i have 3 axle gone out on me. One from a civic and a toyota . Both didn't make noise and there was no clicking.. the symptom it made was vibrating at high speed... wish mine would've click , but if you don't hear any click on yours , good luck trying to trouble shoot it.. i had to buy new tires , tie rods, bearings , and all that good stuff after figuring it was just an axle, oh and auto zone axle sucks , i had to do the job twice because it would wobble with after market , so i had to redo the job and go with a oem.. made the car drive smooth again after thousands of dollar wasted... hope this help others so they won't have to burn money like i did ..
Driveline vibration is one of the toughest issues to sort, 100% agree. I tend to go with OEM axles where affordable for this reason. I worked on a older CRV where we just lived with the vibration as it was not worth swapping CV axles, the AWD axle, RWD axles, etc. Unfortunately an axle balance issue usually only shows up at high speed where it's the hardest to isolate, however testing on the hoist (with all drive wheels in the air) is a good place to start. Even then, you may need to compress the suspension with axle stands to keep all the drive angles etc. the same.
There was a tsb for ford vehicles a few years ago for a similar issue where you applied a glue to the splines before insertion into the hub, there was a 24 hour curing time before driving.
Easy way to torque the nut, run the wheel nuts down against the rotor, then use one of those irwin quick clamps, flip the stationary jaw to the other side, prop it between the brake and seat. I use that all the time in the garage to apply the brakes on various cars. Brakes will hold way more than 200ft/lbs of torque with ease.
@@Levibetz I have a couple Task extendable supports in the shop that I use exactly as you described, quite often :-). For this job I just ran two wheel nuts on to the studs (brakes were not installed) and used a 3 foot pry bar on them to hold the hub for torquing.
Thanks for this detailed video. It’s both interesting and educational. Really appreciate it!! However, the part about the parking pawl got me thinking, so I ran a quick calculation. Let’s assume you’re on a 15% incline in a Nissan Leaf (approx. weight 1600 kg, with 205/55 R16 tires), nose down, and you shift the transmission into Park, releasing the brakes. In this case, there would be a 2.33 kN force pulling the car forward (downhill), generating about 542 ft-lb (735 Nm) of torque at the locked front wheels. This torque is transferred to the parking pawl (through the axle, differential assembly, and perhaps some gears). Any thoughts on that? I assume the transmission should be designed to handle such forces, or even greater (for example, on a 25% incline). Or you simply do not put transmission in Park on incline but rely on the parking break instead? I’m not very familiar with operating an automatic transmission. :P
Wow...thanks for doing that calculation. It does sound like a lot of torque at rest, but I'm guessing this would be at the axle. For sure though at a 15% slope (very few streets would exceed that) you would 100% want the emergency brake engaged. The process is stop, but keep your foot on the brake. Engage the parking brake. Relax your foot on the brakes. Then engage park. It's the same for ICE or EV to keep load off the pawl. Then, on a slope, we all know the correct way to turn the wheels so the car hits the curb instead of taking off...which of course is different depending on which direction the car is facing. The LEAF reduction gear transaxle has an approximate 8:1 reduction, and the pawl is at the motor side, so fortunately it would not have to take 500 ft/lbs...which is a good thing if you take a look at it! Now on the hub restraint issue, the NIssan service manual is quite specific on using the tool/bar across the wheel studs, not using the parking pawl. If you had brake rotors in place, then a person inside on the brakes would be fine too. Given the expense of repairing the transaxle, this may very well just a precaution (not using the parking pawl), but for sure I'm not testing it!
Most detailed information I've found on this issue. Would you consider this a necessary fix to keep the vehicle operating safely, or merely an annoyance?
Thanks for the kind words 🙂 My opinion, make sure the axle nuts are at 130 ft/lbs or so for the 2018 and up, and call it done. If the click is still bothering you, it's a pretty spendy job to replace both the axle and wheel bearing. This is likely why the Nissan TSB does not call out a replace, just basically some assembly lube and re-torquing.
Don’t use an impact wrench to tighten the nut if the wheel is on or not on the ground. Only use a TORQUE WRENCH to tighten the nut with the wheel on the ground. For AUDI's [and others] NEVER EVER USE AN IMPACT WRENCH TO TIGHTEN THE NUT. USE A TORQUE WRENCH ONLY WITH THE WHEEL ON THE GROUND or you will damage the wheel bearing.
I'd agree. A torque wrench is 100% the prescription for pretty much any nut or bolt on the vehicle! That said, with these 3rd gen bearings, the bearing is pretensioned by the roll forming on the bearing assembly and can take a lot more abuse than the older 1st gen press in bearings that need an axle in place under pre-load before taking weight.
