Loose CV Shaft

someguy · Post by **someguy** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:40 pm

Hi all.

Over the last few weeks I had been noticing a clunk when driving under 10-15km/h.

After jacking it up and having a look around underneath I have come to the conclusion that the L/H CV shaft is a little loose (you can slide it up and down a few milimeters).

Is there a way to fix this or do I have to replace the shaft as its only around 15,000km old and don't think I should be replacing it so soon as I don't drive it hard or offroad and don't have any split boots.

The Joint/Shaft doesn't make any noise when steering its only when driving slowly (mainly rolling it goes away when I am accelerating)

Thanks all

Post by **Alex** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:45 pm

is the pin still in there?

sounds more like a worn out radius rod bush or something to me

alex

someguy · Post by **someguy** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:48 pm

Keffa wrote:is the pin still in there?

sounds more like a worn out radius rod bush or something to me

alex

Where abouts would the pin usually be?

Do you have a pic as a reference (sorry I am pretty new to FWD cars, and I didn't install the original shaft)

Post by **Alex** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:53 pm

on the cup that goes onto the gearbox if you run your finger around the narrower part of the cup(the most inner part) you should be able to feel a hole, there is usually a pin which goes thru this hole and thru the stub axle to prevent the cup moving around on the splines.

i doubt this is causing your clunk tho. The pin which runs thru the cup is more of a safety thing to stop the cv shaft sliding off the stub axle at full articulation(in 99% of cases the shaft wont come off the stub tho)

shake around your radius rods as i reckon you may have sum flogged out bushes.

alex

someguy · Post by **someguy** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:58 pm

I actually had thought it might have been the radius rods originally but I shook them and they were very stiff. I also replaced the bushes just to be on the safe side.

Post by **Alex** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:02 pm

what sort of clunk is it?

when braking/accelerating, or over bumps, or like a constant clunk with the movement of the wheel?

alex

someguy · Post by **someguy** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:16 pm

it doesn't knock when im accelerating or braking.

It only happens when im rolling at speeds under 20km/h

I just checked the shaft and the pin is still in but the left side is pretty wobbly connecting to the gearbox where as the right side is fairly stiff

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:41 pm

Hmmm. This is an interesting one.

I had a knock in the front end that I reckon is the same as what you're trying to describe. Mine usually happened at the same speed, in forward or reverse but when I went over a slight bump.

I couldn't find it and just put up with the noise, it didn't concern me as I never heard it while on the road at speed. I had a clunk in the rear end that happened often, turned out it was flogged shocks. I thought this may be the cause on the front (even though the struts arn't dead) but after my EJ conversion when I put new drive shafts in the noise is gone for now.

So it is a CV joint. Not much you can do IMO unless you want to fork out for new shafts.

Cheers

Bennie

someguy · Post by **someguy** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 3:47 pm

El_Freddo wrote:Hmmm. This is an interesting one.

So it is a CV joint. Not much you can do IMO unless you want to fork out for new shafts.

Cheers

Bennie

Thanks Bennie.

Looks like I am getting a new shaft.

Repco quoted $240 (then another $60 to get it installed) (just spent $400 on the rear drums) so I won't be getting it for a while as I am still paying off the drums

Morcs · Post by **Morcs** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:37 pm

Look up a driveshaft specialist should be around bout $120 dollars for a reco unit exchange.
Comes with 3 month Warranty what more do you need

Dont you know What REPCO stands for(RIP Every Paying Customer Off)... amongst others

No offence to any body that works there but there are other places that can be cheaper for the same part.
Shop around and get your hands dirty.

Hell of a lot cheaper and not overly hard to do.

Post by **TOONGA** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:29 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SUBARU-BRUMBY-LA ... 2558c4781a

99 dollars on ebay and about 27 dollars or so to ship and new not recon

2 hours to put them in (as long as you have the tools and know how to do it)

TOONGA

maxxair · Post by **maxxair** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:36 am

+1 ebay new!!!

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:13 am

Morcs wrote:Look up a driveshaft specialist should be around bout $120 dollars for a reco unit exchange.
Comes with 3 month Warranty what more do you need

I paid $175 each for a NEW shaft from a Bearing and CV joint specialist in benders, that includes GST. So $350 for two new shafts, one year warranty and I couldn't be happier. There's been no problems/noises up front either which is what I'll be expecting for some time...

The noise you're describing isn't really an issue, other than being annoying. My passengers rarely heard it - and I ran my subi like this for 2 to 3 years without any failures...

Cheers

Bennie