Noisy axle or CV before and after replacement

[jbost]

Hi all,
We are on the road and have this situation. We took van in and had tires rotated and aligned (a front tire was wearing very unevenly - outside getting bald). This tire ended up on drivers' rear. A couple hundred miles later, there was some serious clunking going on rather suddenly. Isolated that it was related to the axle - only when clutch engaged, no noise when in neutral and coasting. Most notable when at low speed. It got really bad, really quickly. So we ended up getting the axles replaced. Apparently one of them had pretty dry grease in the CV. The problem then went away for few days, few hundred miles. But now its returning. More subtle, but notable and getting worse.

Any ideas on what this could be? Is the bad tire wear making the tire be at an angle that is causing some friction in CV that should not be there? Did the alignment throw something off? Would shocks in getting in need of replacement have anything to do with this?

We have a long haul on the horizon and trying to decide what to do...
Thanks!
1986 Vanagan Westfalia camper...

[ALIKA T3]

Hello!

double check the cv bolts are tight , axle nut and wheel lugs too. Lift the wheel, feel play. Until then, it's all worthless guesses....
Also what brand axle did they install? Prolly some chinese junk if it's a complete unit....rather than installing Löbro CV joints on your original shafts.
Your tire didn't do anything to it.
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Silicone Steering Boots and 930 Cv boots for sale in the classifieds.
Syncro transmission upgrade parts in the Classifieds.
Subaru EJ22+UN1 5 speed transmission
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416343
Syncro http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...num+gadget

[Yellow Rabbit]

Did you get the old axle back? If not call the shop and see if it happens to still be there. New CV joints are crap. Get the old one and rebuild it.

[djkeev]

Reading repeated stories like this is certainly rekindling my strong dislike for so many called auto repair shops…..

Can no one fix anything any more?

There are still a few good ones ……..

As mentioned, check everything to be tight. If they are tight you probably need grease.
When you can retail a new axle shaft complete with two new CV’s for $80 ….. you really can’t expect them to have grease can you?

Consider that one quality CV joint with a new boot is is about what they sell a entire crap unit for.
Heck I paid almost $40 for one quality new CV boot!

You didn’t know ….. and you had to get on the road again, I get it.

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[vanis13]

they make money on the parts and if it fails they warranty, they just replace the failed part. curious - if they repack and issue still exists, then what is the warranty and what is the next solution and who pays for the next solution?

and of course there are just the stories like this (mine): a decade+ ago, I got my wheels aligned while on a trip at the Firestone shop under my lifetime alignment...I got a urgent call that the brake pads were dangerously thin and HAD to be replaced for $480...I'm still on those same pads. I think the alignment went ok but I had it rechecked when at home.
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[Wildthings]

On your original axle, you could have just gotten a long needle fitting for your grease gun, stuck the needle under the small end out the boot, and added grease to the bearings (you want the grease in the bearings and not in the boots). A lot of time this is all you need to do to get back on the road again, and even if it didn't work would not have cost you much.

You could have also tried just moving the boots on the axle shaft to force the axle one way or the other. This may quite a noisy axle for thousands of miles.

[Jake de Villiers]

[Wildthings]

[harvgwen]

When I go to do my CV’s, is there a way to determine if my shafts are original German ones or already replaced with Chinese?
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[Yellow Rabbit]

[Wildthings]

[harvgwen]

Thanks for the info.
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[jbost]

Seems like the issue is that there is alot of horizontal play in the axle. The CVs are fixed in place but I can slide the axle 4" or more back and forth. When the axle is slid all the way towards the wheel it hits something (not sure what) and clunks. That is what was making the noise while driving. By pulling the axle back towards the transmission (and using the rubber boot to secure it) sound resolved. I think this is probably a short term solution. Wondering if the axles that show up as a fit for a Vanagan are different than what would actually be appropriate with a Subaru conversion?

[djkeev]

[Wildthings]

The axle has to have axial movement to allow it to get longer and shorter as the suspension moves up and down. This is 100% normal. When installing new boots, I tend to position the boots to force the axle shaft toward the centerline of the van a bit as the axles will tend to move away from center in use. This way as the boots softens with age the axle will slowly move outboard a bit thus allowing the balls to ride over a larger area of the races instead of concentrating the wear in a smaller area. The total axial movement of the joints is around an inch, so if you are actually seeing 4" then you would have to have very short axles along with joints with far more axial play than the stock VW joints and/or the "C" rings would have to be missing.

[Corninmypoo]

[Wildthings]

Water pump pulley?
Alternator bracket?