Strange sound coming from right front wheel; Blown CV?

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mechanixhorseman

mechanixhorseman

10 Year
Joined
Feb 28, 2010
Threads
24
Messages
427
Location
SO Oregon
I searched, but I didn't find anything that sounds quite like my problem.

When driving at low speeds (and probably high) there is a strange noise coming from my right front wheel, mostly when turning left. I can't really describe it. It sounds like a ticking or cracking or a sort of plastic-y noise.

I checked all the :doh: stuff. Removed the wheel cap, ensured lugs were torqued to spec, made sure there weren't any rocks jammed in the treads, no rubbing, etc. It's definitely coming from within the wheel area though.

I've never experienced a blown CV, but how many other things could it be in that specific of an area? Thoughts?
 
mechanixhorseman said:
They were leaking, until I put a hose clamp on them, which stopped the leaking. They weren't puking, but maybe I was too late?
Click to expand...

Depends on how much grease was in the boot when you stopped the leaking. It could of been to late and not enough grease to keep things moving smoothly. It may be a bit late but try to inject some CV grease in there and see if it helps any. Maybe it's time for a trail spare.
 
There goes my hunting trip for this weekend. Hopefully it's just binding from a lack of grease and not damaged.

Do they sell some sort of automotive syringe to apply it with?
 
Should be able to get something from a cooking store. Shouldn't take but 15 minutes to snip old clamp, inject and re clamp with your choice of clamp.

The way I've done it is get your syringe, grease, and clamp ready. Put the syringe in the boot carefully and put the clamp on to where it creates a half assed seal so the grease won't seep back out ( if your filling the boot it will want to come back out). Each stroke on the syringe pull the top back and pour more grease in. When you feel like there is enough than tighten the clamp down and pull the syringe out, then make your nice tight seal now.

I'm sure there is a better way but I did mine like that an it worked well.

Another way I've found out how to keep grease in is to put a bead of RTV HD sealant and adhesive on the boot and shaft. Mine don't leak a drop on a lift that is probably to high for a 100 with no diff drop
 
So, my repair philosophy hinges on two principles: a) do it right or don't do it at all, and b) fix it until it's broken. :)

I had leaking (not puking) CV's too. After the band-aid re-band started leaking again I pulled the entire shaft and rebooted it. Did it for three reasons: 1) the grease that came out was tan/grey and runny (not yellow and creamy as the new grease is), 2) they were leaking when I got it and I had no way of knowing total volume lost, and b) the boots end up getting hard over time. I think part (if not all) of the leaking boot problem has to do with the lack of elasticity in the boot; they need to be somewhat pliable for the clamp to seal them. And if there was a 4th reason it would be that it's a good bonding time with the Cruiser (and it's good to learn firsthand how the components work together). I suppose a 5th would be that it gave me a chance to verify that all was well inside CV land.

So my recommendation would be to pull it for a reboot operation. If you pull it and it's bad, just put it back in and order a new shaft(s).
 
Possibly a small rock stuck between your rotor and the backing plate? Or maybe the backing plate got tweaked and its slightly rubbing on the rotor when turning. Had that happen a couple times on mine.
 
I didn't tear it to pieces tonight because I've got to wake up early tomorrow, but I went out there and messed with it. One thing worth noting was that there was probably about 2-3 degrees worth of slop in the spines. Is that about normal for a cruiser with 150,000 or so miles? I can't see how that would affect it to make the sound its making, but I'm sure its less than ideal.
 
Thought I'd update this.

I shot a fair amount of CV grease up into the boots in question today and re-clamped. The clicking sound is gone now. Hopefully that bought me a few thousand more miles.
 
Regarding the "clicking" noises that you had, were you noticing the noise during acceleration or deceleration?
 
SupraTuRD said:
Regarding the "clicking" noises that you had, were you noticing the noise during acceleration or deceleration?
Click to expand...

Speed didn't seem to as have much to do with it as the position of the steering wheel did. I could replicate it easily by cocking the wheel all the way to the left and driving circles in a cul de sac.
 
Was it a constant click or a one time click. I have similarly sounding click as you but it happens when I turn steering wheel to the right and only happens 1 single time. Actually I think the sound happens more from the body roll when turning right but it does sound plastic-ish. I was thinking it was an end link but now I'm nervous. I have no leaks of any kind with boots.
 
lexi4darin said:
Was it a constant click or a one time click. I have similarly sounding click as you but it happens when I turn steering wheel to the right and only happens 1 single time. Actually I think the sound happens more from the body roll when turning right but it does sound plastic-ish. I was thinking it was an end link but now I'm nervous. I have no leaks of any kind with boots.
Click to expand...

Check your sway bar links. I've had the random popping like you.
 
It behaved differently every day while it existed, but for the most part if the wheels were turned it would click at the same spot with every rotation of the wheel and wasn't random at all.

My swaybar bushings are starting to look pretty nasty and decrepit too. I think I can attribute the squeaking sound I get as I drive over the speed bumps at the mall to that. ;) No clicking though.
 
Mechanix - any update? After 100 miles of trails with RobRed last weekend on a 700 mile total trip, I heard my noise more frequently. Seemed to be more when the body rolled from turning or when the front wheel was articulating over obstacles. Now that I'm back to daily driving in city I hear the noise hitting a regularly sloped driveway, which early happened before. It's still pretty inconsistent though. Might not hear it all day or I might hear it 5 times on a quick jaunt to the corner store.
 
Still haven't had a chance to change my sway bar bushings yet. I'll be ordering some poly bushings from superpro shortly to replace my zombie bushings. The noise for me went away after shooting some cv grease up into the boots I suspected to be dry.

Had another clicking noise scare the other day, which sounded a lot like a cv issue. Turned out to be that the morons at discount tire decided to only torque 2 out of the 5 lugs on my front drivers wheel after patching a nail hole.

Dont spend 8 bucks on a single grease needle if you don't have one already. Pick this bad boy up for only 21 bucks.

Amazon.com: Neiko Tools USA Grease Lubrication Aid Kit: Home Improvement
 
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