Hey Folks,
Not sure what else to call it, but for now I'll call it a CV axle failure. Story, as short as I can keep it: Heading down to the San Diego area on Saturday evening for a party some friends have been inviting us for years to attend. Garmin had us at about a 2 hour time frame, I was determined to make it in 1 1/2. I was moving at a pretty good pace at times, but nothing I haven't done in the past, but not that often by any means. We were on a two lane highway when all of a sudden I feel this horendous driveline failure....whining, loss of power, grinding noises, etc. I immediately bump up the shifter to N and start moving off to the emergency lane (only place on the highway that had one) and start appying brakes, but they do not feel right.
I stop and go to put it in park, but do not feel like the tranny has really engaged, apply emergency brake and she holds. As I exit, there is smoke coming from the driver front side but no heavy smell of any kind. I look up underneath and the driver side axle seems to be pulled away from the spindle/hub area (passenger side one has what I'll call the cover right up against the dust shield, driver side is pulled back a good 2-3 inches), there seems to be grease spread out over the suspension also. Looking from the tire side, the rotor is pushed up against the caliper and the rotor is scared - s****ed (probably where the smoke was coming from).
Tangent story....we are 5 miles from the party after we have traveled approximately 110 miles from the L.A. area. As I start to make phone calls (no AAA....I know, I know, but the cruiser is my tow vehicle....18 foot car hauler sitting at home) to get her towed home, I decide to turn the car back on and see what happens when I engage a gear. Not good, approximately 15 minutes have gone by and as I engage R or D there is a whining noise, almost grinding.....but of course not in N or P. Put it back in P and shut it off. 20 minutes later I turn her back on but this time the gears do engage and I am able to move the car forward and backward. Our friend comes and picks us up as we have set up tow service for an hour later to take us home. But before we go to their house, I am able to move the cruiser back and off the road a little more, it doesn't feel right, probably because of the s****ing rotor-caliper.
Fast forward, today: I pick up the car from the shop, hub/spindle is fine, bearings are good, rotor was turned (it was a new DBA rotor, only a month old), front diff is fine, oil in diff is good, two new axles installed. Looking at the axle in question, the splines on the tip (where it goes into the hub first) are gone, ground down to almost smooth....but axle splines back from there are in good shape. Cruiser has 171,000 miles on her. It is my daily driver and it gets used for everything; driving to Utah (skiing), towing a boat to the river, towing a travel trailer, and few times a year towing a 3K race car. Go back to last week and the only possible symptom that I may have missed was that the brake pedal had a long travel, longer than normal, especially after new front brakes. On second pedal pump I would get a firm pedal feel.
All we can come up with is that one of the joints on the axle failed, allowing the axle to come out of the hub?? No visible signs of catastrophic failure anywhere else.
Not sure what else to call it, but for now I'll call it a CV axle failure. Story, as short as I can keep it: Heading down to the San Diego area on Saturday evening for a party some friends have been inviting us for years to attend. Garmin had us at about a 2 hour time frame, I was determined to make it in 1 1/2. I was moving at a pretty good pace at times, but nothing I haven't done in the past, but not that often by any means. We were on a two lane highway when all of a sudden I feel this horendous driveline failure....whining, loss of power, grinding noises, etc. I immediately bump up the shifter to N and start moving off to the emergency lane (only place on the highway that had one) and start appying brakes, but they do not feel right.
I stop and go to put it in park, but do not feel like the tranny has really engaged, apply emergency brake and she holds. As I exit, there is smoke coming from the driver front side but no heavy smell of any kind. I look up underneath and the driver side axle seems to be pulled away from the spindle/hub area (passenger side one has what I'll call the cover right up against the dust shield, driver side is pulled back a good 2-3 inches), there seems to be grease spread out over the suspension also. Looking from the tire side, the rotor is pushed up against the caliper and the rotor is scared - s****ed (probably where the smoke was coming from).
Tangent story....we are 5 miles from the party after we have traveled approximately 110 miles from the L.A. area. As I start to make phone calls (no AAA....I know, I know, but the cruiser is my tow vehicle....18 foot car hauler sitting at home) to get her towed home, I decide to turn the car back on and see what happens when I engage a gear. Not good, approximately 15 minutes have gone by and as I engage R or D there is a whining noise, almost grinding.....but of course not in N or P. Put it back in P and shut it off. 20 minutes later I turn her back on but this time the gears do engage and I am able to move the car forward and backward. Our friend comes and picks us up as we have set up tow service for an hour later to take us home. But before we go to their house, I am able to move the cruiser back and off the road a little more, it doesn't feel right, probably because of the s****ing rotor-caliper.
Fast forward, today: I pick up the car from the shop, hub/spindle is fine, bearings are good, rotor was turned (it was a new DBA rotor, only a month old), front diff is fine, oil in diff is good, two new axles installed. Looking at the axle in question, the splines on the tip (where it goes into the hub first) are gone, ground down to almost smooth....but axle splines back from there are in good shape. Cruiser has 171,000 miles on her. It is my daily driver and it gets used for everything; driving to Utah (skiing), towing a boat to the river, towing a travel trailer, and few times a year towing a 3K race car. Go back to last week and the only possible symptom that I may have missed was that the brake pedal had a long travel, longer than normal, especially after new front brakes. On second pedal pump I would get a firm pedal feel.
All we can come up with is that one of the joints on the axle failed, allowing the axle to come out of the hub?? No visible signs of catastrophic failure anywhere else.
. The same shop did the brakes, I trust the guy, he has always been good to me, but now I am wondering if he rushed it and something was missed. What would cause the axle to slip out? Snap ring on that axle? Loose retaining nut or something of that nature? I have worked on my old car (66 Mustang) and assume that this one is not much different when it comes down to it....as far as the supension goes.