Thanks for the video. The question remains: with this frequent metal on metal impact (shifting splines), how long will it take for the splines to wear down? I guess the tolerance will just keep increasing and the click get louder over time. The click on my Leaf is vastly louder than what you demonstrate here. It echoes off nearby homes as I accelerate. It is not subtle. It is annoying and makes it likely that I wouldn't be able to sell the car without some devaluing and lengthy explanation to prospective buyers. Poor design by Nissan. I guess I'll have to drive this Leaf until it's dead.
@@breakburrito In 40 some years I have not personally repaired a hub/axle with a fully stripped spline…I don’t believe it’s seen often. If yours is that loud, you can check the free play by backing off the axle nut and rotating the axle shaft. It might be advised to go the full route to replace both hub assembly and drive shaft. I would follow the TSB to check for correct axle nut torque, and when an axle or bearing issue arise, inspect and potentially replace both. Based on the service manual, these parts are designed to be an interference fit, but Nissan does not manufacturer either the wheel bearing or axle…so the issue likely rests with tolerances from both manufacturers. On the 2018, I would take the torque up to 134 ft/lbs as the axle, nut, wheel bearing assembly, and steering knuckle are the same parts on the 2018 and up.
WHAT IS AN AXLE CLICK? DOES HE MEAN a CV clicking? A CV and shaft IS NOT AN AXLE. AN AXLE IS SOMETHING A WHEEL ROTATES ON. A DRIVE SHAFT DRIVES THE WHEEL HUB OR AXLE EITHER DIRECTY OR INDIRECTLY. A cv is never an axle, NEVER! EVEN FRED FLINTSTONE KNOWS THAT!
@ElarMack-ci1of The CV shaft assembly is commonly referred to as a CV axle assembly. I did not make up the verbiage. To call it CV clicking would be misleading as the sound is not coming from the CV joint. To your point regarding Fred Flinstone, his car had stub axles, and a monolithic stone wheel, so you're right...he likely knew what an axle is :-)
i have 3 axle gone out on me. One from a civic and a toyota . Both didn't make noise and there was no clicking.. the symptom it made was vibrating at high speed... wish mine would've click , but if you don't hear any click on yours , good luck trying to trouble shoot it.. i had to buy new tires , tie rods, bearings , and all that good stuff after figuring it was just an axle, oh and auto zone axle sucks , i had to do the job twice because it would wobble with after market , so i had to redo the job and go with a oem.. made the car drive smooth again after thousands of dollar wasted... hope this help others so they won't have to burn money like i did ..
Driveline vibration is one of the toughest issues to sort, 100% agree. I tend to go with OEM axles where affordable for this reason. I worked on a older CRV where we just lived with the vibration as it was not worth swapping CV axles, the AWD axle, RWD axles, etc.
Unfortunately an axle balance issue usually only shows up at high speed where it's the hardest to isolate, however testing on the hoist (with all drive wheels in the air) is a good place to start. Even then, you may need to compress the suspension with axle stands to keep all the drive angles etc. the same.
Thank you so much for making this video!
You're quite welcome 🙂
You explained this very well, thanks for the video!
You're quite welcome 🙂
There was a tsb for ford vehicles a few years ago for a similar issue where you applied a glue to the splines before insertion into the hub, there was a 24 hour curing time before driving.
If you are able to locate that TSB, please post up a link :-)
Easy way to torque the nut, run the wheel nuts down against the rotor, then use one of those irwin quick clamps, flip the stationary jaw to the other side, prop it between the brake and seat. I use that all the time in the garage to apply the brakes on various cars. Brakes will hold way more than 200ft/lbs of torque with ease.
@@Levibetz I have a couple Task extendable supports in the shop that I use exactly as you described, quite often :-). For this job I just ran two wheel nuts on to the studs (brakes were not installed) and used a 3 foot pry bar on them to hold the hub for torquing.
Another absolute banger d-dog
wow...ok, I'll take that compliment..ha.
Thanks, Dennis! That was helpful info.
You are quite welcome. Thanks for the kind words :-)
Great Job!
Thank You :)
No worries..hope it was helpful.
Thanks for this detailed video. It’s both interesting and educational. Really appreciate it!!
However, the part about the parking pawl got me thinking, so I ran a quick calculation. Let’s assume you’re on a 15% incline in a Nissan Leaf (approx. weight 1600 kg, with 205/55 R16 tires), nose down, and you shift the transmission into Park, releasing the brakes. In this case, there would be a 2.33 kN force pulling the car forward (downhill), generating about 542 ft-lb (735 Nm) of torque at the locked front wheels. This torque is transferred to the parking pawl (through the axle, differential assembly, and perhaps some gears). Any thoughts on that? I assume the transmission should be designed to handle such forces, or even greater (for example, on a 25% incline).
