Steering wheel jerking left and right on smooth pavement

[volny]

Hi !

I just took my car to the store and my steering wheel starting to wanna turn right and/or left by itself, pretty freaky hopefully speed limit is 25mph in town. Also I hear some sort of clunky noise coming from underneath the car maybe.

Any idea? rack and pinion? I know I need to replace my cv boots/axles badly and was planning on doing so in two weeks.

[rallyak]

My wife's car is like that and I've replaced most everything and two alinements and still fighting the problem.

[volny]

I'm gonna jack it up and check the tie rods tomorrow too...

[volny]

wow that's not romising, the mecanic actually checked my suspension just last week and ssaid everything was tight...

My wife's car is like that and I've replaced most everything and two alinements and still fighting the problem.

[killajamal]

Lower control arm? Maybe a REALLY bad ball joint?

[volny]

Could be! Hopefully only that. Kinda of a duh observation but it only acted up going straight forward, not making u-turn

[killajamal]

A u turn shouldn't have the velocity to create wobbles like you're describing. I'd definitely check your lower suspension components for wear. Try forcing both front wheels side to side while jacked up maybe?

[volny]

Mechanic said it sounds like worn cv joints, not bearing and suspension is tight (thats what he says, but they are pretty old too)...

Just ordered new drive axle I will put them in sat and we'll go from there!

[volny]

He said it wasn't a wheel bearing either because the wheel was on tight...

[volny]

As I was re-parking the car today, crunch crunch and this fell down on the ground lol:

[rallyak]

I think the axle is bad.

[volny]

hehe hell yea I think so too

[Mister Anderson]

I have never seen an broken outer DOJ race before lol. That could have been bad if it had broke at high speed.

[volny]

I broke the alternator bolt on my favorite corner a few months ago too...

Yes it would have definitely been bad news! I have to consider myself lucky!

I had just started hearing the tic-tac from the cv joints two days ago and started taking it easy with the driving, the car was parked for two days when it broke it happened as I was reparking with my wheel turned all the ways out to show the clunking sound to a friend.

[volny]

Argh repairs not going well so far...

I made a punch out of a drill bit but it ended up being too small, so now it's stuck inside the pin on passenger side and I cant get it out.

On driver side the shaft is stuck in the wheel hub, I tried banging but ended up damaging the wheel lug studs...

Seems like I can replace the wheel lug studs alone without having to buy an whole wheel hub.

I'll try to get a big gear puller to get the assembly out next week.

[volny]

One quick question:

In case I cant get the axle out of the wheel hub can I just buy a new wheel hub and take the whole thing out ? Or would I have to buy the whole assembly with rotors etc...?

[Legacy777]

Use a propane torch to try and heat up the axle/hub assembly. Also, spray the splines with PB blaster and leave it set overnight. I usually leave the nut on the end of the axle just a little bit to provide a better face for the hammer. Use a sledge hammer to try beating on the axle to get it out.

You can replace just the hub if you need to.

Regarding the roll pin; if you look carefully on the axles where the roll pin goes in, one side is chamfered (small indent) and the other side is not. The side that is chamfered is the side the roll pin should be inserted and come out of. I'm sure it's possible to push the pin out the other side, but it will be much more difficult.

For your situation I would get a decent set of punches. I tried using some cheap punches for a while and once I picked up a good set from Sears it made life MUCH easer when changing axles. Use a smaller punch to get the drill bit unstuck and then use a proper sized punch from the side of the axle that is not chamfered to drive the roll pin out.

[volny]

Thanks Josh!

I'm also gonna try the gear puller attached to lug nuts...

I got one pin out, but the other one has my first home made much stuck inside the pin itself (coz it was too small in diameter) and I cant get it out. I'm just gona try to saw it off (if I can) and use a real punch that got provided to me after the damage was done

All right back to it today!

[volny]

Pin is stuck on the passenger side, I'm giving up on taking it out, just gonna put it back in and try to replace the outer joint only by taking the good CV joint out of the new half shaft.



On driver side , pin on the inner joint is out so the half shaft is out of the transmission, but still stuck inside the wheel hub on the outer joint side.

There too can I just leave the socket and spindle in, and put the new CV joint bearing and cage inside the socket with the rest of the new half shaft?


Either I need to figure out:

- How the get the shaft out of the joint? I've seen guys just hammering it out on youtube but different cars

- And how to put the shaft back into the joint.

[volny]

To be clearer I can't figure out how to take the cv joint off the axle shaft and put back in?

The Legacy 92 seems to be made differently than the later ones

[mike-tracy]

For the driver side, try soaking the hub to axle area overnight, then hit it inwards using a 5+ lbs sledge and a appropriate size piece of metal rod (such as a 1/2" extension you don't mind ruining, or similar). I've struggled for ages on those damn things. Bigger hammer is what made it pop right out

For the passenger side, the axle hole in the cup has two different sizes, are you sure you're placing your punch on the axle pin through the larger hole? It's incredibly hard to hit it out the "wrong" way, but it can be done, trust me lol.

[Legacy777]

I agree with Mike....get a bigger hammer. I would not recommend trying to piece together the new axle with the one in the car.

Where are you located? Maybe someone on the board near by may be able to help.

[volny]

Ah that's nice of you Josh!

I got them out!!!!!!

My buddy brought me a bigger gear puller which did the trick on the stuck axle.

As for the stuck pin with the broken drill bit inside, I took a small hand wheel grinder and popped the pin and grinded, popped and grinded etc... till there's was almost no pin left

Got both axles out feeling 200% relieved, ah well first time is always a pain, next time I have to do this job it will take about an hour having the right tools!

[volny]

Now check this out:



This fell off the inner CV joint I believe it is the cap the goes inside the joint where it connects with the transmission, it must have been dislocated after the outer joint broke and got grinded by the gears !

[volny]

OK received the parts put back together the axles.

I have one last question:

How important is that pin that goes in the inner CV joint? The same side is being a b@##ch to get back in, could I put it jalf way down and grind the rest of it? I mean most cars don't even use a pin to secure the inner CV .