Ok there is this horrible vibration coming from the front passenger side. When I say horrible vibration I mean you can actually see the whole car vibrating while driving. I checked it out and it turned out to be the cv axle coming loose from the hub.

I removed the hub lock (I have manual hubs) and saw that the retaining ring was broken off and chewed to hell and the inside of the hub is a real nasty, greasy, muddy mess. Now this is the second time this happened. The first time this happened I just replaced the ring and it was ok. I would just do that again but those things cost about 9$ and I want to see if you guys have any idea about what is causing this.

Oh and I can see into the rear of the wheel hub/bearing assembly and the thrust washer has come off and is just hanging on the axle. I haven't noticed any symptoms of the wheel bearing going out but according to the Ford service manual this is very BAD and should not be allowed to happen. I was wondering if possibly a bad wheel bearing is causing all of this or if maybe it's the CV axle or both.

Sorry about the length of this post but if you have any ideas they would be appreciated. Thanks

EDIT: Oh yeah I have a 1998 Ford Ranger xlt with a 3.0 and 4wd

 

hate to bump my own post but still wondering if anyone has any ideas