Late 1998 V70XC driveshaft removal

[abscate]

Pick, solvent , nylon brush

Repeat

Repeat

Now measure the depth of the hex head , mark your bit so you aren’t confident it’s locked in tight, you KNOW it’s in all the way

[850oldschool]

One trick I use for removing stubborn torx and Allen screws is to put valve lapping compound (a paste of oil and aluminum oxide abrasive) on the driver bit. Also sharpening the bit with a bench grinder right before using it.

[jsrnsis]

Everything back together, still have my clicking issue. When I hit the gas or brake, I get a short clicking pinging noise that sounds like the front of the car. I was so confident that it was the driveshaft CV after seeing the tear in the boot. I did rebuild the passenger CV axle 5000 miles ago, which I may have done incorrectly, but from what I read it seems like an axle CV problem would be a continuous clicking noise.
My next thought is possibly a strut mount/strut bearing issue....

[jsrnsis]

Well, the problen turned out to be much simpler than tearing my driveshaft out.
My aftermarket firewall upper torque mount was too short, causing the bolt to not line up correctly between the torque arm and the forward bushing. Whenever the engine would shift, like changing gear, or my foot going onto or off of the accelerator pedal, the bolt would rattle against the front of the slot in the torque arm.

So to anyone reading this, before you go messing with your axles, driveshaft, or any suspension components, give that top torque mount a good look. I tested it by removing the nut and bolt that goes through the bushing and re-creating the conditions that would cause the clicking and popping.

Front driveshaft CV needed changing anyways, the grease was definitely cooked and the boot torn.