Damaged CV boot, vibration/pulsation above 35 mph.

[pL2005]

I've been experiencing a hum/vibration above about 35 mph for a few weeks now. When I first lifted the front end to look, it was wet and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Now that it's dry, I looked again a found a torn CV boot on the passenger side. (2005 Envoy XL 4.2L 4WD).

I have 3 questions.

1. Should I do both half shafts even though only the passenger one is damaged (and my sound is definitely coming from the passenger side)?
2. Are the Cardone ones for a little over $50 decent enough or should I go OEM for $$$?
3. Are there any other associated parts that I might as well do while I've got things apart?

I've pulled and tugged on the axles and nothing moves. I was starting to suspect differential (or actuator housing?) bearings so I was pulling on things, and that's when I noticed the damaged boot. I've also pulled and pushed on the wheels and nothing seems to move suggesting the hubs/bearings are ok.

 

[xavierny25]

From my experience
1.if one boot is broken just Change that one side half shaft.
2.Cardone from rockauto.com is what I've used so far so good.
3. I'd still be suspect about your wheel bearing. Do to the fact you have a hum/vibration.

 

[m_egerdahl]

Did you ever figure this out? I have a hum that increases with speed in my front end. I just replaced the intermediate bearing housing and changed the front differential fluid on my AWD Bravada so it shouldn't be that. Would a bad cv axle make a humming noise?

 

[pL2005]

I have a new right side axle sitting in a box in the garage next to the truck. I haven't had time to swap the axle yet, so I haven't figured out if that's my issue or not. I will post back when I know. It might be next weekend that I get to it.

 

[m_egerdahl]

I changed my drivers side cv axle today and the hum/vibration is still there. It's either a wheel bearing or front differential. I guess it could be U-joints but I have a bad feeling my problem is in my differential. The fluid I drained out of the front differential the other day looked like graphite spray with lighter and darker shades of grey as it poured out. I'm not very sure what used gear oil should look like but that's not what I was expecting.

Before I bought the vehicle it had a bad transfer case motor and was stuck in four wheel, doing the crow hop thing. I asked the sales guy how long it had been like that and he said he had no way of knowing. We put 30,000 miles on it since we bought it but hard to say what kind of life that front end had before us. When I changed the intermediate bearing housing I also had to change the intermediate shaft because the splines were almost all wore down to nothing.

I've heard the front differential can be pulled up through the engine compartment. Hope I don't have to find out.

 

[m_egerdahl]

For what it's worth, I changed my drivers side wheel bearing and it fixed my noise and vibration issue. I've diagnosed and repaired more than a few wheel bearings but this is the first one that the noise didn't go away and come back while swerving back and forth on the road. First time for everything I guess. I am pretty happy it wasn't my front differential making noise.

 

[jsheahawk]

For what it's worth, I changed my drivers side wheel bearing and it fixed my noise and vibration issue. I've diagnosed and repaired more than a few wheel bearings but this is the first one that the noise didn't go away and come back while swerving back and forth on the road. First time for everything I guess. I am pretty happy it wasn't my front differential making noise.

Perspective!

 

[pL2005]

I pulled everything apart today but kept getting interrupted to do other things. I'm also swapping my 4 months cheap aftermarket engine mounts for the GM ones as they've gotten worse than the worn out ones I replaced 4 months ago. I suppose I should have listened to the advice on this forum..... Bottom line is that truck is in pieces in the garage for the night.

When I crawled under this morning, I found that my passenger side CV has gotten much worse. The outer boot is now torn almost completely in half and there is grease everywhere. I pulled the hub and I could feel grinding in it just rotating it in my hand, so I went to napa and bought their top end hub (made by SKF).

So far, I've got the drivers side engine mount done. The axle and hub on the passenger are out. In the morning, I'll swap the passenger side engine mount and put the new axle and hub in along with reassembling everything else. I hope that somewhere in all that my problems will be fixed. I'm praying the drivers side hub, CVs, and the differential are all good.

