O.K. so this is my first ranger and my first official post on this board. I just got this 00' ranger from my brother and have noticed a very faint jingling sound while going down the freeway. I got under the truck and the front driveshaft is loose on the t-case side and if you shake the shaft it makes the same noise. So is this normal and or does it need to be fixed? And also I've never seen a shaft like this it has a normal u-joint on the front by the diff. but a weird joint at the case. How does it come apart. Thanks in advance.

 

It's a CV at the tcase. Gotta get it replaced....not sure if you can rebuild those CVs though.

 

i rebuilt mine once. the trouble is the boot. if the boot is torn you have to find another one that will work. mine was a pain to get back together, there are a lot of way that it wiill fit back together and only one is the right way. i wouldn't trying to rebuild it unless you are somewhat mechanically inclined.

 

My main wheeling vehicle is a 30 year old Jeep FSJ. Wheeling that thing has made me pretty good with a wrench so I'm not to worried. I was mostly just trying to get some info and figure out what to call it. Thanks alot guys.

 

Hey Chris did you pull the boot off, and just repack the bearings? and can you get the bearing's out? Mine is making some ungodly noise right now I know it's going, but I can tell that the grease has either dissapeared of burnt up, but I've gotta either try and rebuild it or take it off until I get a Superlift shaft or go custom. Just curious how you went about fixing your's to make it last a little bit longer.

 

well my boot was torn so i just ripped it out. i pounded the cv joint off of the shaft, then i pryed the cover off of the t-case side. i also tapped on the cover on the shaft side with a hammer and screwdriver. you should then be able to see all of the ***** and race and stuff. there is a cage for the ***** to. mine kinda just fell apart and i had to chase parts around. then i took everything over to the parts washer and clean them up. brake clean or mineral spirits will work. once it was clean up i proceeded to put it back together. i
think we got it together 3 times and they were all wrong so make sure you pay attention to how you take it apart. if it is wrong it wont have much articulation or slip yokeage. < yeah i made that word up. then you have to find a boot that will work, re-grease it and put it all back together.
hope that helps,
chris

 

well my boot (whew) is still in good shape, but the bearing's sound like they are rolling around in a metal box...so I'll take a look at it. I think you should send that into Webster's...."Slip Yokeage" -referance to the POS Ford Ranger cv style front driveshaft

 

ha, alright, i'll work on that. if your boot is good then i say just try to preserve it when taking it apart.

 

^ hey, i guess i should mention that my cv joint wasn't just grinding a little. it was binding up and make loud horrible sounds. i literally thought that i blew the spiders out of the front diff. you might just need to repack it with grease. unless it is full of sand or mud or something like mine was, you might just want to pry the cover off of the t-case side and re pack it.

 

So it sounds like I can't just buy a new CV and just replace it. Also Shouldn't the shaft not be turning while in 2wd. Not shure if it is but I only hear it when I'm on the freeway. No noise or vibration any other time. Thanks for the responces.

 

do you know if you have vacuum hubs? if you do have vacuum hubs the the d-shaft shouldn't be turning in 2wd. if it is the cv joint and you don't want to rebuild it you can buy a whole new shaft, not just the cv joint. i had mine replaced under warranty so i don't know how much it costs.

 

Don't know if I have vacuum hubs. Where does the vacuum hook up to the front end?

 

i'm not sure i have never had a truck with vacuum hubs, sorry.