Going to reboot my CV joints. How do you guys assess these splines?
How do my splines look? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter lesgarten
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
nukegoat
Should have bought a Jeep
Yup, those are splines
- Thread starter
- #3
Rebooting because theyre leaking?
Just noticed my passenger side is leaking along with the drivers side which has been for some time now. No drivability issues so wondering if there's any reason to replace the whole unit as opposed to rebooting?
Just noticed my passenger side is leaking along with the drivers side which has been for some time now. No drivability issues so wondering if there's any reason to replace the whole unit as opposed to rebooting?
- Thread starter
- #5
Leaking greasy looking things. One of the boots has a hole No grinding or noise or anything like that. Just wondering about the spline health. I'm no expert at spline reading. They seem ok to me.
Eyedaho
SILVER Star
Hard to tell from that pic, but they look ok? Are they symmetrical on both sides? Is there any play between the shaft and flange?
- Thread starter
- #7
Hard to tell from that photo.
I think it's much more telling to grab the hub flange and see how much you can manually rotate the hub flange on the CV splines. There should be essentially zero movement. If there's movement, replace both the CV (at least the outer half) and the hub flange.
If you want a good photo, you need to get closer so we can see the transition between the contact and non-contact area of the splines. Where the hub flange contacts, you can have wear, but the untouched portion of the CV splines should remain at 100%. That makes it easier to tell if there's significant wear, comparing the unworn and worn surfaces.
I think it's much more telling to grab the hub flange and see how much you can manually rotate the hub flange on the CV splines. There should be essentially zero movement. If there's movement, replace both the CV (at least the outer half) and the hub flange.
If you want a good photo, you need to get closer so we can see the transition between the contact and non-contact area of the splines. Where the hub flange contacts, you can have wear, but the untouched portion of the CV splines should remain at 100%. That makes it easier to tell if there's significant wear, comparing the unworn and worn surfaces.
JunkCrzr89
Competent Ignoramoose
They’re worn. Replace. New hub flange will buy you some time tho.
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
Agree with @suprarx7nut to throw the hub on there and try to see if there is any play/backlash. If you feel excessive backlash then it is time to replace the axles. Hard to tell from the pic though.
- Thread starter
- #11
Ok, so I took the old Flange and place it on the outer non wearing splines and there's a small amount of backlash. Very little. Feels the same on the spline area when the flange is fully on. The I took the new Flange and did the same thing. Felt exactly the same. I'll try to get better pix with a better camera tomorrow when i got better light.
2001LC
SILVER Star
I can see your axle splines are worn. If your okay with a little D to N to R clunk, reboot. But once worn they do cause old or new hub flanges to wear faster and axle.
New front drive shaft, differential side seal, hub flange are my favorite job. It is rewarding. If wheel bearings then properly PM thereafter. You can get a life time out of them.
I'm doing a set now.
forum.ih8mud.com
Here's a video test I do during inspection, that indicate axle spline and hub flange condition.
If you would like to reboot, search mud. You'll find info. PITA job to get outer CV joint clean, but doable.
New front drive shaft, differential side seal, hub flange are my favorite job. It is rewarding. If wheel bearings then properly PM thereafter. You can get a life time out of them.
I'm doing a set now.
Scored 2006LC w/194K GrayBeard
A.I wires and housing are connected next. I often find clips broke. It's the heat in this area that is very hard on housings and clips. In this case the clip that holds wire housing to water pipe was bad. I had one available, so I replaced it. I'll find ties or high heat tape holding stuff in...
forum.ih8mud.com
Here's a video test I do during inspection, that indicate axle spline and hub flange condition.
If you would like to reboot, search mud. You'll find info. PITA job to get outer CV joint clean, but doable.
Last edited:
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
@lesgarten Heres the thing... You really wont be able to tell until you get the flanges back on and do a backlash test like @2001LC is showing above. Mine look fine to but I have the a-typical R-D Clunk of bad flange/axle splines.
Is there any benefit of swapping cv's to the opposing side on the reinstall? If the splines wore one way, would moving to the other side help with placing a cleaner spline edge in contact with the hub spline surface? Just a thought.
2001LC
SILVER Star
Yes, but benefit of swapping FDS to other side is minimal.
Note: Always replace inner snap ring before installing FDS (AKA CV's).
Note: Always replace inner snap ring before installing FDS (AKA CV's).
It looks good to me.
I just bought new OEM flanges and CV axles. The flanges slide easily on and off of the axle splines. Not too tight and requires no effort to slide on and off.
If I rock the flange back and forth on the axle, I can feel a tiny bit of backlash that I assume must be there to keep the axle and flange from binding or causing stress. If there was no room and I had to force the flange on the axle I may have trouble removing it some years down the road.
I just bought new OEM flanges and CV axles. The flanges slide easily on and off of the axle splines. Not too tight and requires no effort to slide on and off.
If I rock the flange back and forth on the axle, I can feel a tiny bit of backlash that I assume must be there to keep the axle and flange from binding or causing stress. If there was no room and I had to force the flange on the axle I may have trouble removing it some years down the road.
2001LC
SILVER Star
What I see in OP's axle splines is angle of teeth/spline different form one side of a tooth to other. The picture of back end of splines is blurry, which is where I like to look also. But still these look worn. But I assure you, I've seen much much worst.
Here's very bad axle
New
Here's a hub flange where teeth are trashed and ready to fail
New hub flange
Here's after new FDS & hub flange.
So sweet. But yes, there is the tiniest bit of rotational play.
Here's very bad axle
New
Here's a hub flange where teeth are trashed and ready to fail
New hub flange
Here's after new FDS & hub flange.
So sweet. But yes, there is the tiniest bit of rotational play.
Going to reboot my CV joints. How do you guys assess these splines?
I would reboot it if this is for my truck. It would be nice to have no clunk but if you look at pictures from @2001LC, that will give you an idea how much life you have left. Just have to remember to hit the CDL button when the car stops moving. If this is a customer car, then I would ask if they would like to pay for a new OEM axle.
- Thread starter
- #20
Ok, here's some better pix, I think...