 

[pL2005]

So I got the other mount swapped. What I didn't say last night is that I had quite a bit of trouble getting the passenger size CV axle out. Today after I finished the passenger side mount (which is far easier with the axle out by the way), I went to reassemble the axle, hub, brake and wheel. I never could get the axle to pop in all the way. I finally gave up and put everything else back together hoping I could climb underneath once there was weight on the suspension and push the axle straight in. Unfortunately no luck. Weird thing is it drives fine with play in the axle (although I haven't and won't try 4wd). I'm going to take it to a mechanic tomorrow. I'm hoping they'll be able to pop it in the rest of the way. I'm really hoping the differential actuator housing that the axle snaps into isn't damaged. At this point, I need the truck and don't have more time to mess with it.

 

[pL2005]

I decided to bum rides to/from work until I fix it. I started looking at the list price for the actuator housing/disconnect and thought about how much a mechanic would charge. I did drive it to work yesterday. It drove fine until on the way home it started making a scraping noise on the passenger side. I figured I probably destroyed the new axle as well, but it appears ok. I took it all apart last night and the actuator housing has metal shavings down in it. I'm sure driving it with the axle partially installed didn't help, but I believe it was shot before anyway. I ordered the new part from Amazon.

Should I replace the actuator along with the housing now that I have it apart? I ordered it (an extra $50) but I can return it if I decide it's unnecessary. So now I'll have a new hub, axle, and disconnect housing/actuator.

 

[Mooseman]

The actuator motor is easy to replace if it's dead. It could have been damaged though. It's your call.

 

[pL2005]

One final update. Amazon delivered the housing. Got it all put back together. With a new disconnect housing, axle, hub, and motor mounts, it's like having a new truck. Also, I can't believe how much better the AC Delco motor mounts are than the cheap aftermarket ones. Can't feel the engine at stop lights.

 

[Nexus1155]

So. I have my envoy lifted 3 inches and the axles spit their grease everywhere bc of the lift no doubt about it. I remedied it by putting extra clamps on the boot but not under they violently failed and caught the axle on fire while driving. I ended up replacing the hub. Axle. Abs sensor and the upper ball joint that fell apart in pieces. What a f'in mess. Ill upload pics when i can. Do it now before that hum turns into a catastrophe...

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

So. I have my envoy lifted 3 inches and the axles spit their grease everywhere bc of the lift no doubt about it. I remedied it by putting extra clamps on the boot but not under they violently failed and caught the axle on fire while driving. I ended up replacing the hub. Axle. Abs sensor and the upper ball joint that fell apart in pieces. What a f'in mess. Ill upload pics when i can. Do it now before that hum turns into a catastrophe...

Did you repack the CV with grease when you re-clamped them? What kind of grease?

The boots pulling away and grease flying is not new with lifting these. About a 50/50 shot. Many advise the extra clamps when lifting just as a cheap precaution while you are working on it anyway.

 

[Nexus1155]

Once i heard the thumping i knew it was game over and had to either get new axles. new hubs or worse. it was on the worse side. i was going to initially try to repack it but it would have been useless. i wish when doing the lift kit anywhere i read said anything about the axles.

heres the carnage. axle. hub. ball joint fell apart. abs sensor. it was a mess but got it done in like 4-6 hours while being very violent.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

I know it is mentioned dozens or maybe 100s of times about the Cv boots here and on ORTB. Surprised you never read it. Super common for the boots to pull loose when a lift is installed.

If you just slapped new clamps on without filling the grease I am not real surprised about them getting hot enough to burn if you drove much. Sucks it happened though. I am fighting the warranty on my Impala CV right now and the thunking has me worried, but i did pack some grease in waiting for them to honor the "lifetime" warranty.

I only had one boot pull loose in all the years lifted, just repacked it w grease then clamped and ran it without issue for about a year.