A few months ago I was on my way to work and my truck had done something that it has never done before. Im 4x2 to 4x4 swapped. It only did this for 1-2 days but has not done it since. I heard a violent thumping in the front end and would shake the whole truck "thump thump thump" and the faster i went the louder it got. At first i thought it was my driveshaft or possibly my brakes. When i hit my brakes it would stop but as soon as i let off it kept doing it. It has not done this for a while now and i have been driving it. I believe that my dana 35 ifs front axle is F****d up or something. Well, for some reason there is a 1/2" gap between my passenger cv and the axle housing. The passenger side cv has the female splines. Maybe the stub inside the axle was not pushed in enough. And also it has a very slow leak. I bought a new passenger side cv and axle seal. Im using my dads garage on Monday to take it apart. Hopefully wont have to take my axle to my good friend at aamco. Hopefully my axle itself is not damaged. for some reason i can actually move the cv housing in and out of the axle but with the front jacked up and i spin the driveshaft it spins both tires so everything is connected. 4x4 works great especially in the snow with manual case. Any ideas?

 

sounds to me that you didnt seat the cv correctly. the cv should click when its seated into the axle housing.

 

is the stub on the passenger side in the housing removable? I tried to push the cv closer to the axle housing but it wont close the gap. Maybe the stub in the housing was not pushed in far enough from when it was disassembled.

 

the axle shaft is removable. however it usually seats in pretty easy.

 

i know that the cv is all the was on the shaft in the housing but i dont think the shaft is all the way inserted into the axle/pumpkin itself. This sucks my dad said i cant use his garage til monday!

 

well re-reading your original post i doubt you cv would be making the thumping noise especially if the brakes made the noise stop.

 

yea but there is a 1/2" gap between the cv and axle housing and i can move the cv housing to and from the axle housing and it leaks when i drive. The drivers side there is almost no gap at all and no leak.

 

Ok so i figured out the problem just thought id let you all know. Well i remember when i got my axles, differential, spindles from the junk yard they pulled the cv's. And sometimes the inner stub shaft comes out with the passenger cv. Well, mine did not. But it was also not clicked all the way in either. Long story short, i jacked the front of the truck and i took a big pry bar and popped the cv stub back into the differential and heard a clunk. Actually it is normal to have a gap on the ps where the seal is. But i already got my new passenger cv and axle seal anyway. I was going to fix it today at my dads but if mine aint broke, why fix it? I might just wait and get all new cv's, hubs, ball joints and just do everything at once.

 

beck your brake caliper mounting bracket, sometimes the bolts come out and it slides in and out, and when you tap the brakesit clamps it to the rotor making the noise stop