Front End Grinding Options

[airforceb2cc]

So I was driving down the wonderful Missouri roads last night and hit a massive puddle. After I got back on asphalt, I noticed that the steering wheel had a BAD shimmy at all speeds. It was very difficult to keep the car straight. I made it home and took a gander at the drivetrain and suspension. I noticed that both my CV boots at the hub are torn and need to get them replaced. I checked the tie rod ends, ball joints and sway bar brackets and all is secure. I put everything back together and took a test drive. I noticed a grinding sound whenever I turn while accelerating or decelerating and the wheel shimmy is intermittent. I think replacing the half shafts (the boots look like they have been torn for a while now) would fix my problem. Any other ideas?

This post has been edited by airforceb2cc: Feb 21, 2010 - 4:14 PM

[blu94gt]

For both you'll remove the axle nut, probably undo the ball joints from the knuckles so you can swing them out of the way. Then drain the transmission.

For the driver's side you'll just pull or pry it out. I've had one just pull out by hand, and others that needed some big-time prying out. Hard to mess up prying it out, just get a decent pry-bar in there (not just a screwdriver).

For the passenger's side, if I remember correctly, there's a carrier on the back of the engine block that holds the axle. There are 2 bolts holding that to the block, remove those and the whole unit should come out freely.

Oh and yes, it sounds like this should take care of all of the problems you listed. My guess is they were torn, and after running thru the puddle it washed away a lot of the exposed grease and got water in to places it shouldn't get.