I’ve been dealing with a front end rattle for the entirety of my possession of the 4Reak. Metallic sound, most noticeable on washboard type roads, especially with a wall or cement guardrail next to me with the windows down to amplify the sound. Early on in ownership I replaced upper ball joints, lower ball joints, wheel bearings, inner tie rods, outer tie rods, steering idler arm, steering stabilizer, sway bar bushings, sway bar links, even CV axles and control arm bushings upper and lower to polyurethane. None of that made a single decibel of difference in the noise.
Some research in the last couple years lead me to the spindle bushings upon which the CV axle shafts ride. There is a special tool to pump grease into those cavities, a maintenance item I knew nothing about and have never performed. I’ve heard horror stories of replacing those bushings and since I’ve switched to AISIN manual hubs I saw even less reason to replace the bushings and instead fabricated my own special tool to just grease the piss out of them.
I procured a couple bearing nuts from a junkyard, the 54 or 55mm huge ass thin nuts that thread onto the spindle. I then welded one onto about a 4” long piece of 2” square tubing, capped the square and tapped a zurk fitting into the end. I packed my special tool full of grease and then finally undertook the task. Not too bad really.
I’ve heard this job can be done without removing the tires but with my hub covers it was too much of a pain. I opted to pull tires.
Here’s the special tool. You can find companies that make and sell them for like $80-100. Mine cost $2 for entry fee to the junkyard.
You remove the wheel, the hub assembly and the secondary bearing nut (the outer nut only) and install this tool in place of it. When pumping, it forces grease into the spindle bushings since it’s mostly sealed. The CV starts to move inboard once the packing process begins. Took 25-30 pumps of grease. So that cavity in question was BONE dry from 26 years of never being maintained.
Driver side went easy. Took about an hour all included from jacking up to torquing lug nuts. Passenger side went faster but with one hiccup: the locking ring that is single-splined onto the spindle was damaged. The ear that splines onto the spindle was no longer adequate and wouldn’t provide much locking. Luckily, when I had acquired the bearing nuts I referenced earlier, I also apparently took home a slightly used locking ring.
My motto is “it’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” So I must have brought that ring home subconsciously because I had no other reason to have the spare in one of my parts bins. Very stoked to have had it.
Anyway, I won’t be driving it again til later this week but I’m VERY confident that 17 year noise I’ve been chasing will be gone. CV axle play is night and day different. Prior it would wiggle in all 3 dimensions and it felt very metallic and similar to the noise. Now it’s TIGHT. Zero play in any direction.
If anyone in the area ever wants to borrow my special spindle bushings grease tool you’re welcome to it. Save some money and have a beer with me and get rid of an annoying ass noise.
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Voltan73
I’m looking at you....