RUST BELT - Rear Axle Housing Swap

[Dewyz1100]

Hi there 4Runner Forum folks... I guess you could call this my first "Repair Thread"...

My 1998 4Runner SR5 has just over 160K miles, and to my knowledge I am the third owner. The truck has spent most of its life in the rust belt of the northeast where pavement is not black in the winter, but white with all of the road salt and calcium that the DOT dumps on them. Needless to say, this thread is for those of us that call this area home - and to show folks in the other areas of the country how lucky they have it...

To start off with, my 4Runner required rear axle seals - and props to BigFishAllDay for an excellent build thread sticky showing the details of this operation. I used this sticky as a jumping off point for what was to come next - the swap of the rear axle housing.

Please note - This is one expensive task that is forced upon some of us in the rust belt simply due to the fact that the rear differential "pumpkin" cover is not a bolt on item. Toyota in their infinite wisdom decided not only to not make this piece an integrated part of the axle housing, but to simply spot weld two brackets onto it as well - opening the door to two "salt shelves" that will corrode and eventually vibrate causing a hole for the gear oil to leak out of. The following information and the dollar signs will highlight more than anything why Toyota will likely NEVER issue a recall for these issues...

Just the parts:

A new rear axle housing from Toyota was over $1K...

Car Quest rear brake shoes, cylinders, and hardware kit was over $200...

Toyota axle bearings, seals, ABS rotors, retainers, spacers was over $400...

Stabilizer links and bushings for it and the lower control arms were over $200...

Plan on at least $100 in new hardware, and another $100 in consumables for cleaner, gear oil, penetrating oil...and all this is just to start with...more on that later...

First step - Locate the sticky for replacing rear axle seals on this site. Follow those directions for tear down, and buy the parts listed within that thread for reassembly later...

I will add to that sticky by saying that the ABS sensors are a PITA to remove, and at over $200each, one should take great care to not damage them. Unfortunately for us rust belt folks, it is not as simple as a flat blade screwdriver and a bit of prying... Remove the bolt, remove the three closest ABS wire clamps/mounts, hose down the sensor base with penetrating oil, and place a set of channel locks firmly at the base of the sensor. Begin to twist back and forth - rotating the sensor 1/4" in each direction to get it moving. Add additional oil every few rotations to aide the movement. Once you are able to rotate the sensor back and forth without a death grip on the channel locks, rotate so that the tab is above the pad it mounts to.

Use a small pry bar under the tab using the top of the axle housing for leverage to apply a little pressure while continuing to use the channel locks to wiggle the sensor back and forth. Feel free to use additional oil to aide in this process, but this was the only way I could remove my ABS sensors from my housing.

On to where the rear axle sticky ends...

**Plan on replacing almost all hardware, and just about everything else depending on the level of corrosion that your truck has, and how deep your pockets are***

-Begin draining the gear oil from the rear axle housing. Both the drain plug and the fill plug use the same socket size of 24mm. I was lucky and these came out with a little propane from the Bernzo...

-Disconnect the drive shaft from the 3rd member. I replaced all the U-joints and the drive shaft hardware a year ago, so I am unsure of the original bolt specs. The specs for the replacement hardware I used are:

4 Bolts: Stainless Steel M10 (1.00)pitch x 3cm
4 Split Washers: Stainless M10
4 Flat Washers: Stainless M10
4 Lock Nuts: Stainless M10 (1.00)pitch

If memory serves, both the original hardware, and the new hardware both are 14mm. However, it is a tight fit using a socket on the forward side, and only an open ended wrench will fit behind the flange of the 3rd member. NOTE - the bolts can't be much longer than 3cm as the flange for the 3rd member prevents anything much more than the lock nut to fit in there.

-Remove the 3rd member from the axle housing. There are 10 nuts that use threaded studs to secure the 3rd member to the axle housing. You will need a 12mm socket and some heat to remove these. Again, I got lucky and only sheared off two studs in this process - the others came out fairly easy, but most of the time the studs came out along with the nuts. I intend to simply use quality bolts instead of studs for the re-installation.

For whatever reason, my 3rd member was seized onto one of the studs that sheared off flush with it. This one was located in the upper right if you are looking at it from the drive shaft side. It took about an hour of penetrating oil, heating, hammering, and prying to finally free it from the housing.

