DasYears

When installing my BC coilovers, i found a had a faulty strut, which when unbolted was pushing on my axle right at the joint with more pressure than a spring compressor and my pushing could reverse. i ended up prying it off with a floor jack. it also put a couple holes in the boot. i didnt notice any noise for a few days, but now all the grease is gone and i can hear noise anytime i turn the wheel at slow speed. im sure it happens otherwise, just cant hear it over road noise. it makes a sort of clunking noise, i can imagine what the CV joint is feeling is like when you have two 5 gallon buckets stuck together and you pull them apart (lol). also, the drivers side boot is completely torn in half, obviously no grease is left. is it safe to drive this way? how about for a 7hr road trip? planning to get raxles to replace, but i need to know if i will make it through the weekend on them after the trip

magdocjr

You need to get it repaired as soon as possible. Worst case is it locks up while you are going down the freeway and you cause a huge wreck. Best case, you make it through your trip with no incident. You need to make the decision.

DasYears

anybody else with an opinion?

SilverGLE

iTrader: (21)

Both of my boots were split and I ended up driving a good 1000 miles on them... But I also had no noises at all.

MaximaGT-R

iTrader: (7)

i would recommend u repair it

x91max

well your going to start hearing noise because the joints in there are dry but it will not lock up and cause a wreck. if it does break it will pull int hat direction fast but easy to hold. its not likely to break but you should atleast put replacement boots on. there like 15$ for 2 at autozone here. it comes with grease also.

Torgus

iTrader: (10)

you can drive with bad CVs for months.
untill they start to really sound horrible your generally ok.

raxels FTW

i'v bought probably 6 axels off the guy great customer serives and a pleasure to deal with.

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

let me ask you a question. When you were doing this, you only had one side of the car jacked up, right?

Squirrel82

iTrader: (30)

A few years back I drove to VA beach and back with a poppin' axle.Something like 3 hours away.

DasYears

yeah, it worked well for the other side, but when i switched everything around, the pass side was a hug pain to get off. not sure what was up, but it was not happy

maxima_driver7

the axels won't pop out, but one should definately replace them to ensure a safe ride, because why drive a car that has a risky factor like that one.

Froggmann

iTrader: (6)

I would repack the CV with grease and make a temp CV boot with either rubber sheet or even a plasitc bag. Use Hose clamps to secure it to the CV and the axle. That will help with keeping the CVs from wearing and possibly shattering or breaking an axle. When you get back make it a point to replace the axle.

DasYears

trust me thats first on my list. i think im gonna check out those temp boots for 15 bucks

Torgus

iTrader: (10)

temp boot is pointless imo.

the sand and road crap is already in the joint ya more grease MIGHT make it last slightly longer...but it's really questionable.

those temp boots are only good if you catch it before it starts to click.

rebuilt axels cost like 70 bucks + core at autozone...if you can't wait for a raxel just get one of those...they come with a 1 year warrenty.

i'v driven for months on clicking axels and have been fine. worst comes to worse it brakes and you pull over and get towed and pay 200 for one installed.

go autozone if you can't wait.

as i said above unless you CLEAN the joint which is a waste of time imo the replacement boot will not help. the damage and crap is already in the Ujoint.

SilverGLE

iTrader: (21)

Well said. Temp boots are only good if you get 'em before you hear clicks. I actually found that Advance Auto Parts has the better deal on axles... $65/each, brand new versus $70 + core on rebuilt ones from AutoZone (lifetime warranties on both). I just swapped them out a few weeks ago. A friend of mine had his CV axles clicking for many months on his POS Ford Escort wagon and was fine... The tranny died before the axles!

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

yup...I knew it.

your strut was not "faulty".

when doing spring/strut changes, you have to jack up BOTH sides of the car. If you just do one side, the sway bar is still loaded and will not allow the control arm to drop as far as it can....which is precisely why the spring/strut assembly was still compressed when you tried to take that one off. If the whole front end was jacked up, you would NOT have had this problem.

DasYears

and it was fine on the other side because...? and the spring compressor fully compressed didnt help because? i believe you that that didnt help, but i just dont believe it would still be affected if both sides are off the ground anyway(for some reason, with the coilovers on both sides are off at the same time) AND the spring is as compressed as a compressor can get it. maybe, but it doesnt seem right. not to mention that the spring in question came out longer than the one from the other side. at this point it really doesnt matter, but thanks, if i ever need to take one off ill make sure to jack up both sides.

DasYears

yeah, well i really dont care much about autozone or whoever, my plan is to get raxles (hopes for matty to finish the 5.5 SC kit) and be done with it

irish44j

iTrader: (38)

you had the spring compressor on the springs while they were still on the car?

SilverGLE

iTrader: (21)

Hey, if you want to spend $150/each for Raxles, go for it! That was a little pricey for me, as I don't do any extreme driving in my Max for me to want the extra reliability Raxles would afford me. Irish can attest to their quality, as can many other satisfied customers.

doc2278

iTrader: (3)

mine just went bad, really bad.... vibration while at cruising speed, at braking, and when turning there was alot of clicking. just had them replaced,..... sooooomuch better. the bad CV's ruined my alignment as well they were vibrating so much.

DasYears

i do a lot of drag racing and plan to go boosted some day, so its worth the extra money to me