Axle shafts

wolken · Post by **wolken** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:41 pm

I am replacing my lower ball joints on the rear of the car and noticed that there is some play in the inner cv joint. Should the joint be pretty solid or will there be a little play in it? I would rather replace them now while i have stuff apart rather than wait and find out I have to do it anyway. When driving if you let off the gass there is definitly some clunking that seems a little more severe than the ball joints could provide so i think they are probably shot. Any thoughts?

\/\/olken

MNFatz · Post by **MNFatz** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:01 pm

Some movement length-wise is completely normal. Even some rocking of the car front-to-back is normal because of the play in the gears inside the tranny.

Rock your car back and forth and see if the play is in the axles or if it's in the final drive of the tranny. Generally that's where you'll see the play.

I just replaced both axles on mine after about 140,000 miles and they looked fine. The only reason I got rid of them was some nasty corrosion that went beyond a little surface rust.

edit: To specifically answer your question, you should be able to slide the axle in and out of the inner joint about 3 inches or so. There's quite a bit of play there.

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:13 am

If you can rock the axles up and down in the transmission you have a Getrag and your diff carrier bearings are worn out.

wolken · Post by **wolken** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:57 am

alright well i may just leave them be for now and put it all back together and see how it acts. I still need to get my alignment done after i put the ball joints back in. I am off to get some grinder bits to remove those damned rivets. Who thought that was a good idea? Anyway thanks for the help

\/\/olken

MNFatz · Post by **MNFatz** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:15 am

You can drill down the center of the rivets all the way through and they'll pop right out.

wolken · Post by **wolken** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:58 pm

Well i just got back from driving the car all over St Louis it is working really well the clunking went away and I put some more gas in it. 22mpg not too bad considering that is has some issues. Going to take it in to finish the inspection on Monday and get it aligned. there is still some sort of crazy wiggle at the top end of 2nd gear maybe the alignment will fix that or they will find what is loost or wrong back there.

\/\/olken

Real Fiero Tech

Axle shafts

Axle shafts

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