Bean Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 For the last year or so my car has had a clunk that I had thought was the Torsen diff, but it was pretty random and not always repeatable so I always had some doubts. I figured before I tear into a parts car to replace the diff I should really do everything I could to isolate the sound. Tonight I went over to a buddies garage and we got the car up nice and high on some 6 ton stands, and then I went under the car when it was running while my friend pulled the parking brake hard and then did repeated 1st and reverse starts... The result - the driver side inner CV is the culprit! I also thought I had better top up my diff and it hardly took any gear oil at all. Previously it would consistently leak out .5L fairly quickly and then stabilize, but it only took maybe 50ml or so. Now to find a spare ABS axle... (or two) Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JunktionFET Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 It's been a long time, but I believe you can use any late 505 half shaft. The ABS reluctor ring just pops on and off of a lip on the inner joint housing. My memory could be completely failing me, but I think this is the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 No such luck - the older style half shaft has no place for the sensor ring to go on, so it has to be the newer style shaft. I had one spare shaft but that's on the car already - it was off a GLX that didn't have the ABS tone ring - but it was easily removed and re-installed. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 I've got an e-mail into Raxles - they seem to be one of the best axle rebuilder / re-manufacturers of drive axles around. If they can - I'll likely see if I can have two axles rebuilt and ideally upgraded a little if possible. Also sent off an e-mail with dimensions to rcvperformance to see if they have any boots that might fit as the one spare axle might be ok with a new boot after cleaning and regreasing the outer CV. The one in the car will need the inner CV replaced / rebiuilt however. Oh yeah - need to call these guys Monday as well to see if they have any boots that would work as well: http://www.rockfordcv.com/rcvboot.htm Western Hemispheres has the smaller CV boot (78mm outer vs 86.2mm V6 axles) - but my spares were V6 ones and should be the larger CVs. (Likely better anyway with the power and traction upgrades the car is getting) Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JunktionFET Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 +1 for Raxles. We have first hand experience with them and they are indeed no joke... excellent craftsmanship and they will last forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 No luck - Raxles replied that they wouldn't have the parts needed to rebuild them. I'm guessing that since they make many parts new, that understandably they won't have the parts for these. I asked for any other rebuilders they could recommend, as well as a couple e-mails out to other rebuilders... At the very least I need to find some good quality boots and I can hopefully make one good axle out of two with new boots. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Took a closer look at one of my spare half shafts and I've no idea how to disassemble the inner tripod CV joint... I thought the outer sleeve could be driven back like the old ones, but I don't thin that will work. There's a washer that provents seeing anything in the joint that would allow me to disassemble it, and the housing necks down quite a bit so not sure how it would come apart. I *think* I need to figure out how that washer comes out in order to disassemble the joint, and then hopefully I can use some of my good older 505 axles to make the newer style ones better. I may even see about just using the inner CV housing with the older style shaft and outer CV - but we'll see how that plays out. Either way - Looks like boots are avilable as they are the smaller 78mm version, so if I can get it apart and ensure the tripod bearings are all in good shape, and I can get away with cleaning and repacking the CV joint. If WH is just the boot itself then do some digging to see if I can find a good replacement boot for cheaper. (~$72 per boot is pretty steep - but if they are joint kits then it's a great deal.) Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Douvrin504 Posted October 1, 2012 Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Okay, so it was not wrong of the Torsen differential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2012 Correct! Torsen seems nice and tight, and was even losing less oil than it had previously. Hoping I can rebuild the axles the reseal the diff at the same time so the the whole rear drive assembly is completely refreshed. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Inspected the spare and took some pictures for some potential rebuilders. Raxles guy took pity on me a little and agreed to look at pictures of the axle before passing final judgement on passing on them. From what I can tell so far - there's no way to disassemble these suckers without wrecking the sleeve over the tripod. The old ones you were able to pry open the edge and they slid off exposing the joint. These use a much heavier gauge metal and it looks crimped onto the ends. I attempted a few strikes with a hammer and drift - but it was futile. If anyone has a instructions on how they disassemble I'd be VERY happy if you shared them with me! Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Update: Brian Holm contacted me and advised he had some used ABS shafts - so I bought two of them off him and they're enroute, so now I'm not worried about having good spares in case my axle breaks. Prior to finding out Brian had anything available, I had undertaken researching a solution to repack and "reboot" my spare halfshafts. I had pretty good succes and I think I found a suitable EMPI boot that looks the same (86-1107) with very close dimensions, and I have an idea for cutting and reusing the steel sleeves over the joints. I'll need to verify it works, as well as confirming how the halfshafts themselves come apart. So plan will be to see if I can fix mine and keep them for re-install later. Another thing I found was that the inner tripod style CV joints need a special grease. From checking out what is supposed to be the best for Tripod CV's - GKN Tripod grease ($37/tube) is supposed to be the stuff to use. Hope to get a couple tubes for repacking the half shafts as well as long as the tripods are in nice shape. Definitely tempted to unband the boots on the new shafts and get some fresh grease in them, but we'll see what I find disassemblying the one shaft I have to see if that will work. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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