With the parts in hand to get the Scion's rear suspension done, I got the party started with the disassembly of the left side spindle/knuckle. This involved pulling the brake caliper and bracket off first and foremost. Once that was off, the rotor/drum had to come off. I had to remove the wheel bearing in order to give me the clearance to allow me to remove the brake shoes and other associated hardware on the system prior to removing the spindle. The wheel bearing is held in place with four bolts, no problem compared to the front wheel bearings, which are both pressed in. The wheel bearing also has a built in speed sensor that had to be unplugged before the unit could be removed.
With the wheel bearing off, I was able to remove the shoes and other brake hardware inside the drum. There's two clips holding two pegs that hold the shoes. Once these were removed, I had to unhook one spring which allowed me to work that shoe off, which in turn allowed me to remove the pair of shoes with most of the hardware still in place. This will at least make reassembly of the drum brake system easier than trying to piece everything back together. There were a couple pieces that did pop free but a couple pieces is a lot better than all the pieces. Next I had to disconnect the parking brake cable, which involved removing a 10mm bolt holding the bracket to the back of the spindle and working the cable free from a bracket that then allowed me to pull the cable out from the back of the spindle. With this stuff out of the way, I moved on to the camber arm. This piece was nestled in a spot just in front of the muffler that made it difficult to get to and more difficult to remove. I had to make note of the cam bolt's position so I could put it back in the same way to try and restore the camber position for that spindle and hence that wheel. With some "creative" tool play, I was able to get the nut off then work the bolt out in its entirety. I removed the retaining pins for the ball joint and tie rod end next, then removed the castle nuts for both. I had one more nut and bolt that had to come out, to which I then used the baby sledgehammer to tap the sides of the knuckles that hold the tie rod end and ball joint shafts to pop free those components. I ended up having to use the castle nut on the tie rod end as a hammer point to pop the tie rod end free and the ball joint, since it'll be replaced anyway, was just hammered on the top of the shaft to pop it free. Of course the ball joint is useless at this point but again, it'll be replaced. The castle nut will have to be replaced, since it was mushroomed some. Luckily I did grab the castle nuts from the junkyard car so this isn't a big deal. After getting the ball joint and tie rod ends popped free I was able to work the spindle out completely. I was able to inspect the camber arm, finding the bushing at the cam bolt end was broken inside. The ball joint had play just as well. Unfortunately the tie rod end was also very playful but I will have to reuse that part until I can get replacement parts, which will have to be a lot sooner than later. With the old spindle out, I can now install the new junkyard spindle and get the other side done just the same. I'll be sourcing those tie rod ends so hopefully in a week I can get those swapped out. Unfortunately, even if I take the time to make sure the tie rod ends are adjusted to match the old units before installation, I'll probably end up having to take the car in for a rear end alignment, especially since the camber arm is probably not going to be at the stock settings either. During this time the tires are probably going to have extra wear but that's ok because these tires are close to the end of their useful life anyway. The work continues....
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