirt from the front of the outer C/V joint, them place the halfshaft firmly into the front hub and then attach the steering knuckle to the ball joint stud below the
Control Arm. Screw on the castle nut to give a torque of 95 Nm (70 ft. lbs.), then put in the tie rod end and screw it into the steering knuckle, making sure the nut feels tight at 55 Nm (41 ft. lbs.) Mount the brake rotor, then the caliper/adapter bracket assembly and tighten the adapter-to-knuckle bolts to 88 Nm (65 ft. lbs.). Make sure the stub axle threads and housing for the outer C/V joint are clean, add the hub nut to the halfshaft threads, torque it to 150 Nm (110 ft. lbs.) with the brakes engaged and then remove the brakes. Afterward, fit the front wheel and tire assembly and tighten the lug nuts in order to 135 Nm (100 ft. lbs.) before you let the vehicle down onto the ground.