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Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:33 pm

Been away for awhile, but luckily things have been running pretty well. This is summer #2 on my VR6 swap and she is still running strong.

However.....I've had two occasions now of hearing a rhythmic knocking from the back end that corresponds to wheel speed. I suspect a CV is starting to go, but can't pinpoint which side (passenger or driver). If this was a manual, I'd just buy an axle and take a gamble (could always swap sides). But mine is an Auto and of course uses different length axles for each side. No tears in the boots or any other visual indication of which one might be bad. Grabbing the axles and tugging on them doesn't reveal any obvious differences in looseness...etc. The only extra info I have is that the sound did grow louder during a right turn.

One other possibility is maybe a rear wheel bearing? I would expect that to be more of a growl and not a knock, so I'm leaning toward CV.

Anyone have any recommendations on narrowing this down?

Thanks
James

Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:36 pm

I would take a look at the drivers side half shaft.
See if the axle is centered in the boots and not up against the stub axle by the tire. If it makes noise turning right and stops turning left, then that is your side to check.

Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:41 pm

Thanks. My gut feeling is the drivers side. Axle appears centered. I could move it in both directions equally with the suspension loaded.

Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:57 pm

I'd pull both axles and check the CV's. Otherwise you are just guessing. If one is going bad that likely means the others need servicing as well....

Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:33 pm

I agree with dobryan, clean, inspect for pits on all 4 CV's, and repack with new Grease.

A recent report by Christopher Schimke suggests Redline CV-2 grease is a winner.

imho, you should replace CVs in pairs on the same axle shaft. If one CV is bad, and you only replace that one, you will end up with one tight new CV, and one loose used one.

Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:46 am

I agree, pulling both axles, cleaning, inspecting and re-packing would be my first choice.
But right now there just isn't the time. I'm trying to finish up renovations on another house in order to get it on the market ASAP. And I've got a 3 and 8 year old that demand my attention in the evenings (not a bad thing). The van is also my daily driver. All together it just make more sense for me to replace a whole axle (or maybe both), since that can be done in a couple of hours.

For now it has stopped making the noise, so I'll keep my eye on it. If it starts back up, then I'll re-evaluate things and see how much time I for my options.

Thanks all for the feedback.

Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:58 am

^^^ Got it. I'd replace the axle with CV's with a 'new' one and then you can inspect and repack the old axle in your 'spare' time and then keep it as a backup.