CV joint failure

Black_Dog · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:59 pm

Saturday, I detected a shimmy in the steering. A few miles later I engaged the Part-time 4WD as I transitioned onto a dirt lane (it was raining heavily). I hit a bump and the front left steering kerplunked, began to pull heavily to the left, and began to make a rubbery ee EE ee EE ee EE noise. I stopped to see whether the wheel was still pointing forward. It was. I proceeded cautiously. At the end of the lane I disengaged the 4WD and the axle began to grind like someone had poured gravel into it. The grinding stopped I reengaged the 4WD and made a b-line for the dealership.

The verdict is a broken CV joint. The dealer will replace the left front drive shaft assembly. Fortunately, I only have 29,500 miles on the odo so the repair is covered under warranty.

The mechanic says this is an anomaly. But I am still concerned. Are Liberty CV joints really this fragile? Has anyone else had this problem?

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:18 pm

70K on mine, light wheeling, ball joints but no CV joint failures.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

No, that is not typical. In fact, the KJ CVs are quite stout. I think this may be a little more common with the guys that have lifts and wheel their rigs, but not just driving down the road.

Black_Dog · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:14 pm

I got my Liberty back this afternoon. I asked for the broken part but was told that because it was a warranty replacement that they had to send it back to Jeep. The paperwork reads “replaced ft axle shaft (sheared off)”. I presume it sheared off the CV joint knuckle.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:12 pm

I am just wandering did you go to neutral befor you enguaged 4wd?
I have seen a YJ pop a front U-joint cause the guy did not go to neutral befor he put it to 4wd
and I am wandering if the CV joint would be the "fuse" on the KJ

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:46 pm

Black_Dog wrote:

I got my Liberty back this afternoon. I asked for the broken part but was told that because it was a warranty replacement that they had to send it back to Jeep. The paperwork reads “replaced ft axle shaft (sheared off)”. I presume it sheared off the CV joint knuckle.

This is the first time I've ever heard of the CV coming apart like that on the Liberty excluding a CV with a torn boot. I would have loved to see some pictures, it's too bad that the dealer warrantied the part back to DCX.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

jason thompson wrote:

I am just wandering did you go to neutral befor you enguaged 4wd?
I have seen a YJ pop a front U-joint cause the guy did not go to neutral befor he put it to 4wd
and I am wandering if the CV joint would be the "fuse" on the KJ

He was going in to 4 part time...no need to shift to neutral before engaging. That's just for going in to 4 Low.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:10 pm

Skyjump136 wrote:

jason thompson wrote:

I am just wandering did you go to neutral befor you enguaged 4wd?
I have seen a YJ pop a front U-joint cause the guy did not go to neutral befor he put it to 4wd
and I am wandering if the CV joint would be the "fuse" on the KJ

He was going in to 4 part time...no need to shift to neutral before engaging. That's just for going in to 4 Low.

True it "can" be done
but if the rear was spining and the front rolling then it would have caused the front to ripidly get power
same thing that happened to the YJ

Maby I needed to be more clear

Oh and 4wd lo and 4wd part time are one in the same they both lock the front and rear togeather just that 4low has a lower gear set than 4hi
2.7? to 1 in 4lo

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:09 pm

jason thompson wrote:

True it "can" be done
but if the rear was spining and the front rolling then it would have caused the front to ripidly get power
same thing that happened to the YJ

In theorie that makes sense, but I would hope that the CV's are built burly enough to justify the near $700 pricetag...

jason thompson wrote:

Oh and 4wd lo and 4wd part time are one in the same they both lock the front and rear togeather just that 4low has a lower gear set than 4hi
2.7? to 1 in 4lo

You are very correct, but the reason you would have to go to neutral is to take the load off the gears to allow the tranny to shift in to the range.... for all us guys with manual transmissions, we just press the other left pedal and it's the same as shifting to neutral, just easier IMHOP.
-Mark

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

Donkeykong wrote:

jason thompson wrote:

True it "can" be done
but if the rear was spining and the front rolling then it would have caused the front to ripidly get power
same thing that happened to the YJ

In theorie that makes sense, but I would hope that the CV's are built burly enough to justify the near $700 pricetag...

jason thompson wrote:

Oh and 4wd lo and 4wd part time are one in the same they both lock the front and rear togeather just that 4low has a lower gear set than 4hi
2.7? to 1 in 4lo

You are very correct, but the reason you would have to go to neutral is to take the load off the gears to allow the tranny to shift in to the range.... for all us guys with manual transmissions, we just press the other left pedal and it's the same as shifting to neutral, just easier IMHOP.
-Mark

700 is the dealer price. Most auto-part and drive line shop charge about 80-150 for the half-shaft.

Anyways, it seems the half-shafts are fairly stout. People actually break other parts before the CVs. I've been run a lift for about 25k miles and lots of good wheeling and my CVs are still in good condition.

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Wed Jan 24, 2007 3:59 pm

eddo wrote:

700 is the dealer price. Most auto-part and drive line shop charge about 80-150 for the halfshaft.

True, but I have had a hellish experiance with autozone axles....

They were for my 90 civic hatch. I took the axle back at least 5 times. (I lost the LBJ and it took out the axle)
The first axle was 2" too long.
The second axle was 3" too short.
The third axle fit between the tranny and the hub, but the spline count wasn't right.
The fourth axle fit, but was probably too long because it knocked immediatley as soon as I pulled away.
The fifth axle worked, but I blew up the engine too soon after to really prove that it was any good.