Once it was out, I chipped off all loose surface rust, then bathed it in a good amount of brake cleaner both inside and out. I also took the opportunity to put a couple thick coats of primer on it before a couple coats of rubberized undercoating. Just be sure to tape off every part of the exposed gears, and keep the holes for the studs clear of what you are spraying...

-Remove all E-Brake, and brake line bolts. These can all be removed with a 12mm socket, and a bit of heat... I saved the clamps for the brake lines, and luckily the rubber brake hose to the axle T was in good shape, and the metal lines came out with a little oil - but I was planning to replace the metal lines so I was not concerned with them breaking.

The only bolt that did not come free was the one holding the E-Brake Guide to the bracket in the center of the differential cover... Go figure... I knew if it was rusty enough to cause the cover to leak gear oil, it was likely fall to pieces in the attempt to remove the bolt that was secured to it.

At this point everything but the suspension components should be removed and/or free from the axle housing.

-Remove the lower Shock bolts. I replaced the shocks a year ago, so the bolts came out without any heat with just a 17mm socket.

-Remove Stabilizer (sway) Bar. Here is another instance of the rust problems I encountered. I began with the links that attach at the frame rail brackets. The bushings were cracked and dry rotted, and the nut was rusted solid to the link. Even using a small 12mm wrench for the nut, and a small 14mm wrench for the link, both links snapped after applying moderate force. In contrast, the four bolts holding the bushings on the axle housing came out easily using a 12mm socket and a bit of heat.

About this time, I expected what little compression the springs had left to force the axle housing down enough to simply pull them out. Unfortunately, this was not the case - I went to Advanced Auto Parts and rented a set of coil spring compressors and started with the passenger side spring.

-Remove coil springs. Once the passenger side spring was compressed quite a bit, I had a helper stand on the axle housing end to allow the spring to come out the forward side of the axle. I quickly realized that the driver's side spring is a bit more difficult to get the compressors on, due to the lateral control arm bracket being on the rearward side, and the gas tank being so close on the forward side. I got the tools on, and compressed the spring enough so that it would move, but not enough to be applying pressure on the axle housing. Once the rest of the suspension components were removed, the spring could easily be removed once the housing was down.

-Cut off all control arm nuts. Again, here is where the project will get even more expensive fast. Besides the stabilizer bar, the only bushings that Toyota offers as replaceable are the ones for the lower control arms. That means that if any of the other bushings are rotted, damaged by trying to burn off the bolts, or simply damaged by the heat used to free up the hardware...you get stuck buying the entire piece. Both upper control arms are over $100each, and so is the lateral one. If you plan to replace these three pieces, or are forced to, I would be stumped to think of why you would NOT replace the hardware anyways...

For me, this project was on a finite timeline and getting too expensive real quick. So I opted to just cut the nuts at the axle housing end for the upper and lateral control arms, and replace the lower control arm bushings all around. While I had the stabilizer bar and lower control arms out I chose to clean them up a bit as well - priming and undercoating with the same as the 3rd member. This also will help me remember what I have replaced, and what I have not, if I ever do need to replace the remaining control arms with included bushings...

By cutting only the axle housing end of the upper and lateral control arm hardware, this also was a great starting point for the new axle housing to be hung in place.

Once the bolts for the control arms were removed, the axle housing was able to be taken out, along with the driver's side spring.

I chose to prime, and use some pretty heavy duty paint-on bed liner material to coat the new axle housing all around the differential cover and those pesky spot welded brackets. The rest of the old housing was in pretty good shape, so I focused on slathering this center section of the new housing.

This is the point where I am at today. More updates on the installation of the new housing to follow, but in the mean time here is a hardware list of what this project has included, along with extra parts for the items I do not intend to completely remove unless I have to:

2: ABS Sensor Bolts - M6 (1.0) x 1.6cm - 10mm socket

4: Brake Cylinder Bolts - M6 (1.0) x 1.0cm - 10mm socket

8: Axle Nuts - M10 (1.25) - 14mm socket

10: 3rd Member Replacement Bolts - M8 (1.25) x 3cm - 12mm socket

2: Lower Shock Bolts - M12 (1.25) x 2cm - 17mm socket

5: Brake Line Clamp Bolts - M8 (1.25) x 1.6cm - 12mm socket

2: Lower Shock Bolts - M12 (1.25) x 2cm - 17mm socket

4: Stabilizer Bar Axle Bolts - M8 (1.25) x 1.6cm - 12mm socket

3: E-Brake Tube Guide and Passenger Housing End Bolts - M8 (1.25) x 2cm - 12mm socket

