cv axle replacement

[ramathorn]

Hey gang,

Question for all you experts. I recently did a diff drop, and replaced my torn boot stock cv axles with some empi axles off Amazon. The passenger side seems to be great, but my driver side seems to be grinding. I put it in 4lo, turned, and it pops like crazy.

Could I have gotten a bad axle? Or could I have done something wrong while installing?

[SilverBullet75]

That's exactly what happened to me. I ended up dropping the front by about 1.5" and it was totally fixed. Better geometry too. Steering better, axles horizontal, bump steer gone, and no more clacking from brand new Napa/Empis!

[VxSport]

Well it is possible that it is a bad axle. That is what happened to us 2 years ago, we went to replace both axles. We picked up a set from a local overhaul shop, installed them to find out that they were bad (grinding). Took them back out... back to the shop to pick up our cores. Next we had someone rebuild ours instead of some exchange.

[Bob Barker]

Can you lower your front suspension just a bit to get the half shafts level between the front diff and wheel hubs? Just enough to drive around and see if that fixes the noise. Would be a free test.

[Triathlete]

He has a "diff drop" already installed so the angle of the shafts should not be an issue unless he has a huge amount of lift. You might want to make sure the shafts are seated completely and that the snap ring on the hub end was installed correctly. Check the splines on both ends for damage. If that all looks good then you probably have a bad CV.

[Bob Barker]

I remember when I did my drop I had so much lift from the rear springs and spacers that to remain level in front there was still an angle on the front axles to the wheels. I've lowered the front a bit since and relieved the little highway decel rumble that was left over.

[VXorado]

The green cup is probably thrashed on the inside. Same thing happened to me the first time I installed EMPI half shafts. Were your inner boots ripped?

[ramathorn]

That's exactly what happened to me. I ended up dropping the front by about 1.5" and it was totally fixed. Better geometry too. Steering better, axles horizontal, bump steer gone, and no more clacking from brand new Napa/Empis!

I already did a diff drop, and my axles are pretty much horizontal, maybe a slight incline. I don't think it has to do with the geometry. Gah. Frustrating.

[ramathorn]

I remember when I did my drop I had so much lift from the rear springs and spacers that to remain level in front there was still an angle on the front axles to the wheels. I've lowered the front a bit since and relieved the little highway decel rumble that was left over.

I only have OME 912's in the rear, no spacers. I did lower it down a little bit, and the ride is smoother (ha), but still have the grinding.


He has a "diff drop" already installed so the angle of the shafts should not be an issue unless he has a huge amount of lift. You might want to make sure the shafts are seated completely and that the snap ring on the hub end was installed correctly. Check the splines on both ends for damage. If that all looks good then you probably have a bad CV.

That's what I was thinking, I'm only confused because I did both sides, same technique with both sides, and the other side seems to be fine. I'll check my outer rings today to see if there's any unusual-ness to them. I also already jacked up the front end, and the wheel moved freely- no noise, no catching. So I came to the conclusion that at least my bearing is alright.


The green cup is probably thrashed on the inside. Same thing happened to me the first time I installed EMPI half shafts. Were your inner boots ripped?

Don't tell me that :( haha that was my hinting suspicion, the green cup. When I installed them though, I cleared everything out, and it felt smooth, looked fine. All my boots ripped, but the inners after the outers. I ended up taking them out while I was waiting for my axles to come in the mail, and just rolling around 2WD so i wouldn't damage anything. My original shafts, torn boots and all, didn't make any unusual noises..

You ended up getting your green cups machined, didn't you? Sounds like a royal pain for my daily driver.. bummer.

[VXorado]

Don't tell me that :( haha that was my hinting suspicion, the green cup. When I installed them though, I cleared everything out, and it felt smooth, looked fine. All my boots ripped, but the inners after the outers. I ended up taking them out while I was waiting for my axles to come in the mail, and just rolling around 2WD so i wouldn't damage anything. My original shafts, torn boots and all, didn't make any unusual noises..