Maybe the problem is that honda has too many cars running *similar* axles, but I wouldn't want to take apart my jeeps suspension any more than I have to to get an aftermarket axle to fit. Ever since then I refuse to buy parts from the likes of autozone. The quality control just isn't there. Fortunatley AZ was walking distance from my house, but 5 trips to get the right axle was not cool. (the night before my daughter was born I lost the LBJ and had to fix the car in my driveway in feburary's wintery weather)
-Mark

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:52 pm

I too would rather pay the big $$ to get a genuine mopar part for something like the half shaft. Just because I know that any aftermarket replacement part will be of lesser quality to save costs... But this has only been MY experience with restoring cars and replacing broken parts.

I have also read that any non-OEM part my be at least 10% different - but this might only apply to reproduction parts like headlamp assemblies, front fenders, etc.

Eddo · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1214

Donkeykong wrote:

eddo wrote:

700 is the dealer price. Most auto-part and drive line shop charge about 80-150 for the halfshaft.

True, but I have had a hellish experiance with autozone axles....

They were for my 90 civic hatch. I took the axle back at least 5 times. (I L.O.S.T. the LBJ and it took out the axle)
The first axle was 2" too long.
The second axle was 3" too short.
The third axle fit between the tranny and the hub, but the spline count wasn't right.
The fourth axle fit, but was probably too long because it knocked immediatley as soon as I pulled away.
The fifth axle worked, but I blew up the engine too soon after to really prove that it was any good.

Maybe the problem is that honda has too many cars running *similar* axles, but I wouldn't want to take apart my jeeps suspension any more than I have to to get an aftermarket axle to fit. Ever since then I refuse to buy parts from the likes of autozone. The quality control just isn't there. Fortunatley AZ was walking distance from my house, but 5 trips to get the right axle was not cool. (the night before my daughter was born I L.O.S.T. the LBJ and had to fix the car in my driveway in feburary's wintery weather)
-Mark

That has more to do with Autozone. Try a place like Napa. IMO much higher quality parts. AZ is fine for oil filters and just cheap parts to keep you running, but not if you are looking for quality. Just ask a mechanic, they always get parts from somewhere like Napa, Carquest or a local parts place. They stay away from place like AZ because they know they might be doing the repair twice.

Also, I believe Jeepin Al can hook up with some Heavy Duty CVs for about 250 dollars a piece. They are suppose to be stronger than stock.

700 is way overprices for a CV shafts. They better be made of gold for that price.

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:17 pm

I am with Eddo here, if you want good quality parts with fair prices then NAPA is one of the best places to go. Dealers just charge way to much. I never buy anything from Mopar or any of the rest of them.

Mutt · **Posted:** Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:38 pm

Yeah, I broke one, although I worked at it. J.E. Reel CVs for the Liberty.....six times stronger than stock.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:33 am

sleeve84028 wrote:

This is the first time I've ever heard of the CV coming apart like that on the Liberty excluding a CV with a torn boot. I would have loved to see some pictures, it's too bad that the dealer warrantied the part back to DCX.

Makes me wonder if perhaps the CV boot tore and dumped all the grease and you didn't notice it. That would be a reasonable cause for the premature failure.

Black_Dog · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:08 pm

jason thompson wrote:

I am just wandering did you go to neutral befor you enguaged 4wd?
I have seen a YJ pop a front U-joint cause the guy did not go to neutral befor he put it to 4wd
and I am wandering if the CV joint would be the "fuse" on the KJ

I shifted into 4Hi "on the fly." I was going about 20mph and, as I always do, I took my foot off the accelerator to take any pressure off the driveline. There was no slippage and I was traveling in a straight line, so all for wheels were turning at the same rate.

Additionally, I have not taken my Liberty off-road since last July. Since then I have rarely engaged the 4WD until about two weeks ago when we got hit with a weeklong ice and snowstorm.

Black_Dog · **Posted:** Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:23 pm

Se7enLC wrote:

Makes me wonder if perhaps the CV boot tore and dumped all the grease and you didn't notice it. That would be a reasonable cause for the premature failure.

Could be. Last summer I nearly got stuck in some serious mud. After much maneuvering and sliding around I managed to work myself free without being strapped. I literally spent hours afterward washing the rig off – most of the time cleaning the underbody. It is possible that the boot tore, dumped the grease and that some mud got impacted into the joint. But I inspected things pretty well and did not notice any holes or leakage.

Based on everyone’s responses, my theory is that I just got a defective part with some miniscule fracture or a bad weld that finally failed. When I posed my concern about the reliability of the Liberty CV joint to the dealership, the guy said that the CV’s are so reliable that they don’t even stock the part (I had to wait for one to be shipped in).

Thanks for the feedback.

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:16 pm

Black_Dog wrote:

When I posed my concern about the reliability of the Liberty CV joint to the dealership, the guy said that the CV’s are so reliable that they don’t even stock the part (I had to wait for one to be shipped in).

I'm really glad to hear that.
Not that it completely takes away any concerns of mine, but it does help to go a long way to alleviate them.
Thanks for the post.
-Mark

CV joint failure

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