Alright, new CV and drive flange is in as well as a new caliper. Also put new gear oil in the diffs + transfer case.
Process-wise for the CV, it was pretty straightforward - to a point. My ABS sensor was basically welded onto the hub, however undoing it in the engine bay and fishing it through was not bad at all (aside from me shearing off one of the bracket bolts on the hub). I would definitely suggest a long extension for the 10mm bolt up top for this one. Removing the sensor this way took about 5 minutes.
I ended up removing everything
but the lower ball joint, and ended up having to fish it through the lower control arm as in
this video. I would not recommend this method, as it is super heavy and it was just too dicey with the outer boot rubbing against to the shock and sway bar end link. I came out fine, but it did not feel like a smart play. Next time I do this job, I will remove the whole hub assembly. Only reason I didn't on this one was because my lower ball joint bolt was bigger than 24mm (is this a 555 thing?), and so I was SOL because my biggest socket I had on hand was 24mm. Once situated, axle seated as it should and everything went back together easy. Definitely a job that could be done in an afternoon if you have all your tools and your bolts cooperate.
I definitely suspected the source of my problems here to be worn out drive flange/axle splines, however when I examined them, they were fine. The problem was within the CV itself - excessive play on all axes. I guess I didn't even need to replace my drive flange, but I had already opened the new one, so figured why not. I will say, the cone washers were a
pain. They did not come out easy at all, even with repeated blows with a heavy hammer. They would only peek out at best, and I had to wriggle them out slowly with a wrench. A little too close for comfort as far as damaging threads go, but in the end it was fine. Just a PITA.
As for the results? Vibration is
gone. Driveline clunk is 95% gone. I'm honestly blown away by the improvement after replacing the CV and diff bushings.
Remaining issues and my take on them:
- The driveline clunk is borderline nonexistent. Every once in a while, if you accelerate or shift at the exact right (or wrong) moment, there will be a slight thunking in the front end. I'm attributing this to likely annihilated control arm bushings as well as engine/trans mounts. That being said, this is rare and barely noticeable. Shifting and acceleration are pretty much perfect. And yes, I have greased the driveline.
- There is a lot of steering slop at high speeds (60 and above), and a consistent pull to the right. I thought the pull was a seized caliper, but it persists even after the new caliper (it has also persisted through a new set of tires and an alignment). My gut here is going to go to control arm bushings. I checked for play in the wheel bearings, and there wasn't any. Additionally, the LBJ's and inner/outer tie rods were replaced within the last year. Same with the sway bar and end link bushings.
Other than the above notes, nothing else to complain about aside from some console lights. I couldn't be happier with how this restoration is going along. The improve in ride quality has been great, and the effort extremely worth it. Truck rides fantastic for a 26 year old vehicle. Still much work to be done. Control arm bushings and engine/trans mounts are next.