4: Lower Control Arm Bolts - M12 (1.25) x 10cm - 19mm socket

4: Lower Control Arm Nuts - M12 (1.25) - 19mm socket

2: Lateral Control Arm Bolts - M12 (1.25) x 7.5cm - 19mm socket

2: Lateral Control Arm Nuts - M12 (1.25) - 19mm socket

4: Upper Control Arm Bolts - M10 (1.25) x 9cm - 17mm socket

4: Upper Control Arm Nuts - M10 (1.25) - 17mm socket

-I did not look up what the specs for E-Brake arm bolt (Driver's side axle housing end) was as I re-used this...

-There are also two pins for attaching the E-Brake U-Brackets to the arms on the axle backing plates...

-Lock Washers for all M6, M8, M10, M12 Nuts...

-Flat Washers for all M8, M10, M12 Nuts and Bolts...

I chose to go with Stainless Steel for everything that I could find. The only items I did not get Stainless (mainly due to availability) was the M10 and M12 bolts for the suspension components.

Pictures to follow as well...

 

[Nelsonmd]

That's alot of text with no pics... I have done this swap and I got confused reading through it.

The socket list is a great item, and a more detailed materials list would be useful.

In my opinion, you include too much of your own specific experience with rust. I didn't have to cut off the control arms bolts, but was able to reuse them, in fact cutting them off would have been silly and more costly despite me having TONS of rust.

There is alot more detail that can go into the section on locating a used axle housing or assembly. Your current description makes it sounds way more expensive than it needs to be. Same goes for the other hardware. You can probably pick up new LCA's and UCA's cheap at a salvage yard.

 

[Dewyz1100]

There is alot more detail that can go into the section on locating a used axle housing or assembly. Your current description makes it sounds way more expensive than it needs to be. Same goes for the other hardware. You can probably pick up new LCA's and UCA's cheap at a salvage yard.

I am sure if someone has the time, and is willing to spend the effort, they can find all of these items used at a salvage yard - perhaps one out west where the parts are actually SALVAGEABLE... However, I personally did not have the time, or want to spend the effort to tear apart two sets of rusty components only to question how long the "new" rusty components would last - the original metal control arms are fine - the non-replaceable bushings are the problem. My time is valuable, and the last thing I wanted was to do this job more than once.

Unfortunately, the dealer is the only place you can go for these parts new, that means spending this kind of cash for the convenience of having them two days later...

The pictures I am about to upload will show the rot I speak of...and as luck would have it, the control arm bolts did free up with the BFH, and a bit of elbow grease...but compared to the cost of the rest of this project, I am still going to replace the hardware...

 

[Dewyz1100]

Picture Update 1

PLEASE, if someone out there has a better method for any of the things I have had to do on this project, please post for all to know. I am not a mechanic by trade, but do have a degree in autobody repair.

Whoo-Hoo...Pictures!

Here is the culprit for the axle seals blowing... If you haven't already, plan to replace your axle breathers. They are inexpensive, and a relocation kit is a great idea if you don't want to replace or check these on a regular basis... If it looks like this part came from a shipwreck, it is because it has been exposed to same elements... (Cold, Water, Salt, Oxygen, Time)

 

[Dewyz1100]

Picture Update 2

This is the pumpkin cover on my original axle housing. I took this picture after I removed the housing from the truck to get better pictures.

You can see how bad the rot is on this around what used to be the E-Brake bracket.

 

[Dewyz1100]

Picture Update 3

In an effort to prevent this ever happening again, you can see the bed liner I applied to the new housing. I made sure to sand the OEM finish that came on the new housing, and apply two heavy coats of primer before using the bed liner material...don't want this coming off...

 

[Dewyz1100]

Picture Update 4

In this picture you can see the inside of the new axle housing. Those four dots up the center of the differential cover are the spot welds for the brackets on the outside.

If there were to be a re-design, a simple fix would be to simply put another 3rd Member bolt ring around the back side of the housing. Then a replaceable cover could bolt onto that... If this cover would have replaceable, this job (axle seals and diff leak) would have only taken a couple of days instead of a week and cost WAY less...

