84 T4WD project (front axles)

[Phatcat]

Hello again averyone,

Well we got the rear axle bearings and seals done with success, thanks again. Huge difference on road noise after that. Now we are diagnosing a slight grumble in the front on cornering at speed/accelerating. Usually when Turing right. My first guess was that the front wheel bearings need to be replaced too, but my wife actually has more experience than myself with cars and believes the noise we get up front on corners is the front cv/axles. Not having a shop press on hand is about the only reason I’m hesitant to do the front wheel bearings, and I’d just assume do both the axles and bearings while at it again. I’m guessing this car could use new parts on both accounts. So the question here is what axles you like for the 84 4WD’s? I see them available on Rock Auto et al, but when looking I don’t see the drivers left side axle specifically listed with that odd balancer thingy or whatever. and what is that odd thing on the drivers side axle anyway? What brand has the best fitment, if it matters. I saw in Robert’s awesome axle video that he had to modify the passenger axle he put in to get it to fit into the front differential. Tell me what you’ve learned and know, please. I’m guessing I’ll do the axles first to see if that remedies the issue.

[dlb]

Hi Phatcat. Those symptoms are odd, because if the right axle is bad, it will click or clunk when you turn left while driving. But the fact that it's growling makes it sound like a bearing. But bad bearings usually don't make much noise at low speeds, then make more the faster you go, and if it's a front right wheel bearing it will be quieter when you turn left (I think, it's been a while since I had to diagnose one so I'm not 100% sure on the turning part). I guess I will also lean toward this being an axle issue, because of two things: 1, I've had bad CV axles present themselves in weird ways before so I know they don't always just clunk, and 2, I find axles tend to wear out a lot more frequently than bearings, so just based on #s I think the CV axle is the safer bet.

Most important piece of advice for buying CV axles is NEVER BUY REMANUFACTURED. They are usually junk out of the box, I have had some that clunk worse than the bad axles I was replacing. Only buy new. Rock Auto has several new brands, I have tried all of them and they are all ok -- none of them are perfect, they all have a very small amount of slop (if you grip the joint housings in your hands and twist in opposite directions there should be zero slop ideally) but it's minimal and this is the best option available so I live with it.

Another important piece of advice is to replace the CV axle seals when you do the axles. Make sure to install the seals to the correct depth (check the FSM), and grease the seal's lip and the mating surface of the axle.

Good luck!

[Phatcat]

Hey dlb,

I said groan/growl just as a word, I suppose it could be called a click or thumping when turning. I’m sure it’s the cv’s. I’ll get some ordered here shortly. The depth thing on the seals doesn’t worry me much, as usually it’s fairly self explanatory when looking at the shaft or acme they seal on. Lube makes the world go around. So yeah, I always put a good amount of grease in with something like this, all over everything that makes sense. The springs popping out is the main concern. But lube is cheap insurance to keep things good. Off topic, but I saw a video awhile back where a guy was injecting his ball joints, tie rods, cv’s etc with a smidge of good liquid lube to keep than fresh. Poke through the rubber and inject a little lube in there and then seal with some rtv. It actually seemed like a good idea. Interesting though.

[Esaus]

Replace the bearings while you are at it? Get 2 birds with one stone.