Need to fix up an old CRV as a beater, have some questions...
12-01-2011, 03:00 PM
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Need to fix up an old CRV as a beater, have some questions...
So my Dad has a '99 CRV he has had since 2002. He got it with 30k on it and now it has 270k. It has some issues, burns some oil, but nothing major.
The other week he was driving it and it made a terrible noise and he had to pull over. I went to meet up with him and check it out and it seemed like the u-joint on the propeller shaft seized up and the torque tore the joint apart and the shaft was just flopping around. I crawled under the car and unbolted the drive shaft and because of the goofy half-assed AWD system it was actually able to drive home fine. Correct me if I'm wrong but these have a system sort of like a LSD but instead of sending power to the other wheel it sends it to the rear, correct? So in theory you can still drive them without a propeller shaft and it just acts like a normal open-diff front car right?
We had some trouble tracking down a cheap used prop shaft, dealer wants crazy money for a new one, and someone wanted $400 to rebuild the old one. Either way not worth it. Anyone know of a place like an online junk yard that might have a propeller shaft? Our local spots had nothing.
Anyway my Dad bought a 2009 RAV4 so he does not have to use this car. He does want to get it working again so he can use it to deliver stuff around town for his job and not put wear and tear on the RAV4. So without knowing for sure about that AWD stuff I didn't want to say screw it just drive it if it is only getting 50% power or something like that. It needs a new exhaust as well but that is no big deal. But before we put money into it I want to make sure it is safe to drive in 2WD or would I be hurting something.
The other week he was driving it and it made a terrible noise and he had to pull over. I went to meet up with him and check it out and it seemed like the u-joint on the propeller shaft seized up and the torque tore the joint apart and the shaft was just flopping around. I crawled under the car and unbolted the drive shaft and because of the goofy half-assed AWD system it was actually able to drive home fine. Correct me if I'm wrong but these have a system sort of like a LSD but instead of sending power to the other wheel it sends it to the rear, correct? So in theory you can still drive them without a propeller shaft and it just acts like a normal open-diff front car right?
We had some trouble tracking down a cheap used prop shaft, dealer wants crazy money for a new one, and someone wanted $400 to rebuild the old one. Either way not worth it. Anyone know of a place like an online junk yard that might have a propeller shaft? Our local spots had nothing.
Anyway my Dad bought a 2009 RAV4 so he does not have to use this car. He does want to get it working again so he can use it to deliver stuff around town for his job and not put wear and tear on the RAV4. So without knowing for sure about that AWD stuff I didn't want to say screw it just drive it if it is only getting 50% power or something like that. It needs a new exhaust as well but that is no big deal. But before we put money into it I want to make sure it is safe to drive in 2WD or would I be hurting something.
12-02-2011, 05:13 AM
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Re: Need to fix up an old CRV as a beater, have some questions...
We took the prop shaft and rear diff/axles off of ours a long time ago and drive it all the time, so it will be fine. Just like a FWD Civic.
I have the shaft in my garage if you want to buy it....
I have the shaft in my garage if you want to buy it....
12-03-2011, 06:22 AM
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Re: Need to fix up an old CRV as a beater, have some questions...
We are trying to put minimal money into this thing due to the high mileage. So if it can live without the shaft I am just going to leave it that way. If you were closer maybe I would buy that shaft but shipping it all the way from Texas sounds like an expensive pain in the ***.
We thought about trying to put new U-joints in but the shaft got pretty torn up when it snapped so I don't think it would be safe.
We thought about trying to put new U-joints in but the shaft got pretty torn up when it snapped so I don't think it would be safe.
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