CV Axle testing and replacement

rcweston · 08-14-2012, 04:27 PM

I believe I am having CV problems. While towing a light boat, I hear noises in the passengers side front of the car. It sounds like gears messing together poorly. It increases in frequency as the speed increases. When turning right, it get much more profound, almost a light thump thump thump as you turn the right hand corner.
I've read some post about "turning in a circle test". can some one explain the test?
are the axles above a somewhat handy man's abilities? or is it something that needs to be done in a shop?
Do you have a basic procedure to replace them?
Thanks in advance
Rex

Tech II · 08-14-2012, 04:59 PM

From your description, sounds more like a front wheel bearing.....

maxwedge · 08-14-2012, 07:30 PM

Replacement for either part can be found at autozone.com repair guides, but you need an onsite diagnosis first. Clunking during hard figure eights at low speed is usually an out er cv joint, you describe, as Tech 11 said a wheel bearing, maybe.

jeffcoslacker · 08-15-2012, 08:11 AM

Look at the boots with the wheels turned to the lock. Any splits in the rubber? If so, that's probably your culprit.

Most times when they wear out they will produce a really audible clattering sound when you turn the wheels and accelerate quickly from a stop, like you were pulling out of a parking lot into traffic....

A rhythmic thump in time with wheel rotation would be more unusual. But generally it's the outer joint with the multi-cage ball bearings that fail, and they clatter. The inner is a three bearing slider tripot, and they can thump sometimes.

Install of a new shaft involves removing the large spindle nut on the shaft, splitting the lower ball joint and outer tie rod from the steering knuckle, and pulling the knuckle and bearing free of the shaft end.

The shaft is held in the tranny with an internal snap ring. You simply put a lever between the tranny and inner joint housing, and give it a sharp snap to pop it free.

The new one will need to be slammed in there hard enough to get it to snap and lock, while being careful not to stretch the shaft out too far, or the inner's bearings can come off their trunnions and fall into the boot...if you stretch the joint out too far, they can just drop off. They CAN be futzed back into place inside the boot if you can visualize what you're doing and work through the rubber, but it's a pain.Otherwise you'd have to remove the boot and reband it.

Here's a typical outer (Rzeppa-type) joint. you won't have to mess with any part of it, just for interest.

maxwedge · 08-15-2012, 09:49 AM

Nice post Jeff!

j cAT · 08-15-2012, 12:17 PM

with front wheel drive try not to give it heavy throttle with the front wheels turned . this stresses out those balls in the CV.

with the wheels straight this is not an issue.

too much angle under heavy load wears them out. also the boot leaking grease .

rcweston · 08-23-2012, 01:13 AM

Thanks Jeff for your great explanation, and thanks to all the rest for your replies and help.
So some one else might benefit from this, I have corrected the problem. I jacked up the car and looked at everything I could think of in the front end. the boots on the CV axles all looked good. There was very little play in the movement of the axles as I tried to move and twist them forward and back. The tie rod of the steering were all tight with no play and the ball joint didn't move at all as I pushed and pulled the wheel from top to bottom and side to side. The large metal framework, (I believe it's called a knuckle) was solid and any thing that moved or had a bushing or bolt in it under the front end also seemed solid. NO problems with the struts. The motor mounts all looked good and I couldn't get any play in them as I tried to move the engine with a bar. I was rather stumped yet the thumping continued. As the wheels turned, I could hear no noise at all from the bearings.
I took the car to Less Schwab to have the tires checked out. They were 100,000 mile Toyo tires and I had less than 49,000 miles on them. After looking and checking them for a few minuets, they came to the conclusion that the two back tires were very worn and the two front tires were separating. The separating tires must have been causing the thumping sounds, but didn't even seem out of round. They are sending the tires back to the factory to have them evaluated. In the mean time, I purchased a set of cooper tires and the noises have all cleared up. I didn't get the 100,000 out of the tires but I did get a discount for the miles not used.
Thanks again everyone for you replies
Rex

j cAT · 08-23-2012, 08:07 AM

having purchased cooper tires I wish you luck. I will never buy that crap again.

tires can get belt issues when the mileage gets higher. usually low air pressures can create heat damage.

with belt failure / thumping take the tire off and on level ground have the tire roll freely on the ground. it should roll straight. if it wobbles then the tire is distorted.

rotate your tires more often 10,ooomi

rcweston · 08-27-2012, 06:51 PM

Thanks for the encouraging words. Too bad it didn't happen sooner. Not much i can do about it now.I'll keep a close eye on these tires and see just what happens to them over time. Maybe they will turn out to be a great set of tire despite your troubles in the past.

As for rolling the tire that have been seperated, I can see how they would wobble as they rolled with a lump in one spot on the tire. It would pitch the tire to one side as it rolled over the lump.
Thanks for the info
Rex

jeffcoslacker · 08-31-2012, 10:32 AM

Tires can do some weird things...I bought a '98 Cavalier CPO from a Chevy dealer and it was perfect except for a very profound grinding feel as you came to a stop...felt like the front pads were metal to metal or a hub was falling apart, very disturbing. A condition of the sale was that they repair it, and when they took it in the shop the brakes and front end were fine, the front tires had some pretty harmless-looking feathering on the inside edges.

They replaced the two front tires and it was fine. The car never feathered those, so I kind of suspect they might have swapped those tires from another car before putting it up for sale, and maybe got the rotation going opposite of how they ran on the other vehicle, so it was really rumbling on the feathering when it put the car's weight to the front while braking.

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