1997 850 out of alignment after CV Axle replacement

moses3 · Post by **moses3** » 24 Oct 2023, 19:43

I'm a novice and this is my first time doing this job.

Guys, when I replaced my passenger side CV Axle, everything went smooth. Car drove the same afterwards as before.

Today I replaced the driver's side, and now the car is extremely out of alignment, it's also making a grinding sound when I turn right.

Thoughts? What did I do wrong? I'm actually starting to wonder if I installed the wrong part. It's too dark now to check.

The car got up to speed fine, just REALLY bad alignment.

Post by **matthew1** » 24 Oct 2023, 20:30

moses3 wrote: ↑24 Oct 2023, 19:43 it's also making a grinding sound when I turn right.

Check your install. Something isn't right.

Post by **Chuck W** » 25 Oct 2023, 06:41

Yeah, it's pretty difficult to even get things back together (Depending on how you took stuff apart) if things are off.

What was your disassembly process to get the old axle out?

moses3 · Post by **moses3** » 25 Oct 2023, 06:57

Chuck W wrote: ↑25 Oct 2023, 06:41 Yeah, it's pretty difficult to even get things back together (Depending on how you took stuff apart) if things are off.

What was your disassembly process to get the old axle out?

I only removed the control arm and the CV axle. I think I know what I did wrong. I think I forgot to straighten the steering wheel before tighting everything up.

Post by **scot850** » 25 Oct 2023, 08:19

Also, only tighten the control arm bolts with the weight on the suspension. Otherwise you will damage the bushes.

Finally, never re-use the lower ball joint bolt if you removed it.

Neil.

Post by **Chuck W** » 25 Oct 2023, 08:57

moses3 wrote: ↑25 Oct 2023, 06:57 I only removed the control arm and the CV axle. I think I know what I did wrong. I think I forgot to straighten the steering wheel before tighting everything up.

The steering location at the time of disassembly would have nothing to do with it.

The most recent ones I have done involve disconnecting the control arm from the subframe (the two bolts) and disconnecting the outer tie rod at the spindle. Then you can move things around to get the axle snout out of the wheel bearing/hub. No need to undo the ball joint.

I touched NOTHING on the alignment when I replaced the ones I did recently (two in the past couple weeks), as there is no need to. All of the components being removed on the suspension/steering are going back exactly in the same place they were before. As mentioned, be sure to load the suspension before tightening the control arm bolts at the subframe.

What makes you think you need an alignment?

The only thing that could be off is potentially you didn't get the ball-joint fully seated into the bottom of the spindle, which is potentially dangerous. That could cause a bit of wiggle/slop in the spindle attachment, and thus mess with the alignment. It could also cause things to come apart and cause an accident. So verify that before you drive it any more.

Also, make sure the inner CV joint is fully seated into the transmission. That could possibly cause some grinding, as well as allow the axle to pop out of the transmission and then you'll be stuck with a non-moving car.

Post by **chrafael** » 25 Oct 2023, 09:05

If you did remove the ball joint pinch bolt, make sure the ball joint is fully seated before installing the pinch bolt. It is possible to assemble it with the bolt over the ball joint shaft instead of through it. Compare it to the one on the other side of the car. You may need to use something like a scissors jack to hold the control arm up in the proper position.

Post by **FireFox31** » 25 Oct 2023, 21:27

Here's the official VIDA documentation showing what chrafael means.

And to correct scot850, you must replace the nut for the control arm ball joint to steering knuckle pinch connection. Haynes doesn't say it's single use and it doesn't require angle tightening (torque to yield), so I checked VIDA to be sure. I'll swap out my nuts on each side when I do my suspension since I've removed and replaced them a few times recently.

Post by **scot850** » 25 Oct 2023, 23:22

I disagree with this. Experience has shown several owners have had the bolt shear after re-use. Go ahead and re-use, that is your call.

Neil.

Post by **abscate** » 26 Oct 2023, 00:54

The ball joint nut has an elliptical exit port so that it self locks. Reusing the nut will mean it doesn’t lock. It’s not that tight as it holds the ball joint in by lateral shear, not bolt tension so you need the locking action of a new nut