Ok I'm new at this cv joint thing, I think one of my cv joints are going bad, possibly one of the driver's side. I can here a faint clinking noise that appears to be coming from the front end and only hear it from about 55 mph and up. when i slow down It doesn't make any sound which makes hard to identify. any ideas?

P.S. it's a '02 1500 quad cab slt 4x4

 

check your cv boots, if they are torn open all the grease will come out. Usually they don't last to long after that. Slow turns in a parking lot may help you pin point better.

 

ok thanks for the suggestion, last night i got underneath and checked for play on both shafts. The passenger side is rock solid 1/16 to 1/8 inch movement if that. The drivers side is the total opposite It has all sorts of play in it mainly on the side closest to the front diff. So am I correct in thinking the the driver side needs replaced? and it's something that I could do in my garage without much trouble?

 

you might have busted a wheel bearing that is allowing that play too, so check that before you pull it all apart....

If the wheel bearing is okay then you might have just busted the little C-Clip that holds the axle in there.

 

okay , what if the snap ring or c-clip is busted? I still need to replace the shaft right?

 

All depends on how damaged the splines and/or CV joint itself is... Wont know till you get it out.

If it ate up the spline on the axle you might be looking at a new gear in the differential too... but you wont know till it comes out.

 

OK i was under my truck this weekend and tryin to remove the old halfshaft , What is the trick to to getting off of the Diff, i seem to get it within a quarter inch of coming off, but that's it. any tips or tricks? I do have a leveling kit on it should I relieve some of the spring tension?

 

The service manual (search on here for it) has a step-by-step guide to remove and reinstall them.

They can be very tricky to get out though.

I'm glad they aren't like the old solid axles, those SOB's were a pain... had to take the wheel, rotor, and hub off, or if there was a drum brake... forget about it, took two days, one for removal and one for installation... lol

 

when I did mine, the shaft was seized into the cv axle. When I ended up getting the cv joint to pop out, the shaft came with it, right out of the front diff. I had to use a punch and drive it through the cv joint to get the shaft out. My truck is an 07' and had about 135000 km on it when I did this, so this could be your problem as well.

On a side note, I used a new snap ring when I was putting it all back together and the snap ring was too thick. It wouldn't let the CV joint all the way onto the splines, it would get hung up on the snap ring. I ended up using my dremel to grind it thinner, but it took me a while to clue into the reason I couldn't get the shaft onto the splines. something to look out for if you have the same thing happen.

 

Go to Weedahoe's Sig and find it there----its free for download