boxman

The easy way I do it is tap in a fat chisel into the gap of the housing, spreading it open just a few mm. Lightly grease up the new ball joint and it should slide into place, if not use your jack and jack it up into place.

This worked for me with no issues...

I just replaced the PS axle with this one: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007NZ91S2]Amazon.com: DriveTech SB2043 CV Drive Axle: Automotive[/ame]

Right around $60 to my door. Fit is perfect, only 100 miles so far but 0 issues. took about an hour start to finish. I'll be buying a boot kit and reboot my factory axle as a back up/preventative for the DS axle. The dealership wanted $140 for both inner and outer boots, bands and grease. I told them to pound sand, I'd find it at an online dealership for a fraction of that price.

Not too far away from 11 years.

08-27-2004

There are just not enough amps to create metal degradation.

 

Yes, there is. Automotive batteries and charging systems are low voltage and relatively high amperage.

I would say the best course of action is to ground the engine, ground the transmission case as much as possible, then ground the rear differential to the body. Going to a carbon fiber drive shaft might also reduce/eliminate electricity from going to the rear differential, then you just have to worry only about static electricity on the rear differential.

 

Don't forget that you have several chassis grounds as well that push current into the body...it's not just the drive line, it's the entire car. I've often put additional grounding from the alternator to the body and the battery to the body to eliminate ground loop noise in audio components. If the audio is noisy just imagine how dirty the electrical signal is to the rest of the electronics.

I think the cause of the fluting (failure) hasn't so much to do with the ground traveling thru the bearing but moreso with the bearing spinning at the same time the ground is traveling thru it, creating the micro-sparks and thus the fluting. You don't weld while driving do you?

The fluting is clearly rotational wear. The theory posted above is that the rotational wear at that level is due to micro pitting that is caused when electricity arcs between the balls and the race. The arcing will happen because there's not a great mechanical bond between a ball and a race, kind like a loose electrical wire can cause heat buildup and arcing. The micro pitting will occur whether the bearing is rotating or not. Once there is a pit in either the ball or the race rotation will cause the pit to transfer defects to other balls and other parts of the race.

I can easily cause pitting around a poor welding ground clamp. I can also weld with a car battery, jumper cables and standard stick welding rod, so it's not like we're out of the realm of possibility on a car from either the battery or from the alternator. 12v dc at 90+amps is sufficient to throw a very strong electrical arc and vaporize metal.

So, I'll stand by my statement of plausible.

Why is everybody hatin' on me, lately?

It's your turn?

And thats how you misuse a torque wrench... You put the nuts on with a normal wrench till they are tight THEN use the torque wrench.

Unless you have something higher quality than the typical lower end torque wrenches that can be used as a ratchet within the set torque spec.

The manual for my 1/2" Armstrong specifically called out that it could be used as a ratchet within the limits of the set torque.