I just replaced one of my outer CV joints. It went so well I thought I would write about it. Seems like we always write about troubles we have working on our vans. I was worried about stripped or broken bolts. Especially the ones on the outboard joint which is hard to get to inside the box shaped control arm. I did have to use this combination to install the outer bolts: 1/2" drive torque wrench + 1/2" to 3/8" adapter + short extension + long extension + 3/8" to 1/4" adapter + 8mm socket + 8mm star bit. Got a nice new CV joint and boot kit from Bus Depot which installed perfectly. Used the cheap blue nitrile gloves from harbor Freight Tools to keep all that nasty grease off my hands. The symptom the outboard joint was exhibiting was like this: intermittent and slowly worsening over several years. A low heavy knocking sound related to wheel rotation speed. Occurred when under more power. Occurred more often when turning such that the suspension was not at it's neutral position. Also would happen when climbing straight up a mountain at full power in 2nd gear (AT). In that case it would often go from quiet, fade in to more intense and then fade out back to quiet. Hands on analysis eventually found that I could move the outer end of the driveshaft up and down very slightly and hear/feel a tiny version of the heavy knocking sound. Happy wrenching! Edward |
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