Knock
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Is it not suppose to be tight and will bed in?
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I dunno, all I know is the wheel wont turn if I try to drive it, I can hear something spinning though, I assume the drive shaft….??
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ok dudes, I have an update on this.
so last night I decided to yank the driveshaft out to inspect. TBH, everything looks ok, but I figured I need to be sure its seated in the gearbox correctly. I made a slight error and remove the inner cv boot, spilling the contents everywhere, so I need to remove the cup from the gearbox tonight to inspect.
I am not sure what I have done wrong originally. Now its all apart, the hub turns easily (a little bit stiff but turns easily), the new cv seems good, and even the inner cv looks fine. I bought some new CV Moly grease and a utility bar to prise out the remaining part so I can put it all back together again.
I managed to remove the tie rod end this time, which I didnt do before and this made life a lot easier. What I can understand is, why was the hub so tight the first time I put everything back together? The driveshaft didnt move at all, even though when the cv is remove from the hub, theres loads of give where the shaft enters the cup.
I cant see what was spinning freely on the shaft when i first tried to drive it, so I am hoping to find out tonight when I remove the driveshaft cup, I kinda hope its missing a circlip, so thta I have an explaination.
Is there a routine for putting everything back together??
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If you remove the CV cup, which is part of the axle stub, most of the gearbox oil will come out. There's not a lot to go wrong with that part either, so unless it looks destroyed it's not really worth taking out. Unless you want to change gearbox oil. There are two clips I can think of, one is the one that prevents the inner CV from popping out of the cup, which you should have already encountered. The other is a circlip on the end of the axle (the inner CV), which holds on the tripod looking CV.
You have an open differential, if one wheel is somehow locked up the other will spin, like a one wheel burnout.
For routine, check out the online manual http://mx-3.com/manuals/index.php
So what you're saying is:
-when the axle is removed from the hub it spins freely
-when the axle is in the hub it is seized up?Is the axle rubbing the collar of the spindle/steering knuckle?
Are there any problems around the brakes that would prevent rotation?You need to work out what's causing that side to lock up. Or spin without driving the wheel. Wish I could just see it first hand!
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It could be that when you tried to knock the drive shaft back in and you didnt watch the circlip go in, it could have slid up the shaft into the grease and the rollers :wink:
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thanks for the replies chaps, im really struggling here.
ok, so, tonight I couldnt remove the CV cup that goes into the gearbox, but as you suggest Marco, it looks fine anyway. so, what I did was, filled the cv boot with some new moly CV grease, and shoved it back onto the CV cup, and tightened the jubilee clip. I didnt encounter any clip….where should this clip go to hold the tripod into the cup?? I dont think it had one to begin with....seems to have been held in by the orignal jubilee over the rubber boot, i was able to pull it right out easily....im talking about the inner cv here...
I then attempted to peice everything back together. Now, the hub doesnt spin easy, but I am not sure how easy it should spin. I'd say it turns slowly with pressure. When I put the CV into the hub, again, it turns and the shaft turns, but slow. When I put the hub back onto the suspension mount, and insert the ball joint, it seizes up so that I need two hands to turn the hub and it sort of spins as if its mis shapen...
I really dont know whats wrong here, but i think i have uncovered an issue. The ball joint originally looked to be missing the bolt that goes nearest the hub, I fitted a new bolt but made no difference. Also, when I refit the ball joint to the hub, I cant easily get the bolt through the knuckle...
helps!!!! :(
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spoke to a chap at work today, he thinks its the ball joint pulling everything out of square. I showed him a video i took of the noise i was getting before all this problem started, and he said yep, ball joint. Could this be true? could the ball joint affect the hub so much, that it would struggle to turn freely?
I did note last night, that when i put the hub back onto the ball joint, the rubber was flat, and I couldnt get the bolt through the knuckle….
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Well the BJ determines how far out the spindle/knuckle sits out. So too short and it may bind, too long and it'd over extend the axle. It sounds like you're missing the clip which prevents the tripod slipping out of the cup. This generally doesn't matter as there is no angle in which this should happen, unless the geometry is changed.
Is your BJ the right length? IIRC RX7 and 323 are somewhat compatible. I think rx7s are longer, guys on club protege use them. That would be a very unusual problem though!
On a similar note the passenger side axle shaft is supposed to be shorter than driver side. Again this would be very unusual, unless a previous owner was careless and used the wrong axle on the wrong side.
The BJ boot always gets compressed a bit so the slotted section is at the right height to accept the bolt that holds it in place. Sometimes the bolt is hard to get in if you haven't lined up the hole and the slot in the BJ.
Hubs generally don't spin that easily, the brake pads tend to rub a bit. As long as you can spin it. Does it just look misshapen because the disc isn't tight against the hub with no wheel bolts?
