Yesterday while making a right i heard like a popping noise from where my driverside axle is as if something snapped or finally gave in. my automatic reaction was "dam, i broke an axle." but when i got the car home and looked at it, there's no broken cv boot or anything. my question is does a broken axle HAVE to have a ripped cv boot at all? because i know it can also be internal, i just wasn't sure if the CV boots have to be ripped to mean anything....

just food for thought, before this happened, there was a clicking that would happen every time i'd turn hard right. another thing i noticed was that one of my steering arm's rubber ripped and is now leaking grease. can that cause the clicking also?

now the steerign wheel pulls a bit when i drive and shakes a bit, and clicks and pops to all hell when i turn. what else could this be aside from the axle? anybody? TIA guys

 

I dont think the breakage has to be noticeable. If you hear a clicking only in right turns, you are almost guaranteed to need a new axle, or boot.
But hey, I am no mechanic, just speaking from experience

 

well, thanks man....i need all the experience i can get right now. every little bit helps. i've dealt with axles plenty of times, but this is an odd one...

 

u don't have a broken axle, if you did the car would not move,, ,however i would have my frt suspension checked out just in case something is loose ( tie rods inner and outers, ball joints upper and lower , chk tires, etc etc )

 

replace axle

 

yeah if it was in a turn and it is not an axle I would say either control arms or a bolt on the suspension.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vt4cPwn35 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">replace axle </TD></TR></TABLE>That might not be too effective if his REAL problem is in the steering rack. Which is possible since he said the rack boot was ripped...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">u don't have a broken axle, if you did the car would not move,, ,however i would have my frt suspension checked out just in case something is loose ( tie rods inner and outers, ball joints upper and lower , chk tires, etc etc )</TD></TR></TABLE>

from my experience...you can drive with a broken axle...the car will just pull and it will go very very slowly. but i'll check the joints and bolts and all that when i get the chance. thanks dude.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vt4cPwn35 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">replace axle </TD></TR></TABLE>

in the process...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by -RedneckDave- &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah if it was in a turn and it is not an axle I would say either control arms or a bolt on the suspension.</TD></TR></TABLE>

would you think that steering arm has anyting to do with it? it does have a ripped rubber. but thanks dude, i'll take a more detailed look later on.

thanks guys, keep the experience and opinions comin'

 

yeah saw this just the other day...if the axle was broken like he said the car would not move

I would check balljoints, bent tie rods, fork etc.

and steering arm?, you mean rack and pinion aka power steering assist
-I can tell you almost all rack and pinions leak fluid (but you said grease didn't you...)
-ripped though might be another story, I guess see if the car makes the sound when you're at a stand still cuz if it does its probably not axle/suspension related.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Schmitey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah saw this just the other day...if the axle was broken like he said the car would not move

I would check balljoints, bent tie rods, fork etc.

and steering arm?, you mean rack and pinion aka power steering assist
-I can tell you almost all rack and pinions leak fluid (but you said grease didn't you...)
-ripped though might be another story, I guess see if the car makes the sound when you're at a stand still cuz if it does its probably not axle/suspension related.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well, greasey fluids...not exactly grease. and no, the car does not make noise on stand stills...only when turning and in motion as i'm turning.

 

replace it soon. so you wont be sorry later on like me when my axel broke 70 miles away from my house and I have to tow my car back home

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bone Stock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">replace it soon. so you wont be sorry later on like me when my axel broke 70 miles away from my house and I have to tow my car back home </TD></TR></TABLE>

replace my axle you mean? yeah, i've already got the part...its too bad my tools got jacked, i had to borrow my buddy's tool and now i need the pitman arm puller. i'll probably pick that up today.

 

[QUOTE=Accord_Kid]

from my experience...you can drive with a broken axle...the car will just pull and it will go very very slowly. but i'll check the joints and bolts and all that when i get the chance. thanks dude.


Acoord kid,, i say it again if a car has a broken axle the car will not go anywhere ,, it will not go fast or as you say very very slow .. the only way it will move is if you push it or tow it .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by deserthonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Acoord kid,, i say it again if a car has a broken axle the car will not go anywhere ,, it will not go fast or as you say very very slow .. the only way it will move is if you push it or tow it .

</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, i heard you the first time. i'll check out the joints and all the arms tomorrow when i get the chance.

any other opinions or in put anybody?

 

i can't remember exactly what the pitman arm puller looks like...i think its the tool that pushes from the bottom side which is what you want. DO NOT use the pryfork thing unless you want to replace perfectly good balljoints (check them I suppose but I doubt that's the problem). The easiest thing though is to use an air chisel on the lower balljoint. Loosen the nut and with it still threaded on to fix any bent threads pound the **** out of it and it should pop right out (WD-40 or boltblaster helps). Also in removing the axles same thing, make sure the axle nut is still threaded on just in case you bend any threads (same thing for pounding the new ones in). My buddy got impatient and ruined the threads on a perfectly good $100 axle!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Schmitey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i can't remember exactly what the pitman arm puller looks like...i think its the tool that pushes from the bottom side which is what you want. DO NOT use the pryfork thing unless you want to replace perfectly good balljoints (check them I suppose but I doubt that's the problem). The easiest thing though is to use an air chisel on the lower balljoint. Loosen the nut and with it still threaded on to fix any bent threads pound the **** out of it and it should pop right out (WD-40 or boltblaster helps). Also in removing the axles same thing, make sure the axle nut is still threaded on just in case you bend any threads (same thing for pounding the new ones in). My buddy got impatient and ruined the threads on a perfectly good $100 axle!!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, i just want to basically use a pry fork for the axle, no tfor the ball joint. I'm probably gonna end up using the arm puller for the ball joint because i've pounded on it, and it does NOT want to come off. but thanks for tips Schmitey. anybody else?

 

easiest thing to pop the actual axle loose is to carefully seat a wide screwdriver between the axle and the tranny/intermediate shaft. Be careful that you're not up against the seal or its seat but there is a metal ring at the end of the axle that has expanded into a groove in the tranny gear teeth. Once you pop the ring out of its seat its all butter from there. When you man handle an axle grab the wider CV joint of the axle not the skinny shaft itself.

Hope that helps

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Schmitey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">easiest thing to pop the actual axle loose is to carefully seat a wide screwdriver between the axle and the tranny/intermediate shaft. Be careful that you're not up against the seal or its seat but there is a metal ring at the end of the axle that has expanded into a groove in the tranny gear teeth. Once you pop the ring out of its seat its all butter from there. When you man handle an axle grab the wider CV joint of the axle not the skinny shaft itself.

Hope that helps</TD></TR></TABLE>

that does help, thanks. i dont think i'll have to remove the intermediate shaft tho, i'm just replacing the driveshaft. hopefully this will do the trick, wish me luck guys and thanks.

 

problem fixed. it was the axle. thanks you guys.

this is for you guys

 

If the rack boot is leaking, fix that too before it gets to be a more expensive rack problem.