Another 3s swap problem, driver's side axle pops out Options

[celica3sgte]

For reference, I have a 2nd gen 3sgte with 92 mr2 lsd tranny. I'm using st185/mr2 hybrid axles. I finally put my rear motor mount in yesterday and the motor is sitting very solid now. The problem is, now my driver's side axle keeps popping out, and I lose all the tranny fluid. I know a couple of you had problems with these axles breaking cv joints on this setup. I definetly think that this axle setup is too short now. I always noticed that the outer cv joint is very stretched on both sides. I was doing some research and found out that the mr2 wheel base is 94.5 inches and the 94 celica wheelbase is 99.9 inches. I think this is the problem. Before it wasn't a problem b/c the motor was shaking with the axles and it wouldn't pop out, now with it being solid, the axle can easily shift out of the tranny. Any of your thoughts are welcome.

And one more thing. Does anyone know how long an st205 axle is. The compressed and extended lengths?

This post has been edited by celica3sgte: Aug 17, 2005 - 4:48 PM

[Rjb23]

I'm just wondering why your having problems with it and sphinx has the same set up but not the same problems.

Yeah they are all e153 trannies, the st185 tranny is also the e153 but it is e153p, different differential, the differentials may be different on the others too.

My mounts I have the st185 mounts all the way around and a custom mount for the front mount.

[sphinx]

I'm just wondering why your having problems with it and sphinx has the same set up but not the same problems.

Yeah they are all e153 trannies, the st185 tranny is also the e153 but it is e153p, different differential, the differentials may be different on the others too.

My mounts I have the st185 mounts all the way around and a custom mount for the front mount.
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Sup everyone. Here's my input.

Just to clarify, he's using MR2 inner shafts and ST185 outer shafts.
I'm using MR2 inner shafts and Camry V6 outer shafts.

I had the same problem. My axels would pop out because they seemed too short. That's exactly what's happening with your car. At first i thought i had the wrong outer shaft, so returned it and got another one, but it was exactly the same. Put it on and the axel still popped out. Then i thought it was the safety clip at the tip of the MR2 inner shaft. Took it off and it seemed a little loose and I could squeeze it easily with my fingers. So i ordered a new one from Toyota, slapped it on, put in the axel, and it still popped out. I gave up that day, and decided to try again the next day. The next morning, i popped the axel back in, and it didn't pop out anymore.

Everything worked fine, but i notice that i was still leaking tranny oil. And now the problem that I'm having is that the axel doesn't pop out of the tranny, but it seems like it wants to. It looks like someone is pulling the !@#$ out of it. When i get under the car, i'm left with a 1/8 of an inch gap between the axel seal and the axel, hence where my oil is leaking from.

The only solution that I can think of is to fabricate some sort of spacer to insert between the inner shaft and outer shaft. Have it be like about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick.

I'm going to try and attemp this within the next couple of weeks when i get a chance.

Let me know if you guys don't understand any of this. I tend not to make any sense sometimes.

sphinx