So I am told my CV joint is toast because it seperated...this whole time I thought it was the drive shaft. MZMTG, can you tell me what seperated by looking at this pic (costowholesale told me that you had seperated your CV before)? Anyone else with any thoughts as to what seperated here?



Thanks

 

take the joint apart to see whats the matter with it.

 

The thing is that I jacked up my lower control arm, and was able to wiggle it back to its orginal shape...so it looks normal from the outside and it doesnt really make any noise when driving. I really wwant to avoid taking it apart unless there is something for sure wrong with it. I was told that since it slipped apart that it is shot...do you think this is true or no? Also is that even the CV joint? Sorry I am such a newbie with it comes to these technical aspects.

 

Phil, I've taken my cv and dave's cv's off a couple times now. Never has the boot looked so stretched. Which leads me to believe that the CV has separated. ESPECIALLY since both you and Dennis say that it came "loose" there and that you are getting a clicking.

It may just be an optical illusion, and your CV may be alright. But with the circumstances I am aware of (what you and Dennis have told me), along with other things you have reported. At the least, I would inspect the CV and reboot it.

edit: Dave accidentaly pulled a CV apart once.

 

if it was seperated i believe your car wouldnt go any where...like put it in 1st it would be like its in neutral...i accidentally pulled mine out doing my struts but it clicked back in.

 

I've never tried to reuse a CV after it's been pulled apart, because they never quite feel like they are going to hold up afterwards. There was significantly more play in the CV afterwards. So I wouldn't know how long they last afterwards. But every mechanically inclined person I've discussed it with agreed, if the CV separates, the race is probably damaged. If so, the bearing will not last very long.

 

There's a snap ring that holds the spline shaft in place inside the joint itself. I've had a few fall out on me during suspension installations. All you have to do is put the joint back together, as you have done and the axel will be just fine.

The only time the CV joint can extend far enough to come apart is when the lower strut mount is apart. As long as you have that joint back together and the boots securely back in place, your axel will be just fine, it can't come apart while your driving, it will come apart if your not carefull when you change your struts or springs again.

It's not the actualy CV joint that falls apart, nothing is damaged when this happens. It's the spline shaft that holds the joint to the outer hub of the axel that falls out. That's how they are rebuilt. The CV joint inside is replaced by removing it from the axel hub and the axel shaft. A new joint can be installed, then new boots and grease and you basically have a new axel.

As per your post your already driving the car again which means you sucessfully put that joint together. Keep on driving and don't worry about it.

 

Thanks guys for the help. But today I went to a shop then drove away and heard like a metallic rubbing as i drove off...then all of a sudden my temperature shot all the way up to hot....I barely made it home (I had to keep turning the car off). Do any of you guys think this is related to a bad CV joint ot drive shaft slipping out? When I put the car in neutral and rolled it backwards I didn't hear anything.

Also the engine was only overheating when in gear...not in idle. this is really starting to strain me out.

 

No way that is related to your axles. You got something else going on. Like a bad water pump, not enough coolant, bad temperature sensor or something... As was mentioned, if you pop the extended joint back in, once installed again, it should not come out again because it's held in by the spindle in all steering directions. It most commonly pops out when yanking on it to get the axle out of the tranny.

 

I agree, but see where the boot is stretched and flattened? That looks like there was enough play in the control arm ball joint to stretch it that far.

 

To get it to pop out like that takes a good 3 inches or more... far more than is allowable by a bad ball joint. Like njmaxseltd said, it only happens if the strut is detached from the knuckle. I actually got my passenger side to pop out after yanking out it--the support bracket wouldn't give but the joint did.

 

When Dave pulled his apart by accident, it went from FULLY lodged, to FULLY detached in one shot. It wasn't as if it came 1-2" detached before finally coming apart.

Weird. I figured it was either in or off. There's a good chance either way. I just suggest that it should be inspected.

 

What are the repercussions of driving around on a bad CV joint? Also how can you tell if it is shot? Does it make a clicking noise around turns if shot?

 

Turn your steering all the way to one side, drive a little bit, then do the same in the reverse direction. You should hear nothing. If you hear something, you may have a CV problem.