rear axle beam replace, sedan 4 dr 5 spd, USA

[Brian B]

Hi-

Just joined this group. Below is a posting I put on the Facebook Yaris site and one person responded saying it was doable for him. Can anyone please assist with thoughts and suggestions for this? I might go ahead and do it myself. Thanks, Brian

Hi -In the US, I have a 2008 4-dr Yaris, 5 spd manual, 180,000 miles. Original owner. Great car and want to keep it on the road for a long time. The rear axle beam is rusted and cracked on the left and must be replaced. I have looked at an online version of the shop manual, some Youtube videos of limited usefulness, and a couple other WWW sources for info on how to replace it, possibly, myself. It seems straightforward enough. Remove bolts on beam bushings, remove bolts on shocks, and disconnect brake lines (drum brakes), handbrake cables, and ABS wires. BUT, it seems that a possible work around for the brake line is to leave it attached (which I would like to do, since I have no experience with hydraulic brakes/bleeding them etc) and maybe Dremel the brake line connectors which sit atop the axle beam arms and re-attach in a secure manner somehow on the new axle beam. There is a Youtube video in Spanish where the gentleman evidently does that. If any of this is making sense and someone can assist, please let me know. I can provide pics if need be. Also, there seems to be a matter of possibly aligning the car and checking camber on the rear wheels if needed, the online shop manual (at least I think) saying if rear wheel camber adjustment is needed, replace suspension parts. Kind of hoping someone will say just take of the old axle beam and put the new one on and go on up the road, but I will listen to wisdom and safe ideas.