I've had some seriously knackered BJs (lol) and that's never happened, but never say never. BJs are cheap enough though if you're unsure about the condition of yours.
These all feel like longshots, I can't help thinking there's something obvious we're missing! Is the axle definitely properly seated into the cv? There should be no amount of splines visible on the shaft that goes into the outer CV.
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cheers Marco, to answer some of your questions:
Is your BJ the right length? - I believe so. Looking on Probe store, there are two choices, and mine is definately the one listed for "later" cars, mines a 97. bear in mind, that this one was missing a bolt….
length of shaft - yes, im pretty sure its the correct length/side...
Ball joint rubber compression -well, it got compressed a lot, liek almost flat..!! and I couldnt get the bolt through the knuckly, AND the BJ stuck onto the abs ring when lowered...!!
hub mishapen? - no, looks fine to be honest, just gets almost impossible to turn with the ball joint attached. incidentally, zero move ment to and for from the drive shaft, and harder to turn the hub left/right.
fairly sure the Cv is fitted into the hub correctly, if thats what you mean? slots in nicely and no teeth showing behind the hub, only at the front where the hub nut goes....
:(
could it be as simple as a dodgy BJ giving me all this headache?
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in fact, just to add to this, looking on ebay, the ball joints for my year are different to what I have on:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=ball+joint+mx3
where as mine is
http://www.fordprobestore.co.uk/store/product_info.php?cPath=51_76&products_id=1654
have i got the wrong one fitted, and this is the issue??
I called Andrew pages earlier, and they have them in stock, so im picking one up tomorrow…..suppose I will find out for sure then.
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@9db8963212=clivvy:
AND the BJ stuck onto the abs ring when lowered…!!
woh woh woh… wait... what? Ok that's a definite no no :lol: Somethings not right with that. So the ball joint pin interferes with the ABS ring? That's not right at all. It shouldn't be in that deep. The slot in the BJ pin should mean there's very little protruding from the knuckle towards the CV.
(hotlinked for temp example) It should look like this:
The difference is the really early mx3s had 16mm pin, most have the 18mm pin. If you had 18mm spindle and 16mm BJ it would be very sloppy and shoot past the spindle bolt and towards the CV. If you had 16mm spindle and 18mm BJ it wouldn't go in, unless someone had butchered it previously.
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cheers Marco, the plot thickens.
so, I bought the correct ball joint form Andrew Pages a few hours ago, and yes, its very different to the one i have fitted. The joint that slots into the knuckle is not as long.
so, either the ball joint has caused the issue, or the hub carrier is wrong!!
going to fit it tonight in the dark and rain, to find out, I shall report back!
oh, I also bought a new tie rod end because I figured I might as well, just in case thats buggered as well…i will do the other side once i am happy I have fixed this side....
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well…i fitted the new ball joint. now, the pin seems to sit correctly now. the bolt that came with the ball joint seems a tad short though, as in I can screw on the nut, but only about halfway through the nut....?
anyhoo, the hub still feels tight to spin, but i think i will peice it all back together Sunday and see if it actually drives, because the main issue last time I tried...was no drive!
:(
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also, just to check, am I putting everything back correctly?
this is my process:
remove two 17mm bolts from strut
remove tie rod end
drop hub forward and remove CV
remove spline nut and pull hub out of BJ. Reverse to put back together.
I have to raise the hub to get it lined up with the strut correctly (the top bolt) is that right, or am I breaking things?
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a@79586638d0:
ve to raise the hub to get it lined up with the strut correctly (the top bolt) is that right, or am I breaking things?
no thats right mate, easiest way really to jack it up to get it lined up.
one of the those BJ bolts that goes into the wishbone has a spline on it right, you need to crank the nut right up so it pulls the spline through the wishbone and seats correctly if i remeber correctly.
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correct foxy, the bolt splines basically carve into the BJ as you tighten it up to 100nm IIRC. So quite a lot, as in very similar to how tight your wheel nut would be. Having said that too many people go to town on their wheel nuts!
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do you mean the little split washer things? do they go underneath, or on top? sorry, i am learning!
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no have a look a this picture, under the head of the bolt before the threaded part are lots of little ridges called splines, these will cut a path into the BJ
to make the bolt secure in there, but you need to tighten the nut on top to drive splines up into BJ.
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odd, I dont have anything like that on the BJ….theres a big bolt that came with, whihc doesnt seem long enough, two washers....and thats it. The bolt thats attached to the balljoint end also has a nut, or do you mean the bolt that goes into ther knuckle?>?
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no worries, as long as it's a decent grade bolt. All of the nut should be threaded on, if it doesn't it's the wrong bolt!
