Loose CV joint on Taurus

[58 Yeoman]

It's a '97 Ford Taurus with 3.0L V6, automatic, and it sometimes shakes when using the brakes.  Sometimes it will continue to shake while going down the road, as if a wheel/tire is oval...other times it quits shaking after letting up on the brakes.

I crawled under it today, and the right inner cv joint is loose, the whole thing, as if maybe the circlip is broken that holds it to the stub shaft in the trans?  It doesn't appear to be loose as if the joint itself is worn out, plus both shafts have Ford part stickers on them.  They may have been changed at one time, as it was an AT&T car for most of its' life.  I don't know if the original stickers would've lasted this long.

Ideas?

[wayne petty]

the brake rotors are warped...

possibly the hub flanges also.... make sure the hub faces are not bent up around the stud hole area when the studs get overtightened...


i would inspect the wheel studs also.... make sure that you don't have any stretched studs..



if you had a dial indicator with some kind of stand...  you could take several stacks of 1/2 or 9/16" flat washers and use the lug nuts to tighten the rotor to the hub. and check it for run out....



i have knocked the studs out and used a 4 1/2" angle grinder with flap wheels on it to take the high spots off the hub flange... but i have a lot of practice doing this...
(please use new studs if you knock them out...)


please.. also check the caliper slides.... make sure they are free to slide.. i have run into some... that were totally seized... (somebody used dielectric tune up grease instead of silglide brake lube)
the last caliper i tried to free up where the mount bushing was seized... would not move with my 20 ton shop press....   the solids in the tune up grease became sand again...

also... don't let the tire guys install the wheels with IMPACT TOOLs... only Torque wrenches...

[58 Yeoman]

Thanks for the info Wayne, but I'm still wondering about the loose cv joint on the left...is that normal?

[wayne petty]

is there vertical movement where the inner joint sticks through the side of the case??


or does the inner joint slide in and out ... it should not... that might indicate somebody left the retaining ring off the end of the inner joint splines...


i know that there are support bearings/seal assemblies for some gm and mopar fwd transmissions that pound in to replace the seal to support the Cv shafts ....  usually do to the differential bearings going or starting to go south... i have never look for them for a taurus transmission....





did i ever mention a few years ago about the giant tree that blew down in a storm.... smashed a taurus wagons rear roof...   the tree layed in the street for 2 days until the city crews came to chop it up...

i ask everybody is they had heard the tree fall.....  nobody had...

so.. i guess its true....   if a tree falls on a  taurus... and nobody is there...  is does not make any sound...

i had to drive around it while the city guys were in there starting to cut it up..... i yelled out the window..... " i am really surprised that tree stayed double parked in the street that long and did not have parking enforcement people crawling up into the branches looking for a license plate or vin number so they could write a ticket on it and get it towed away....

[58 Yeoman]

there is vertical movement, but not in and out.  I looked on the AZ repair section and see that there is a circlip that should be replaced when removing the shaft; I wonder if it was replaced or the old one re-used if the shaft was replaced?

[wayne petty]

a little vertical is ok...  as long as it does not leak past the  seal...

less is better... but i thought your main problem is the DEATH WOBBLE>..


touching the brakes...  wobble starts... warped brake rotors...  wobble continues afterwards... i would still look at warped rotors.. but also seized caliper slides...