Stump1883

I'm posting up for my boy ASURunner, he's in Charlotte for the holiday and on his way down there, he experianced what felt like a flat tire with lots of clunking and steering pull to the pass. side. He managed to get home safe and now upon checking, is able to turn, by hand, his pass side axel while the truck is in park with the engine off. The clucking/grinding noise is apparent when he turns the axel. He and I suspenct a blown axel obviously,he is on his way here to my house to get my spare axel swapped in so he cane get the rest of the way home. The question on the table is, can you guys think of any other possible reason's why the steering would pull and the axel would be so free spinning. Give any other suggestions on things to check while were under there later this evening.

Thanks in advance,
-Scott & Andy

garrett1478

i'm no help but heres a bump....good luck.

Stump1883

Thanks for the bump. I figured it would be a shot in the dark to get the usual quikc responses from YT on Turkey Day. Hopefully someone will check up on the board and give me their insight.

NathanBERG

My guess is the wheel bearing went BANG!

Stump1883

That's what I'm talking about, something obvious that I'm not seeing, for it to make the noise I heard over the phone before he left, it sounds nasty. Andy should be here any minute now, so we'll take a look into that. Thanks NathanBERG. Anyone else wanna play captin obvious and help my stumped brain out.

NathanBERG

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Wheel bearing? Not so sure, if that locked up, he wouldn't be able to drive. That's strange though. Every time I've had a wheel bearing go bad on several different vehicles it was gradual and you could hear it while turning the steering, not when rotating the axle. Sounds like something in the hub though.

Yota4runner

I would put my money on a blown axle or something of the like. I doubt its a wheel bearing as like dragr said thats usually a gradual thing. You may have grenaded the hub assembly.

Only way to really know for sure is to pop off the wheel and other bits and have a looksy.

Stump1883

Okay new problem, Andy definately blew his axel, the hub joint was a mess. Now we're stuck with the inner tripod not wanting to come out. We actually managed to pull hard enough that the joint itself seperated from the body/housing. Now the tripod housing is stuck in the diff.. What the heck are we doing wrong here, HELP, it's late and getting cold, we just wanna drink beer not mess around with this.

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

Prybar right at the base where the axle met the diff housing always worked for me. Should pop right out.

Adam F

Yup, thats how your supposed to get the axle out of the diff, not pull on the axle. Same deal goes for most other cars with CV axles.

ASU4runner

This didn't work.. bigger prybar perhaps?

EWAYota

damn, your still working on it???!


tow strap and a running start?

ASU4runner

That sounds like fun!! no, i actually drove it home from Scott's axle-free.. problem free. and it's off to the local 4x4 shop.

Adam F

Never had a problem with using a pry bar. I jsut did a Civic this morning and had no problems.


You know you can mess things up by driving without the axles? I hope you diddnt drive far. The axle holds the wheel bearings against the spindle, and without it you can gernade the wheel bearings.

dragr1

iTrader: (3)

You drove w/o the axle in? I'm surprised you made it very far w/o the wheel bearing falling out.

ASU4runner

Yeah.. lucky i suppose. But it's sittin in my parking lot right now. New axle will be picked up later this weekend. Until then, i'm catching rides from friends.

The most frustrating thing is that right now I have about 20 things wrong w/ my truck that I don't have the $$ to fix. It's one of those times when you just want to get rid of the damn thing. AND all of these things happened AFTER I de-modded and went back to stock.

ASU4runner

Oh and just a little heads up for anyone in the market for a front axle. They are only $89.88 + core at Advance Auto Parts.

ASU4runner

All it needed was a little tap and the inner portion of the axle shaft came right out. New one went in and everything re-assembled in less than 20 min. Whew what a relief.