Or you simply do not put transmission in Park on incline but rely on the parking break instead? I’m not very familiar with operating an automatic transmission. :P
Wow...thanks for doing that calculation. It does sound like a lot of torque at rest, but I'm guessing this would be at the axle. For sure though at a 15% slope (very few streets would exceed that) you would 100% want the emergency brake engaged. The process is stop, but keep your foot on the brake. Engage the parking brake. Relax your foot on the brakes. Then engage park. It's the same for ICE or EV to keep load off the pawl. Then, on a slope, we all know the correct way to turn the wheels so the car hits the curb instead of taking off...which of course is different depending on which direction the car is facing.
The LEAF reduction gear transaxle has an approximate 8:1 reduction, and the pawl is at the motor side, so fortunately it would not have to take 500 ft/lbs...which is a good thing if you take a look at it!
Now on the hub restraint issue, the NIssan service manual is quite specific on using the tool/bar across the wheel studs, not using the parking pawl. If you had brake rotors in place, then a person inside on the brakes would be fine too. Given the expense of repairing the transaxle, this may very well just a precaution (not using the parking pawl), but for sure I'm not testing it!
Most detailed information I've found on this issue. Would you consider this a necessary fix to keep the vehicle operating safely, or merely an annoyance?
Thanks for the kind words 🙂
My opinion, make sure the axle nuts are at 130 ft/lbs or so for the 2018 and up, and call it done. If the click is still bothering you, it's a pretty spendy job to replace both the axle and wheel bearing. This is likely why the Nissan TSB does not call out a replace, just basically some assembly lube and re-torquing.
Don’t use an impact wrench to tighten the nut if the wheel is on or not on the ground.
Only use a TORQUE WRENCH to tighten the nut with the wheel on the ground.
For AUDI's [and others] NEVER EVER USE AN IMPACT WRENCH TO TIGHTEN THE NUT.
USE A TORQUE WRENCH ONLY WITH THE WHEEL ON THE GROUND or you will damage the wheel bearing.
I'd agree. A torque wrench is 100% the prescription for pretty much any nut or bolt on the vehicle! That said, with these 3rd gen bearings, the bearing is pretensioned by the roll forming on the bearing assembly and can take a lot more abuse than the older 1st gen press in bearings that need an axle in place under pre-load before taking weight.
I lost forward and reverse and now has a clicking noise at park. What could be the problem?
@@luburan1973 I would post up a video in a separate thread. This is likely not a simple CV axle click issue.
@@WoodysWorksGarage Car is Ford focus 2.0 diesel with Getrag 450 6 speed transmission
@@luburan1973 I have zero experience with those, so can’t help I’m afraid :-(
Thanks for the video. The question remains: with this frequent metal on metal impact (shifting splines), how long will it take for the splines to wear down? I guess the tolerance will just keep increasing and the click get louder over time. The click on my Leaf is vastly louder than what you demonstrate here. It echoes off nearby homes as I accelerate. It is not subtle. It is annoying and makes it likely that I wouldn't be able to sell the car without some devaluing and lengthy explanation to prospective buyers. Poor design by Nissan. I guess I'll have to drive this Leaf until it's dead.
@@breakburrito In 40 some years I have not personally repaired a hub/axle with a fully stripped spline…I don’t believe it’s seen often. If yours is that loud, you can check the free play by backing off the axle nut and rotating the axle shaft. It might be advised to go the full route to replace both hub assembly and drive shaft.
I would follow the TSB to check for correct axle nut torque, and when an axle or bearing issue arise, inspect and potentially replace both. Based on the service manual, these parts are designed to be an interference fit, but Nissan does not manufacturer either the wheel bearing or axle…so the issue likely rests with tolerances from both manufacturers.
On the 2018, I would take the torque up to 134 ft/lbs as the axle, nut, wheel bearing assembly, and steering knuckle are the same parts on the 2018 and up.
WHAT IS AN AXLE CLICK? DOES HE MEAN a CV clicking? A CV and shaft IS NOT AN AXLE. AN AXLE IS SOMETHING A WHEEL ROTATES ON. A DRIVE SHAFT DRIVES THE WHEEL HUB OR AXLE EITHER DIRECTY OR INDIRECTLY. A cv is never an axle, NEVER! EVEN FRED FLINTSTONE KNOWS THAT!
@ElarMack-ci1of The CV shaft assembly is commonly referred to as a CV axle assembly. I did not make up the verbiage. To call it CV clicking would be misleading as the sound is not coming from the CV joint.
To your point regarding Fred Flinstone, his car had stub axles, and a monolithic stone wheel, so you're right...he likely knew what an axle is :-)