Originally Posted by
timsrv
Sorry to hear that. I'm a big fan of doing things cheap, but this is one area you can't cut corners (things need to be precise). Although it may be possible to do the crank with the engine still installed, you'd still need to remove the transmission. This is due to the way the back of the crank is bolted to the flex plate (flywheel for standard transmission). Since most Previas have auto transmissions, I'm going to assume yours does too. The flex plate is bolted to the crank & the torque converter is bolted to the flex plate. You could get the torque converter bolts out with the transmission installed, but you wouldn't be able to slide it back far enough to get the flex plate-to-crank bolts. Sorry the bearing didn't work. You are motivated, and that's 90% of being a good mechanic. If you have a passion, & you're out there working on things, experience and knowledge will come. Good luck. Tim
PS: Rods are pretty darn tough. But being pounded hard enough to knock like that is extremely hard on things. Even so, I'm guessing it's probably okay, but I would be a bit concerned putting it back to work without at least checking it's ID for roundness. Might not be a bad idea to take that one into a machine shop to have it checked before putting it back into service. Tim