 

[Dewyz1100]

Picture Update 5

Stabilizer link bushing rot... See for yourself, no amount of massaging would bring these bushings back to life - and that nut is rusted solid... These came out easy - they snapped off... The axle housing bushings turned out not to be this bad, but are being replaced anyways just to be sure.

 

[Dewyz1100]

Yet another picture...

Lower control arm rot... Thankfully, these bushings are the ones that are able to be replaced without replacing the entire arm. However, as you will see in the next few pictures, the process of removing bushings this bad takes time and plenty of effort. UPDATE - The hardware for these, as well as the rest of the control arms did come out without the use of a cutting tool. Had to bash it with a BFH, and get out the 3/4" ratchet and an impact socket. Again, compared to the rest of this project, the cost of new hardware is minimal - so they are going to be replaced anyways...

I took this time to install a wire brush wheel in my angle grinder and give the stabilizer bar, and two lower control arms a good cleaning to remove all rust. Once the old bushings were removed, I coated them with primer, and rubberized undercoat... Hindsight, I would have bed lined these instead...I still may...

 

[Dewyz1100]

...and another...

Here you can see how I elected to get the old bushings out. In my tool box I had a set of 3/4" sockets. For the socket wall thickness of my sockets the right sizes were 1" and 1 5/8". The smaller socket's outside diameter fit just inside the control arm end, while the larger socket's internal facets were just smaller than the outside bushing diameter.

Put everything in a big friggin' vise, apply flame to the outside of the control arm end (all the way around) and begin cranking down...

 

[Dewyz1100]

Last one for now...

The metal sleeve that is left was a real PITA to get out... Chisels, BFH, penetrating oil, and lots of elbow grease is how I got it done... I welcome any better suggestions...this sucked...

Today the dealer bushings, and my hardware order should all be in...then it is on to assembly... More updates and pictures to come...

 

[Nelsonmd]

Woof, that is bad rust. You should edit your first post to include all those pics (make a nice walkthrough). Did you happen to take pics while you did your swap? That is something I didn't do when I did mine. I started late one night and was mostly stressed about getting it done and didn't take pics.

As far as the time and effort to find these at salvage yards, I disagree with your assessment of the difficulty of finding parts. I live in Mass, even farther into rust belt than PA, and I still managed to find one, though albeit I had to have it shipped up here from florida. You drive a couple hours south from PA and you are out of the rust belt and should be able to find a pick a part yard and get one for super cheap. I admittedly spent a while looking, but if you troll for a while, it really isn't that much effort or time invested (10 minutes a day to check the forums and searching a couple yards).

Here are some other things that I did differently (pretty much all to save money):

1. Did not replace the bushing in the LCA's and UCA's - There parts are very expensive (since you have 4 of each). These are a PITA to replace and the rubber is not as affected by the salt as the metal is. I cleaned up the metal, and the rubber was totally acceptable. AS long as it isn't cracked and breaking apart, they are fine. Also, the LCA's and UCA's are easy to remove later if you choose to do these later.

2. Did not replace the brakes. These had a nice coating of brake dust and grease on them so they weren't nearly as rusted as the housing was.

3. Did not replace the bearings, seals, ABS rotors, etc... Rusty housing doesn't mean your bearings are shot, so don't change them unless you absolutely have to, and it is a separate issue than the housing leak. They are very expensive to replace too as the parts have to be pressed on.

4. Didn't replace hardly any of the bolts. They are huge bolts, and despite all the rust I had, they were salvageable.

I ended up paying $725 including shipping for a complete axle to axle assembly, including e-locked diff, not including brakes. Add to that about $15 for a brake hardware kit from advance, a can of POR-15, a couple small bolts for the brake line mounting points, and some new stock bolts for the drive shaft, and that was pretty much it. Around $800, and that included not just a housing, but diff and axles as well, and shipping of the axle. Not sure I could have handled the $2k+ spec'd out in the first post. I have seen multiple guys here that have done this for significantly less than I did, so it can absolutely be done for much less.

 

[tbst]

As far as the time and effort to find these at salvage yards, I disagree with your assessment of the difficulty of finding parts. I live in Mass, even farther into rust belt than PA, and I still managed to find one, though albeit I had to have it shipped up here from florida. You drive a couple hours south from PA and you are out of the rust belt and should be able to find a pick a part yard and get one for super cheap. I admittedly spent a while looking, but if you troll for a while, it really isn't that much effort or time invested (10 minutes a day to check the forums and searching a couple yards).

