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Problem fixed! - Rear CV failure in Twin Falls Idaho heading south

BadDog

BadDog

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Update in thread below. Turns out it's not an axle, but rather a failing CV in rear shaft

I just got a bad phone call. Nick (mosesburb - 72 Sub CTD) is currently on his annual summer odyssey, currently about 30 miles N of Twin Falls Idaho. Sounds like he's on the verge of losing a rear axle. Howls under power, quiet on coast. He needs a place to work, and hopefully access to parts (on holiday weekend of course).

He's currently still mobile and working his way south at lower speeds.

For reference (and possible parts), he's running a 14FF with 3:73 gears.

Can anyone offer assistance?
 
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As a secondary question, anyone with solid knowledge or experience have an opinion on his odds of continuing home at ~60 or less on just the front axle with rear shaft pulled?

Total GVW is somewhere just above 8k.

For opinion, I don't really like the odds. I know that similar axles survived running full time with NP203s, but not as sole axle moving 8k+. And his NP205 is fairly fresh, so while I'm sure it won't like it, I think it could get through. However, not sure how well it will like being loaded through the front output that far with no load on the rear. I'm sure it wasn't spec'd for that. So, maybe there's not a huge chance of that going badly. BUT, my real worry is that if he trashes that D60 front, then he's in much worse shape trying to get home than he is with a dead 14FF. It would be nice if that question were never answered definitively by him on this trip.

Thoughts? Hell no, don't to it? Or it should work fine, send it!
 
I'm up in the boise area. I actually have a full 3.73 14bff gear set (carrier and pinion already assembled in pinion support) sitting on my bench I just pulled out of the axle in my burban a couple weeks ago. Sounds like he's about 1.5 - 2 hours away from me though
 
I wanted to get posted ASAP after he first called me on the side of the road. He's now in N Twin Falls and got under for some serious investigation. Looks like the feel and sound were probably misleading. Axle seems fine. But front CV on rear driveshaft is pretty sloppy. So, at this moment, the axle issue seems to have become a CV shaft issue. But again, holiday weekend...

He's currently investigating whether it ate itself, or only needs a rebuild, as well as continuing to eliminate the rear axle as a source of problem.
 
Thanks! That might have been a good option, but it appears the situation is changing.

He's at a truck stop or something like that now, and while getting started on actually diagnosing the problem found what now appears to be a CV failure. But I'll pass it along. If nothing else, if it goes that way, he could rent a u-haul and drive up for it.
 
Yeah, I was gonna say, the only real thing I could see causing that in a 14bff is if one of the carrier bearings or the pinion support stub shaft bearing went on him (both of which I would be skeptical on). And from the sounds you posted it sounded more like a driveshaft vibration issue. A CV shaft going out sounds a lot more likely.

Yeah, being it's the 4th weekend, not sure what places are going to be open to get the driveshaft replaced/fixed around twin falls either
 
If he were up near boise I could of probably helped him get hooked up with someone up here or seen what I could have done to help, but I'm unfamiliar with the locals down there. Hope he can get it figured out
 
Yeah, my first thought was pinion support bearing or related.

Just got off the phone again. Axle appears ok, shaft is out, and it looks like centering ball is shot (or gone?), but still not apart to know if it's rebuildable. He's running down local options now that were mentioned by the guy at the place where he stopped (not great odds it seems). If there is anyone local with donor shaft, it may come down to a backyard weld job and slow trip home on unbalanced shaft.
 
There is a company called Six States Distributors. There's a location up here in Boise that has a driveshaft division. That's where I get all my drive-shafts modified/fixed/built. I know there's one in Twin Falls (not sure if they have a driveshaft division there too). But may be worth a call. The phone number for the Twin Falls location is 208-734-2855. Also not sure if they're open today/this weekend, again being the holiday
 
He's on his way there now. Unfortunately, they are buried with harvest season, but are going to try to see if they can provide help. Much thanks!
 
BadDog said:
He's on his way there now. Unfortunately, they are buried with harvest season, but are going to try to see if they can provide help. Much thanks!
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I'm sure they will help him out. If the Twin Falls location is anything like the Boise location, they're top notch dudes that do quality work and will fix him up.
 
Total bummer. Saw on his IG account the burb just flipped over 100k.

Hope he gets it nailed down.
 
Nick just called, and he's back on the road. Six States Distributors for the win! One of the guys was sympathetic to Nick's situation and stayed after (I think?) to rebuild that CV. There is some internal damage, but the opinion is that it should make it back to Phoenix before needing to be addressed correctly.

Much thanks for the help! The CK5 brotherhood comes through again!
 
i have a local drive shaft shop that the guy does go above and beyond when its truly needed .

otherwise he puts in a solid days work and bangs out good quality products . :waytogo:
 
Completely worthless information, way late to the party...

Drove mine home 200 miles front shaft only and wiped the ring gear
 
Bent77 said:
Completely worthless information, way late to the party...

Drove mine home 200 miles front shaft only and wiped the ring gear
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I did the same and mine ate the axle ujoints.
Not sure if they needed lubrication or they were almost done but by the time I got home it was getting bad.
Being single ujoints they are not good for traction while steering.
Another reason all my front axles will have rcp axle shafts
 
And this is exactly why I have been apprehensive on doing a CV on the rear shaft of my vibrating ass Suburban. There isn’t a single rig I’ve had that didn’t need the front CV rebuilt and in the case of my K10, it has been built 3 or 4 times in 22 years and that is just from 4x4 use. Are those CV’s up to the task or running the rear 100% of the time, especially on a high torque rig like Nick’s Cummins or my 8.1L? Can’t wait to talk to him now. One of my buddy’s is headed to PHX from CO tomorrow morning to deliver a NV4500. Wish I was going too to razz him about this. Glad Nick didn’t have a major break down on the fambam vaca
 
Yeah, I was torn on my current Sad Sub build. Original Sub shaft was a slip yoke standard u-joint shaft. But I'm using the 241 with SYE from my old K5 rock crawler, which understandably had a CV shaft, both for the short shaft, and to tip the pinion up to avoid at least a few impacts. So, my first thought was lengthen the K5 CV shaft. But that's a LONG heavy CV shaft back there. So started thinking about a carrier bearing like the long pickups use with a short rear shaft to reduce risk of impact. But that's just more crap to buy, fab, and go bad. And this is NOT a rock crawler, so I have to adjust my thinking. In the end, good or bad, I also went with a heavy wall tube on a long CV shaft. In fact, just had it built last week (along with Nicks), and installed it today...
 
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