You ended up getting your green cups machined, didn't you? Sounds like a royal pain for my daily driver.. bummer.

A bad green cup will have an obvious worn groove across the ball bearing slots that allow the bearings to slip under load. Might be worth checking again unless your confident the cup was good.

I found replacement jack shafts (green cup) from a wreaked VX last year and the replacement cups fixed all of my CV woes. If worse comes to worse, I have a spare drivers side jack shaft that might be for sale.

[ramathorn]

A bad green cup will have an obvious worn groove across the ball bearing slots that allow the bearings to slip under load. Might be worth checking again unless your confident the cup was good.

I found replacement jack shafts (green cup) from a wreaked VX last year and the replacement cups fixed all of my CV woes. If worse comes to worse, I have a spare drivers side jack shaft that might be for sale.

So, interesting discovery. I assumed it was coming from the front end, considering all the work I'd been doing on it, and it still SEEMS like it's coming from the front end.. BUT I looked at the rear and I noticed my rear sway bar bushing and bracket sheared off on the driver side and was leaning on the shock. There's some obvious "scrapage" on the shock.. So I will replace that asap and cross my fingers that was the raw grinding sound I'd been hearing. A smart man once told me to assume makes an *** out of U and ME. :rollb:

[ramathorn]

Well the sway bar wasn't the culprit.. still making the noise. I'll tear into it soon and give updates. Thanks!

[VXorado]

That's too bad...

[ramathorn]

Well, took out the New cv, checked the teeth, bearing, green cup, hub,...everything I could think of, and no visible problems. I even replaced the cv with another empi one.. and still have the geinding noise.

It's quiet or not audible at low rpms. When I get on the gas, it starts. More predominately when I turn left. It quiets down when I'm off the gas. My alignment is awful due to all my disassembling, is there any way it could be alignment? Could it be brakes?

There is no play in the tire when I Jack it up, and the wheel spins freely. I'm not convinced its my bearings.

I'm so lost. :(

[tom4bren]

Check the fluid level in your front differential.

Also, someone recently had similar symptoms & it ended up being his front drive shaft.

[circmand]

Turned out the drive shaft needed greased.

[evillecutter]

mine pops in 4wl - everyone said cv's but after bringing it to two different driveline specialty shops they both said it was the transfer case - same as you at first i thought it was coming from the front but after listening outside the car it was coming from the middle or back end - really hoping yours isnt the same as mine - i did change the diff fluid and grease the rear drive shaft before i had it looked at just to make sure those were not the problem

[ramathorn]

Well, now I have to hang my head and admit the truth... You guys were right..

I ended up dropping the front end down some more, and voila. "Grinding" stopped. My cvs are flat now, no angle. It's been said not to mess with the rake on the front end, but how are some of you getting your noses level??

It's not the end of the world, I mean it's still a BA looking VX, but just personal preference at this point.

[Bob Barker]

I had mine lifted level front to back for a while and always had the grinding noise when decelerating off the gas. I installed a body lift and lowered the front another 1/2" and it stopped all the noise as well. Just a slight rake towards the front now, if I wanted level front to back I would need to make a bigger drop for the front diff brackets.

[VXorado]

I agree with Bob, body lift helps keep the drive train straighter while giving you the right amount of room for over sized tires. I don't have a rake and everything is good but I also don't have an angle on the CVs.

[Bob Barker]

When I modified my diff brackets to drop it I should have made a bigger drop with them. That's the reason my truck is sitting with a slight rake to the front now. If it wasn't such a huge PITA I'd drop the front out again and make the brackets longer.

[VXorado]

How much did you drop bob, 1.5"?

Just asking because 2" seems like the max before the green cup will hit the lower a-arm.

[Bob Barker]

I think it was only 1.25" on my drop, I was afraid of clearance issues, I wish I had done 2" total.

[tom4bren]

BTW, all of the drops welder guy did were 2". Most of the ones that Darlington did were 1.5" but he can do 2" upon request.