YotaTech Forums - Worn CV or Diff?

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Worn CV or Diff?

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So in my latest one thing after another ventures I was driving the 4Runner on a trip east about 400 miles and noticed a crunching noise or clunking noise from the front end, noticed it before at low speeds but never on the highway. Anyways I pulled over removed the driverside hub (just the cap portion that engages with the splines from the CV and drove a block or two and the noise went away. Put it back on and it came back, if I drove in 4WD the noise would also go away. Then i descided to head back for home when the noise got so bad I thought I was going to loose the wheel. It was not a constat noise it was a crunching noise for a while then turned into a high pitch whining noise then back again it at one point sounded like gear on gear when neither gear has any teeth. Because of this I thought front diff but it shouldnt even be engaged in 2WD! So i parked it for the night and looked in the morning to see this.
So my question is whould this CV failure cause that much noise? The 4WD seems to still engage just fine and the noise is now totally gone! The CV boot has no tear just looks like it was twisted around.

The other question I have is since then and actually even before i’ve had a terrible vibration from 45-60mph. My thought is Ujoints? The tires are new and balanced, I can’t think of any other sorce but the Ujoints dont seem to have any play but then again I do get a noticable clunk shifting from Reverse to Drive.

Sorry for such a long write up! Hope someone has some input

Well, the CV boot is toast, for sure. You can see grease slung onto the brake line and steering knuckle..

With ADD and solid drive flanges, the half shafts turn all the time so they may well be worn.

Change out that bad half-shaft and see if your issue goes away. I'm thinkin that it will.

My thought as well, in fact the boot isnt even torn it looks like it was twisted around and came off the half shaft.

That looks more like the half-shaft is broken at the wheel end. It wouldn't surprise me if you can get your hand on it and wiggle it around (shouldn't be able to do that).

As millball points out, a replacement of that half-shaft is in your future, even if that is NOT the cause of your noise.

So I'll take the time to give you MY advice. Don't bother replacing the boots; get a reman half-shaft. The price is almost the same, and replacing the boots is a messy, thankless job.

To remove the half-shafts, the front suspension must be compressed as though the truck were sitting on the tires. (I put a trolley jack under the rotor with the truck on jack stands, and lift until the weight just comes off the nearest jack stand. BE CAREFUL.) If you just have the wheels dangling, the angle is wrong and you'll never get the half-shaft out. You DO NOT need to remove the splindle, the ball joints, the shock absorbers, the tulip studs ..... as you might be advised by some (who apparently don't know to compress the suspension).

Ok! I’ll have to try that this week. I’ve done half shafts in the past on this truck but it was when I was doing wheel bearing and ball joints as well.

4WD still seems to engage just fine so here’s hoping itms just the half shaft.