phaedriz

Hi, I'm new to the forum. My knowledge of cars in general is fairly basic, most of my experience working on cars is limited to the brakes, exhaust, suspension, and tune ups.

I just replaced the front control arms (with balljoints), inner and outer tierods, and stabilizer bar linkages on my '02 Maxima SE. Aside from some corrosion issues, everything was pretty straight forward.

Once the job was done, I started the engine (still up on jack stands) and noticed that the axle was loose (wheels would freely spin) even though it was in drive. I tried putting it into gear with the engine on (transmission is automatic ) and only the left wheel would turn.

I read through some posts and suspected that the right CV separated when I jacked the steering knuckle up while installing the control arm. So, leaving the CV boot in place, I tried the simplest thing first and hit the right wheel hub straight on with a mallet (not too hard) to see if that would engage the CV. That seemed to work, and the right side would now turn when it was in gear, but now the left wouldn't turn (presumably this separated the left CV). I hit the left side with the mallet and got it so that both wheels would turn while it was in gear.

Now, the car basically seems drive-able but I'm something is obviously still wrong since the axle doesn't lock while in drive. I'm not totally confidant in this assessment, but I'm assuming that hitting the wheel hubs with the mallet re-engaged separated CVs.

I don't know if this is relevant: if I get under the car and turn the right axle by hand, I notice that the opposite side turns in the opposite direction. I don't know if this is normal behavior because of the differential.

Any help would be appreciated. At this point I'm pretty clueless as to what this could be. It seems pretty clear that it's not the CV since power is getting transmitted from the transmission to the axle.

Cheers!