1997 Cavalier CV Joint need help

[r1bourg]

I changed my front wheel outside bearings. This stopped the squeel. Now I have a grind and it seem to be the cv joint. To change this do I need both the tie rod and lower ball joint off? What about the control arm...do I need to lower it down? Any good instuctions would be helpful to me. Thanks

[J-Ri]

How many ft lbs did you torque the CV shaft nut to? Too tight or too loose can cause the new bearing to go bad.

If you decide that it is in the CV shaft, just remove the outter tie rod end and ball joint nuts and the CV shaft nut. Pull out on the steering knuckle and push in and back on the CV shaft.

[r1bourg]

Thanks for the reply Cuba.Hope it's warmer than minus 25 below zero. I torqued the bolt to 170 ft lbs....I have a terrible noise now when I am on a corner at highway speed. Sounds like a shaft rubbing somewhere and sometimes bearings grinding. Not sure what to do?

[r1bourg]

Correction ...I've got it torqued to 185 lbs. I'm going to take my snow tires off and put the all season tires back on. Maybe I have a bad tire or rim. I put the snows on when I completed the bearing work. Any other ideas people?? Thanks

[txpelon]

Originally Posted by r1bourg

I changed my front wheel outside bearings. This stopped the squeel. Now I have a grind and it seem to be the cv joint. To change this do I need both the tie rod and lower ball joint off? What about the control arm...do I need to lower it down? Any good instuctions would be helpful to me. Thanks

you changed a front wheel outside bearing? this is a hub assembly with one bearing as far as i know. it is also recomended to change the whole assembly and not just a bearing

1. there are reasons for a hub bearing to go bad
2, did you check, ball joints, tie rods, cv shafts being #1 cause a failing bearing.


if you had all those parts off why didnt you check the rest? the boots on the shafts if broken, its better to replace the whole shaft.


1. if shafts never been replaced and boots are or where broken/cracked, replace the shafts, worn shafts will quickly kill a bearing

2. make sure your ball joints, tie rod ends are good and take it to have alignment done.

3. did you or have you ever heard clicking noise turning left or right? <--- indicates a worn shaft

4. did you greases the new bearing? (stupid question, but you would be surprised)

[r1bourg]

Thanks for the information. Finally got this noise stopped. I changed the cv joint assembly on both sides as well as the outer bearing assembly. The only place I packed greese was between the seal and the outter bearing. This bearing unit came sealed? Is this another mistake??
Both wheels were very tight (ball jnts and tie rods).Did not seem to need change out?? I switched off the wheels in case it was a balance or bent rim problem. The noise was not the tires.Turned out to be a broken sway bar link pin rubbing on the new cv shaft. The pin had rusted right down and broke off. I could not see nor did I look close enough at the pins until I switched the tires.
One sight I read showed using a ball joint fork(spreader) to press down on the control arm. This saved taking the sway bar to control arm link pin out. You step down on the fork which lowered the contrl arm enough to slide the cv shaft into position.Thought this was a good idea at the time. Everything seems fine now. Maybe I'll re-check the ball jnts and tie rod ends.