Update on the "shaking" Grand Prix. Replaced the driver's side CV joint on Saturday. It WAS the problem, one of the 3 bearings on the inner spider was gone. Figured the job would be a piece of cake as I've done the wheel bearings and Rack & Pinion previously. Instructions are pretty straight forward. How hard could it be?
The ball joint didn't want to come out of the knuckle due to the severe angle it was at in it's lowermost position, so I raised the knuckle by jacking under the rotor but the outward pressure kept the ball joint stud in place. This is one of those jobs where an extra pair of hands would help. Finally pried between the two and the tower sprang outboard pretty quickly
. Glad I wasn't right up against the rotor or I'd have an imprint of the wheel studs on my chest. I considered removing the wheel bearing as I recall there was plenty of slop in the CV joint movement without the bearing in place and it appeared it would come out if you turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction.
But with tower out of the ball joint, a little wrestling with the CV joint and it popped out. Oops, Inner housing was still in the trans. The inner boot clamp was missing (probably causing failure of the joint by letting grease out, water/dirt in). Prying out the housing took a little bit of time as there was no room to get a pry bar and a small screwdriver wouldn't do it. Doesn't help that the back of the spider housing is not flat. Ended up sliding a piece of 1/2" steel about 4" long behind the housing and tapping the end of it with a small hammer. to put leverage on the housing and it popped right out (after 20 minutes of scratching head, cussing/swearing, looking for slide hammer, other tools, etc).
Installed the CV joint into the trans and into the wheel bearing and then started to wrestle with the shock tower again. The "push-back" from the bellows of the now-installed CV joint kept forcing the tower outboard while I tried to line up the ball joint stud. Another case of needing 2 pairs of hands. Then I saw a big 10" C clamp on my bench. I stuck one end on the inner lip of the fender wheel-well and the other end on the strut body and it pulled right in, in a very controlled manner. (The gap in the strut mounting bolt flange is perfect for the C clamp to fit securely.) As I pulled the knuckle inboard with the clamp, I could jack it up under the rotor (re-installed temporarily for a jacking point) to clear the ball joint stud and when it was high enough, the stud slipped right into the knuckle.
I also replaced a broken stabilizer link on the driver's side while everything was apart. Put the tie-rod back on, torqued everything up.
One concern I had was that there was fluid leakage when the CV joint came out. I had feared that the shaking/vibration had damaged the seal. After looking at a parts drawing of the trans, I realized the lip seal in the trans is around the CV female spline shaft on the inner joint, not the trans output shaft. So it would make sense to lose a little fluid when the CV joint comes out. Topped off the trans fluid and there doesn't appear to be any leakage, but I'll still monitor it.
Hate to have to pull the CV joint AGAIN to replace a seal. Anybody done one of those? It appears that you could pull it out with slide hammer and small L-shaped tip, but I don't know how easy it would be to install a new one.
Anyway, don't know if there was an easier way to replace a CV than above but I'd like to hear if there is. All total, I think it took about 3-4 hrs, but I don't work super fast and I do a lot of looking and planning before I put a wrench to something I've never done before. If I did one again, I'd think I could do it in an hour or so.