Even here in Morgantown, they dont use salt on the roads. Now all the silt does chip your windshield, but that is a different story.

 

[98_4runnerSR5]

WHOA! That's a ton of rust :wow2:

 

[Dewyz1100]

Thursday progress...

Yesterday's progress... New parts arrived!

I drove to the nearest Toyota dealer and picked up the new bushings that I had ordered a few days ago... New Stabilizer Bar pillow bushings, end links, and the bushings/hardware needed for the new links.

See the picture of the diagram that I uploaded...
As far as part numbers, QTY, and cost...the dealer took mercy on my and gave me shop cost...

4: Lower Control Arm Bushings - Toyota part #48702-35070 at $30.21each (pricey, but needed)
2: Stabilizer Pillow Bushings - Toyota part #48815-10090 at $9.82each
2: Stabilizer End Links - Toyota part #48830-35020 at $69.41each (pricey, but needed)
4: Link Cushion Retainers (Upper and Lower) - Toyota part #90948-02126 at $4.32each
4: Link Cushions (Upper and Lower) - Toyota part #48817-30020 at $2.84each
2: Link Cushion Retainers (above lower cushion) - Toyota part #90948-02127 at $3.33each
2: Link Lock Nuts (to frame assembly) - Toyota part #94183-00831 at $0.72each
2: Link Nuts (to stabilizer bar) - Toyota part #90179-12141 at $1.01each
Grand Total after tax - $337.14 (the bulk of wich were the two links, and the four LCA bushings)

I also got my order of new stainless hardware from McMaster-Carr... For those of you wanting new hardware, most good hardware stores like Worth Smith will have everything you need for this kind of replacement project and would be much cheaper than a McMaster-Carr order (they have minimum QTY purchases for most items...) For this job, I was not anywhere close to a good hardware store...so I had to order the parts I needed... See my first post in this thread for specs on this hardware - I updated a few things in it today...

Turns out that I have neither the proper tool, or the muscle to properly press in the new Lower Control Arm bushings. I attempted to heat the control arm by putting it on top of a wood stove, while placing the bushings in a deep freezer. An hour later I used the socket/vise method and only got a fraction of the first bushing pressed in... So this work is being given to the shop that pressed in my axle bearings for me...

 

[Dewyz1100]

Up, up, and away...!

Last night I had a friend come over and help me lift the new housing into place while I bolted it to the existing suspension components. He then helped get the 3rd Member up and in the housing. I stayed up later to button up the suspension, and begin to secure the E-Brake brackets. The remote axle breather kit is installed now, so it is nice and protected behind the gas door.

FYI - The size of the metal brake lines are 3/16"... I opted for two 30" sections, the driver's side run was a tight run to follow the original brake line path as close as possible... The passenger's side had to be run above the original brake line bracket location or a longer section would be needed. No trimming was needed with this length.

Here are a couple pics with the new housing hung...

More to come!

 

[Dewyz1100]

Lastly...The brakes...

Happy New Year Update...To finish out 2011, I installed the control arms with the new bushings, the axle shafts with the new hardware, and all new brake components. Since the axle shaft removal and installation were covered thoroughly in the sticky for this replacement I will not waste time here - and the control arms were just four grade 8 nuts/bolts/washers to get those in...

I had no reason to believe that my axle bearings were worn out, but I figured since the seals were leaking gear oil all over them and my brakes, I might as well replace the whole shot... This way I know that everything is good to go, and I now know WHEN the last time these items were changed...

So onto the drum brake setup... be sure to take pictures of your setup prior to removing the old one...but if you neglected to do so, I will include a few pictures of mine...you can see the axle grease from my leaking seal on just about everything.

 

[Dewyz1100]

Salvage Old Brake Brackets and E-Clip...

I read in some other thread about what a PIA it is to use non-Toyota shoes because of the pin and hardware that needed to be re-used... Here are the details of how I did it...with pictures!

I went to Car Quest to get a drum brake hardware kit (both sides in one kit), two sets of new shoes (came with two new pins), new cylinders, and new drums... Yes, drums too... Again, since gear oil had been all over the old shoes, I can only assume that this got burned onto the inside of the drums during the 2K+ miles I put on the truck until I had this vacation from work to fix everything... If I have gone this far, what is another $80 in drums...?

