Inner CV (TJ) Joint Clicking

[Exbury]

About 50 miles ago a clicking appeared, very similar to the CV joint clicking but instead of noticeable around a corner, it was really noticeable when pulling away in a straight line from stationary. Darned, everthing seemed to point to the Inner CV (TJ) joint, so following another thread, removed the balljoint from the hub, pulled back teh hub and exposed the Tripod inner CV joint bearing. Unfortunately they both seem to be reasonably ok, no roller pins, no noticeable play. /Grrr Hmm, now I am wondering if just get a new bearing from mitsubishi and change each tripod joint at a time and hope that I hit the faulty one 1st time. 16228

Anyone changed one of these tripod bearings before, they look reasonably easy, but anyone know how to tell which one may be faulty? Any ideas as to Mitsi cost?

For those following at a future stage, I removed the ball joint from the Lateral lower arms in the hub / knuckle and then the large circlip from the Cup that the tripod joint sites in. With the right tools took around 20 mins, mainly trying to get the circlip off without damaging the boot!! You can even fully access the N/S tripod without removing the driveshaft from the car, the end drops through the gap!

[stuartturbo]

"I am wondering if just get a new bearing from mitsubishi" you may be lucky on the V6 but full shaft for the VR4.
and i may be wrong that does not look right. looks like the joint is split in half????

[Exbury]

Sorry, the Car is a V6-24. The tripod joint has been pulled out of the 'Cup' which I have left in the gearbox to avoid all the oil draining!

Otherwise the joint looks as I would expect from the Mitsi diagrams....p26-12 in the 'Front Axle' section. The 'collars' retaining the pins slide up and down but do not come off, the collars themselves do not seem to have noticeable play (not like the bearing in the gearbox!! :) ).

[Kieran]

Removing the tripod is very easy - from where you're at, clean up the end of the shaft and you'll see a circlip. Extract this and the spider will then just slide off the shaft. The rollers on the tripod joint are also circliped on, so there's no 'way of the exploding spider' action either.

Are there any wear ridges in the cup?

[Exbury]

Cheers - Cant get my head up that far ;) I have felt in the cup and it seems to be ok, think the plan as you say will be to remove each spider and clean up and check for wear without the grease making things tricky! A job for wednesday night maybe!!

Will update then, just my luck if its nothing to do with either joint.

[Exbury]

UPDATE - Ok, hopefully a bearing guy (or gal) can conirm what I think. I have removed the tripod bearing from the inner CV (TJ) joint. Very easy from the n/s, not so sure about o/s access though. The bearing had to be helped off with a punch and a little hammer (not a lot).

After drying a lot of the grease up (smells fishy ! ) I had a play with the circular bearing surfaces, while they are not marked, there is a little bit of play if you try to twist them on the roller bearings. As per picture, the O shaped bearing surface goes smoothly up and down the shaft :inquisiti (Green arrow)and rotates fine but has a little bit of play (red arrows) if you try and twist (or wobble) it against the roller bearings. I am pretty sure a bearing should have no play in at all. Please can someone confirm? I only did less than 50 miles since immediately hearing the noise so doubt there is too much play......maybe I should have driven it until it was a bit worse! If so off to Mitsi again!!
16251

[bernmc]

Not an expert, but I'd agree that there almost certainly shouldn't be any play.

[Exbury]

Cheers, theres not a lot of play but enough to make me want to change it, hopefully Mitsi have some of these tripod babies left.

Been trying to remove hub to do front wheel bearing too.....this is a definete #!"@;"' to get off, even added two bolts through the hub braced against the knuckle to help and it still aint shifting.......bring over the heat.......and lets have a WD40 stirfry!!!

[bernmc]

This thread (http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22441) any help?

[Kieran]

When I did my CV boot for what felt like the 95th time I checked the spider joint once I'd cleared it of grease. There was no appreciable play in the direction of the red arrows on your picture - You could 'slide' it, but not 'rock' it.

[Exbury]

Cheers guys, have followed all the threads for the bearing removal........136k miles, I reckon it must be the original one!!! Have left it overnight, will try a bit of heat tomorrow.....its has begun to come....1mm at a time!

As for the spider joint cheers Kieran, sounds like I might be on the right track, will try ordering one bearing and two new grease kits and may as well get the boots too. ....off to Mitsi tomorrow.

[Exbury]

OK, well bad news......there goes my hope for a decent rebuild........can I get this tripod bearing....nope its part of a set.....ok, so how much is the set.......£359.00+VAT !!!!!! Pick myself......ok.....so how much is the grease to go in the boot........thats part of a set too.....ho hum.......how much for the set then.....£52.99+VAT......ooooer........and how much for the wheel bearing/hub...... £164.00+VAT.......ok so to get my £1000.00 V6 estate through the MOT it will be £575+VAT........lets see I could go out and buy another car instead!?!

......gone are the days of rebuilding stuff........anyone got a used driveshaft with a good spider bearing before I scrap my poor estate!

[bernmc]

There's this amazing search feature on the site... and if you'd used it, you'd have found this thread (http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10966), which could save you £300 and your slow estate ;)

/lol

[Exbury]

CV Joint.com has closed and they no longer sell CV joints, however I have located a rebuilders in Yorkshire who will rebuild for £70+VAT +Carriage. Sounds a lot more practical so will send the driveshaft there and see what the rebuild is like.

Time to drain the gear-oil now!

[bernmc]

If they're any good, make sure you add their details to the thread above.