Front Axle U-Joint Issue

[PatrickIvan]

I'd been getting a little steering wobble/resistance for the past few weeks when going around bends and corners to the right.

Notable from a slow walk to a full wobble if I go around a bend at 40km/h (so I don't do that any more LOL)

After a bit of inspecting and researching comparable issues, it appears to be my driver side u-joint.

The first video shows how it wants to wobble back to straight ahead.

The second is with the wheel cranked to the left.

What I don't understand in the third video, is why there appears to be some resistance when I try to spin the wheel when it's dead ahead straight. Is that normal for a bad u-joint?

Sponsored

 

[PatrickIvan]

In contrast to the driver side, here is the free wheeling no issue passenger side! All good here. THough I'll do that u-joint as well...

It looks like a pretty straight forward job.

A few decent youtube videos seem to align with the repair manual instructions.

 

[BDinTX]

Don't have a great answer for you but I'm curious if you have a Front Axle Disconnect (FAD). If you do, the passenger side (assuming left hand drive vehicle) is only spinning about 12" of axle shaft. In contrast the driver side is spinning some stuff inside the differential which I would expect to create some drag.

Personally, I'd suspect the ball joints rather than u joints.

 

[PatrickIvan]

For what it's worth: This was 100% the u-joint.


Back to enjoying corners without wobbles!

Sponsored