Short of removing the d/s... | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

Short of removing the d/s...

gavin

Explorer Addict
Joined
September 27, 2002
Messages
3,173
Reaction score
23
City, State
Anchorage, Alaska
Year, Model & Trim Level
'97 Explorer XLT AWD 5.0L
is there anything else I could do? The CV-joint is totally seized up now, I can't move the d/s at all by hand... and going down the road, whoo boy it makes a huge racket.
I'm not sure if I want to remove the d/s, due to the fact that it snowed a bit today... I have no clue what the weather's gonna do, I don't really want to be without AWD... but I guess if it's my only option, I'll have to do it..
Any ideas?

PDRM0653a.jpg


PDRM0652a.jpg
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





well I decided to remove the d/s anyway.. the reason I couldn't get it to budge, is because one or 2 of the bearings apparently got wedged behind the shaft, pushing it forward. I had to beat it with a hammer to get it loose so I could remove it. Anybody know if there's anywhere to buy just the bearing-end of the cv-joint that bolts to the t-case?
PDRM0659a.jpg


PDRM0661a.jpg
 






You could possibly find a driveline shop that specializes in CV joints, but odds are if the inner's toast, the outer's not far behind. They're cheap enough that, in my opinion at least, they're not worth repairing. You could repair the inner this week and have the outer fail next week, and the repair cost would out-weigh the replacement cost easily!

Replacements are about $60 at AutoZone around here with a lifetime warranty. Not sure if they can ship to AK or not though.... ;)

Good luck!
 






well I bit the bullet and decided to get a shaft from a junkyard... $120 for one from a 2000, not TOO bad I guess. Better than attempting to drive around in RWD with the ~10" of snow we got, hah.
Anyway, got it in, and now there's a fair vibration.
Up to about 45'ish, it's fine. Once I get up to about 50-55, I get a very low vibration, makes for a nice massage lol. But, the vibration gets no worse when I got up to 65, then slowing down the vibration went away at 45.
Any idea what would cause that?
 






gavin said:
well I bit the bullet and decided to get a shaft from a junkyard... $120 for one from a 2000, not TOO bad I guess. Better than attempting to drive around in RWD with the ~10" of snow we got, hah.
Anyway, got it in, and now there's a fair vibration.
Up to about 45'ish, it's fine. Once I get up to about 50-55, I get a very low vibration, makes for a nice massage lol. But, the vibration gets no worse when I got up to 65, then slowing down the vibration went away at 45.
Any idea what would cause that?


You paid $120 for a USED one out of a junk yard?!!? You got raked over the coals on that one...... Guess they gotcha comin' and goin', huh?

As for the vibration, i'd be surprised if it was the new shaft. At 45 mph on 30" tires, the driveshaft and wheel are only rotating at 255 RPM. That's not fast for a shaft at all. (I mean, the driveshaft will be running at 3.75 to 411 times that speed) It honestly sounds like a wheel out of balance to me, but I don't like to look for the tough stuff. It could also be that a chunk of something got stuck to the back of the wheel or the hub flange causing the wheel to wobble slightly going down the road.

-Joe
 






seeing as how I couldn't afford $220 for a rebuilt one from CarQuest or Napa, that was my only choice...
as for the vibration... I found what it was; the hard way.
Apparently I didn't have the front u-joint straps tightened down enough, or something. Was goin on the highway after work today, only about 55, and had the vibration. Well, about maybe 2 miles later, I hear a weird "clunk" and the vibration is worse. Maybe 20 seconds after that, I hear another "clunk" and then I hear the driveshaft banging around..
Pull over, get out and look under. Sure enough, one strap survived, the other one was long gone. One bolt missing, the other broken off. So yeah, I'm assuming something with that caused the vibration.
Now, heh, any idea if a Bronco2 D28 and the Sploder D35 use the same u-joint straps? I went to CarQuest to get a set, and they could not find it in their book. The when we thought might work, has the mounting holes too far apart. And, what would be an easy way to remove a busted bolt.. without drilling and re-tapping would be nice... lol.
 






gavin said:
seeing as how I couldn't afford $220 for a rebuilt one from CarQuest or Napa, that was my only choice...
as for the vibration... I found what it was; the hard way.
Apparently I didn't have the front u-joint straps tightened down enough, or something. Was goin on the highway after work today, only about 55, and had the vibration. Well, about maybe 2 miles later, I hear a weird "clunk" and the vibration is worse. Maybe 20 seconds after that, I hear another "clunk" and then I hear the driveshaft banging around..
Pull over, get out and look under. Sure enough, one strap survived, the other one was long gone. One bolt missing, the other broken off. So yeah, I'm assuming something with that caused the vibration.
Now, heh, any idea if a Bronco2 D28 and the Sploder D35 use the same u-joint straps? I went to CarQuest to get a set, and they could not find it in their book. The when we thought might work, has the mounting holes too far apart. And, what would be an easy way to remove a busted bolt.. without drilling and re-tapping would be nice... lol.

Ooof! Well, at least I was half right about the driveshaft.... didn't realize you had removed it for anything, so I didn't really figure it had worked its way loose.

They wanted $220 for the halfshaft? Next time you need one, let me know. I'll sell it to you for half that price and ship it to you. :)

-Joe
 






lol, alright.. I'll keep that in mind. hopefully won't be needing another one, though.. well, not until I get the u-joint style and adapter.
 






what are the torque specs for the front driveshaft? Can't seem to find much in my Chiltons.
How tight should the bolts at the differential yoke be tightened? How about at the t-case mount?

also... the CV-joint on the d/s I got is SLIGHTLY serviceable. There is actually a small hole at the end of the cup on the cv-joint cup, to put grease in. And on the edge of the (which will not be "open" when bolted up"), which I assume is for letting the old grease get squoze out.
The original d/s only had the one small hole on the "bottom" of the cup..
But atleast the cv-joint is some-what serviceable, just need a needle point on your grease gun.
 






Featured Content

Back
Top