LeX2K

Sorry to hear. Yep that bearing design is extremely infuriating, I've never done it on a Lexus but have on a Camry 4 cylinder which is the same design. I had to jack up the engine a couple of inches so I could remove the entire rear mount, royal pain in the *****. The degree at which the bearing likes to seize in the mount is unbelievable, I put tremendous shock into the assembly on a concrete pad to get it out, which actually did not hurt the bearing one bit it still rotated smoothly.

Do you have enough space to get a 6 sided closed wrench in there? If so, hitting the wrench with a large hammer can do wonders, but of course you could end up rounding off the bolt head.

03 ES

Honestly you need a lift and air tools.I hate passenger side axles on FWD Toyota. I always end up using an air hammer on the bearing housing while a fellow tech takes two pry bars and prys like **** on the axle to pop it out of the bearing. Its a tedious process. I don't know why Toyota insisted on running the damn axle through a motor mount but that thing is a ****ing disaster to deal with.
Good luck and may God have mercy on your soul.

GrayES300

Well I crawled under the car with a 10 lb sledge hammer head. Whacked the axle for a couple of minutes and it didn't move. Turned my attention to trying to remove the mount. Got a pipe that would fit nicely over the 14 mm combination wrench. Put some wood between the bolt/wrench combo and the axle to hold the wrench in place while I used the pipe. It worked! Got the bolt off and removed all the other ones easily. A couple of smacks with a hammer released the mount from the engine.

With the axle out, I got the new trans bolted up. Now I have to smack the mount and try to get it off the axle. We will see how that goes.

BigDaddy59

once you get the axle out of the mount, before you go to put it back in, sand off all the corrosion from the outside of the bearing and the inside of the mount. Then lightly coat the outside of the bearing with antisieze before replacing in the mount. This will make changing it much easier in the future.

GrayES300

Will do. Last car I did an engine swap on I used anti-seize on almost every bolt. Plan on doing the same here except I will use a ton on that mount! LOL! Will probably need a new axle after I beat the craps out of it though.

GrayES300

Just an update, I'm still trying to get the axle out! Soaked with PB Blaster, no good. End of axle that goes into trans is mushrooming from being hit with a sledge hammer. Axle bearing has moved about an 1/8" so far. A friend suggested soaking with power steering fluid because it has anti-corrosive properties. Don't know if it is a myth or not, but I'll try anything. I'll let you all know if it helps.

GrayES300

SUCCESS!! About another 1/2 hour of banging and the axle has finally come out of its mount! Thank God that is over! Not sure if the power steering fluid was the secret or just persistence. I alternated between hitting the axle end with a 20lb sledge hammer and my foot behind the mount to hold it in place and turning the axle on it's end so I could hit around the mount with a claw hammer. I put some dents in the mount and deformed one of the holes for the engine bolt, but I cleaned it up with a drill bit. Then I cleaned the bearing area with a wire cup brush in my drill. I'll put a ton of anti-seize in there when I install the new axle.

Thank you all for your ideas. Hopefully this thread will help others in the future.