Been awhile - flange or axle fail? (1 Viewer)

[nov74fj40]

Hope all the LC bro's are well. My '98 crapped out on the road. Grinding sound and would not move. This happened to me in 2015 and mechanic said back then just engage the front axle and it'll get you home - which I did. Looking back at invoice from dealer for fix - looks like the flange, snap ring, gasket and shaft assemble was replaced on DS. Trying to determine next step - I'd like to try and fix myself but not sure how to determine if flange, axle and which side is stripped out. Any advice welcome.

Thanks

 

[nov74fj40]

correction - the invoice said DS Shaft Assembly replaced not axle (assume it is same item) $395 bucks back in 2015. CV axle is what it was.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

You can pull the caps on the ends and see if the CV end c-clip has popped off. As for checking if they've stripped out, that requires a little more disassembly and inspection of the splines and surfaces.

 

[AlpineAccess]

As noted by @Trunk Monkey this is a quick check. I like to look under the front end at where the CV dust cover meets the spindle/hub to see if there is any space. You can grab the CV at that connection and see if it moves back and forth at all as well.

Pull the dust cap. If clip is popped off you can check the splines. You'll wnat to pull the axle flange nuts and use a brass drift or hammer to pop the cone washers out. Remove and inspect. Should be a 10-15 min check.

All of this can be done with the vehicle on the ground.

If the splines or flanges are worn, you can get replacement outboard CV components for less than a new CV and do a rebuild.

If you haven't done wheel bearings or spindle greasing recently; its worth doing that tear down and inspecting everything if you're doing the CV rebuild.

 

[nov74fj40]

Thanks for the coaching - much appreciated!