1997 Chevy Tahoe front CV half shaft replacement

kickass audio

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
Okay so lets see if anyone here can shed some light on this. Today me and my Dad both replaced his front passenger CV Half Shaft out of his 97 Tahoe. This is the 3rd replacement we are putting in on the passenger side. The first one was the OEM one that had a hole in the boot from when we cut off the sway bar links. The second one was an aftermarket from advance auto and it worked fine until out of nowhere the outer bearing race was moaning loudly so we replaced it with another aftermarket one from advance auto which was different. The difference from the first replacement to the second replacement is that the second replacement has the little teeth that you use for an ABS sensor (idk what they are actually called but its the little notches at the outer part of the CV Shaft that are magnetic and the ABS sensor reads the magnetic pulses on to see if the wheels are spinning at the same rate or not) That one went in and everything was fine until a few days ago my dad noticed that out of nowhere the outer boot was twisted and crushed in on itself and had a small tear on it. Since it was under warranty we replaced it and the third replacement had the same ABS teeth on the outer part of the CV Shaft.

Well today when we were taking it out after it was replaced when you hit a hard pot hole in the road, slam on the brakes when going forward or you take a sharp left turn you will hear a clunking and rubbing noise and feel it vibrate in the floor. We took it home and looked and sure enough the outermost part of the ABS ring has rub marks on it and it is extremely close to the lower ball joint. My question is this, I can only see online that old reman CV shafts for this truck do not have that ABS ring on them so its definitely a new feature they added to probably apply to more lines of vehicles. But with how the lower ball joint is extremely close to the ABS ring should it be that way? Also the lower ball joint has almost like a dome where you normally would have to remove the retaining ring that keeps the lower ball joint in place. Is that normal or just a huge build up of rust? Another thing that concerns me is that when my dad was under the truck after our test ride I was rocking the truck from side to side and he noticed some play in the CV shafts outermost portion where that ABS ring resides and it was actually coming into contact with the lower ball joint. I always thought that it should be stationary in its position there and that the only parts to move were where the rubber boots are. We torqued the axle nut down to 165ft lbs just like the manufacture specs are from GM. We also checked the sway bar link we cut off in order to get the CV shaft out and it is torqued to spec and does not have any play. Any ideas on what to do? I really do not want to have to take that stupid shaft off again as it is a pain to get the damn sway bar link off the SOB and all I keep seeing are ones that have the ABS wheel on them. Sorry for the long post guys, just want to describe it as well as I can for all of you. PLEASE HELP, lol.

Here is a picture of the CV shaft that is on it now that has that abs ring: http://www.rockauto.com/getimage/getimage.php?imagekey=10127&imageurl=http%3A//my.cardone.com/Imagesftp/60/601050-01.jpg

And here is a picture of the CV shaft that was OEM as well as the first replacement without the ABS ring: http://www.rockauto.com/getimage/getimage.php?imagekey=2978229&imageurl=http%3A//www.rockauto.com/info/EMPI/80-1503.jpg
 

jpimp

Member
Feb 1, 2013
176
Kickass, I took a look at the front bearing for 4x4 97 tahoe, and it looks to have the ABS sensor and reluctor ring built in.
That would mean the axle should not have the reluctor ring for the ABS.

This is just what I can tell from looking at rockauto pictures though.

Hope this helps
 
  • Like
Reactions: kickass audio

kickass audio

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
That is what I saw too and is exactly how his is. His drivers side has no reluctor ring (if thats what its really called since you said it lol) only the passenger side. The fact it has the ring seems to be something that was added in recent years probably to cover more models of vehicles is what bothers me since it is so close to the dome on the ball joint. I also wonder what the thumping noise could be. It feels like the ring is rubbing on something because you can feel it vibrate almost like riding a rumble strip on the thruway and it changes speed with the speed of the vehicle when it happens. I just can't see why the outermost part of the CV shaft would be wobbling and making it rub onto the truck.
 

kickass audio

Original poster
Member
Aug 25, 2012
955
So my dad asked my sisters boyfriend and called up advance auto and both of them said that you were supposed to take the reluctor ring off the CV shaft. Nowhere in the instructions for it did it mention that if your vehicle did not have a reluctor ring on the shaft that you were supposed to remove it. So with that being said what I proposed as an idea is to unbolt the outer nut that secures the splines to the bearing and then push the CV shaft in as far as possible and then take a dremel with a cutting wheel and grind a notch in the reluctor ring then either pry it with a pair of pliers on it or give it a few blows with a chisel and crack it then just remove it. I know the proper procedure is to push it off to the outside splines but that would involve having to take the whole CV shaft off or the bearing off and being that the CV shaft was such a pain in the ass in the first place to get in and out and idk if the bearing will come off being how rusted the truck is getting I opted to trying and cutting it off.

So for anyone who happens to get a CV shaft that is new and has a reluctor ring and your stock one does not have one, remove it prior to installing the CV shaft.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mounce

Forum Statistics

Threads
23,273
Posts
637,499
Members
18,472
Latest member
MissCrutcher

Members Online

No members online now.