Broken Axle or Diff???!?

[Ground Rat]

Well I'm angry. I was out driving around just now breaking in my new tires. I was doing some short burnouts to wear them down a little. Shortly after my last one I heard a knocking so I slowed down. How can I tell the difference between a broken axle and a broken diff (or could it be something else)? I was able to limp it home which was about 2 miles away.

I have a fresh rebuilt trans the van (like less than 500 miles on it). This is what's done to the diff: "Mod diff with traction aid & solid shaft & brackets & big neon bearing for strength, solid neon pinion, neon transfer nut tension keepers with neon transfer gear cover". Both wheels spin when I burnout with this setup.

What should I do to figure out what's broken?

[turbovanman²]

Broken axle shaft will stop you dead. Sounds like what happened to me, you probably welded the spider gears to the pin then they broke free and boom. I would take off the diff cover and have a look.

[cordes]

Yep, when you break an axle, you will not move at all. Hopefully you got really lucky.

[jckrieger]

Ok, with what the above guys said, don't lose hope. My 89 Turbo minivan was lowered with Daytona struts up front and it would clunk and make all kinds of noise from the driver's side front CV shaft. I'd be able to limp the van home for up to 100 miles sometimes, but other times the CV joint would come apart alltogether. I think my problem was due to bad axle geometry, bent suspension, or due to engine misalignment. So, take your CV shafts out and check them for destruction first, as they're a lot easier to mess with than pulling the diff cover.

[Shelby5150]

My buddy's minivan had a wasted engine mount, which let the drivers/tranny side drop about 2". It was destroying axles about once every 3 days. It even ate up some of my better big diameter axles i had saved up for racing.

[The S is Silent]

When my bobble strut came loose, the axle geometry would get thrown out of alignment when I started from a stop. It would come and go, until I accidentally let up off the clutch to hard, and pop...ripped the CV shaft in two.

[Ground Rat]

I called a shop and they said they thought it sounded like a wheel bearing. Does that makes sense?

I'm just going to replace the whole left axle assembly since it's only $54.99. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

I'm taking everything out right now and I noticed this part looked messed up. What is it called? Can I replace it with basic tools? I haven't even loosened it up yet, that's how it was sitting when I took my wheel off.

[The S is Silent]

Look at the other end of where the arrow is (under the car on the other side of the frame rail). There should be a large nut on the other side of it, and it should be held in there tight. You're right though...something does look wrong right there.

Changing that is easy...you just need to take the entire front suspension off. And when I say easy...it's a PITA getting the huge bolt out of the front of that. While you are at it, might as well put in new control arm bushings.

[GLHSKEN]

That's a stub strut bushing and YES it does look out of wack. It would "clunk" madly if it was loose. Looks to me like you sheared the bushing off.

[turbovanman²]

Agreed, looks out of whack, it also looks like you hit something, theres a big mark on the control arm!

[Ground Rat]

Awesome, maybe that is my problem (the stub strut bolt is loose in the crossmember). It does look like I hit something but all I did was a short burnout, then lots of clunking!

Both bushings on the control arm look bad and the lower ball joint boot is bad, so hopefully I can buy a whole new control arm assembly for not too much money. I'm also going to do the sturts and tie rod ends while I'm at it. How can I check my wheel bearings to see if they are fine? Can I replace those with basic tools?

I took out the driver's side axle assembly; How do I check the CV joints? I would take off the metal bands that hold the boots on but I don't have the special tool to put them back on.

[GLHSKEN]

Bearings are easy to check... With the wheel on and lugs tight, see if you can shake it. A bad bearing will rattle...

[Ground Rat]

OK, bearings are good then, lol. I want to buy new sway bar bushings but I don't know if they are 15/16", 7/8", 1", 1 1/16", 1 1/8", or 1 3/16". Does anyone know the correct size?

[The S is Silent]

The easiest way to tell what swaybar you have is to measure it.

Everything you have mentioned doing can be done with ordinary tools. I just got done rebuilding the suspension on my brother's horizon. The most difficult will probably be the control arm bushings. For those, we used a sawzall to cut them up so we could remove them easier. You'll also need a torch to get the old bushing out of the control arm. After that its just nuts and bolts. It'll take some time, and you'll swear a lot, but it isn't terrible.

[Ground Rat]

The easiest way to tell what swaybar you have is to measure it.

I would but my only measuring device is the side of my leatherman, hahaha. I think you would need a set of vernier calipers to measure it accurately.

[The S is Silent]

You need it to the nearest 1/16th of an inch. Wrap a piece of wire around it and mark the circumference on the wire. The diameter will be that divided by pi. That should get you close enough to buy bushings.

[Ground Rat]

Wow, so basically I fixed the problem for free by tightening up the stub strut. I don't know how it popped of its mount and I don't know why they are only supposed to be tightened to 70ft-lbs.

While I had everything apart I noticed there where a lot of worn parts. So I got some new struts, control arm bushings, tie-rod ends, and lower ball joints. I could not get the 18mm bolt out to take the control arm off for the life of me. I broke a craftsmen wrench trying to get it off (Sears is all out of the replacements too), and that is after I let it soak in PB Blaster overnight. I guess I will have to pay a shop to do it. That means they will have to intall the control arm bushings and lower ball joints for me. I hate having a shop touch my van, much less paying them.

No parts stores seem to carry new stub struts or even know what they are. Where can I buy new ones?

[turbovanman²]

No parts stores seem to carry new stub struts or even know what they are. Where can I buy new ones?

You can't, there part of the control arm.

Did you buy Energy Suspension bushings, I had them on my van, they tighten up the front end nicely.

[Ground Rat]

You can't, there part of the control arm.

Did you buy Energy Suspension bushings, I had them on my van, they tighten up the front end nicely.

That sucks then, at least they appear to be in good shape. I thought you might be able to unbolt them from the control arm but I guess not. I still can't figure out how the driver's side stub strut came loose though.

The bushings are some cheap $16 dollar Moog pieces I think. I also need new sway bar bushings but they have to be ordered.

Some girl in a volvo tried to race me tonight, I think she was pretty upset when she lost.

[turbovanman²]

You could have hit something, thats why there loose. I would seriously order the Energy Suspension bits, they the same price or a tad cheaper than Moog. I can get you the part numbers at work tomorrow. Sway is bar 1 1/8 if memory serves me correctly.

Hahaha, good kill on the Volvo,