hey all, I know the whole "creak/clunking/clicking noise" thing makes you think, "duh, messed up half shaft(s)."

But, i took both out, and they look fine to me. I did notice that my ball joints and their boots are kinda ishy, looks like the bj boot leaked out a buncha grease in the area, and it doesn't look like a tight covering on the bj shaft/bolt.

would/could the noise come from the bj's? any input is appreciated, thanks!

 

it doesnt matter if they look ok. some axles click no matter if they look new or not. ball joints dont usaully make noises when driving .

 

Run a quick test on you balljoints. Take a pickle fork and put it between the ball joint and the spindle and see if there is any play. Or you can remove the castle nut and pop the ball joint from the lower arm, then grab the threaded part of the joint and pull and push on it and see if it moves at all. If it does that is your problem.

Also check your upper ball joint, thats what was wrong with my girlfreinds Civic. To check these quick just grab the bar that connects the kjoint to the spindle and shake it. If it does move that joint could also be your problem. Good luck with it

 

thanks guys, the bj's are fine, no excessive free play, swivels like it should.
how do you find out which shaft is bad? just gotta take them off and look at it? it sounds like the right side though.

 

Put the shafts back in and turn the wheel all the way to one side and do a couple of forward donut, do them slowly. The car will start to hop on the bad shaft, turn the wheel all the way left and if the car starts to hop the left shaft is bad. This is the way I checked on my girlfreinds civivc and it worked. There may be diff ways but i don't know of any off the top of my head. Good luck with it

 

well...i got desperate, and just took them both out to look at. Didn't wanna take off the boot for no reason...so i just inspected boots and the free play of the cv joints. Turns out, the driver side shaft's outboard joint has an odd freeplay, plus a tiny 1 inch slit on the boot. Picked up another one, waiting to put it back in sunday afternoon...can't wait! and i gotta pop out my lbj and replace it on the passy side. Anyone got tips on using the bj removal tool?

How much free play should the bj's have?? should it be fairly simple to wiggle around? or tough? I can't get the tie rod bj off!!! i hammered the biotch to hell and nothing...not even a budge, the pullers i have just dont cut it for me, i dont think i'm using them the correct way or something.

Thanks for the help anyhow...i'll be back to post new problems...lol.

 

cv joints

 

I had the same exact problem. It was my half shaft, specifically the CV joint. It LOOKED to be ok, but it was so much looser than the replacement. Clunk and grinding went away after the swap.