Without further fanfare, here is the hardware you will need to salvage from the old brake setup (keep in mind that the driver's side and passenger's sides are different - DO NOT get them mixed up). Basically, the bracket assembly shoe is always towards the front of the truck - but one adjuster is reverse thread, so pay attention to those as well...See pictures below...

From the "top down" on the pin: (QTY per side)

1: E-Clip to keep everything on the pin
1: Metal bracket that keeps the adjuster in place and is held back by a spring to the backside of the assembly
1: Adjuster "fork" (non-threaded piece)
1: Metal bracket for the E-Brake Cable - feel free to mutilate the clip that holds this on the pin.
1: E-Brake Cable

Please note - The only indication I saw of what shoe was meant for the pin/bracket assembly was the pin hole itself. The hole is tapered, or countersunk, on one side of the shoe - this countersunk side is the side that the pin should be seated into. This is the back plate side of the shoe ...

Once the pin is seated properly in the shoe, begin by placing the E-Brake bracket on the pin. The hardware kit will come with new "horseshoe clips" to hold this piece on the pin. Once in place, I used pliers to bend the open end around the pin slightly so it wont come off accidentially...

Next, insert the non-threaded forked end of the adjuster onto the notch in the brake shoe. Then add the metal bracket for the adjuster on the pin, with the adjuster's tab seating in the slot provided within this bracket.

Lastly, keep everything on the pin by re-using the E-Clip from the old setup. The hardware kit did come with another "horseshoe clip" for this, but is is bulky, and not easily re-used if you need to take this apart for some reason. Once the E-Clip is in place, secure the top bracket by attaching the new (blue) spring from the hardware kit between the shoe and the bracket.

 

[Dewyz1100]

To finish up...

The next step is to secure this assembly and the other shoe to the backing plate using the new pins, springs, and spring caps from the hardware kit. My hardware kit came with two sizes of pins, and I had to use the longer of the pins to secure these shoes... Make sure before you secure them, that the top of each shoe is correctly inserted in to the grove in the brake cylinder, and the threaded end of the adjuster gets properly seated to the shoe's notch.

Now that both shoes are on the backing plate, the only thing left is to install the two new springs from the hardware kit and attach the E-Brake cable. I recommend doing the smaller spring first, this goes between the two shoes at the bottom. Be sure to place this spring behind the E-Brake bracket that resides between the bottom of the shoes - you can get a good view of this from my picture of the old brakes earlier in this thread. Then the larger spring can be installed. Just make sure the gap in the coils properly lines up with the threaded part of the adjuster so there are no hang ups...

The E-Brake cable is fairly easy to put on, as the bracket for it is spring loaded, so you simply have to pull on it to fit the open end onto the lever that exits the backing plate.

I am sorry I did not take any detailed pictures during this last phase of the job... The picture you see here is of the Passenger's side once completed...

Once everything is together, I recommend spinning the adjuster out while checking the spacing with the drums. I just spun them out about 1/4" and made sure I could still get the drums on. Once I felt the new shoes slightly rubbing on the drums as I put them on, it was good to go. A few good air bubbles from bleeders and I was in business.

Hopefully after giving up my vacation for my 4Runner, all will be well with the PA inspection process, and it will last me through the remainder of this truck's lifespan... Perhaps next year my vacation will be spent tackling the front end of the truck's suspension and drive line...or not...

 

[azcat90]

Abs & rust

...ABS sensors are a PITA to remove, and at over $200each, one should take great care to not damage them. Unfortunately for us rust belt folks, it is not as simple as a flat blade screwdriver and a bit of prying... Remove the bolt, remove the three closest ABS wire clamps/mounts, hose down the sensor base with penetrating oil, and place a set of channel locks firmly at the base of the sensor. Begin to twist back and forth - rotating the sensor 1/4" in each direction to get it moving. Add additional oil every few rotations to aide the movement. Once you are able to rotate the sensor back and forth without a death grip on the channel locks, rotate so that the tab is above the pad it mounts to.

Use a small pry bar under the tab using the top of the axle housing for leverage to apply a little pressure while continuing to use the channel locks to wiggle the sensor back and forth. Feel free to use additional oil to aide in this process, but this was the only way I could remove my ABS sensors from my housing...

OK it isn't just me... CRAP! I just wanted to clean the thing. I'm giving up so I can finish my parking brake job in daylight.