CV Shafts Binding

[Brandon X]

So I had my truck up on a lift the other day and when we would go to turn the front tires, they would bind up and be hard to turn. Obviously this is because of the 3" RCX lift I put on. I also noticed when I had my 4WD engaged during the winter after I put the lift on that it acted REALLY weird. I don't even know how to explain it, but it just wasn't right AT ALL.

How can I fix this? I'm thinking it's gonna be pretty expensive. I also need new boots too cause both are ripped. I swear this ******* lift was the WORST thing I have bought. $600 for the kit, $700 for the labor which included replacing a broken leaf spring, and now it's gonna be however much money I need to spend for new CV shafts and boots + labor. All that for a HORRIBLE ride, and like 2" of lift which is barely noticeable. ****!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sumo]

Axles isnt a bad job to do in the driveway. As for parts i did napa, for cheap maybe 100 a side with 50 back on cores. This is on my 89 sierra though. Shouldnt be too much of a difference.

 

[Brandon X]

Well that's not bad, figured it was gonna be more. Would I be safe replacing with OEM shafts or do I need some sort of aftermarket/custom ones?

 

[sumo]

I had similar problem in my 89, left axle totally done. It pulled to the right, made a god awful noise, I had to hold the steering wheel half cocked when it was in 4x4. When i unbolted the last bolt, it fell apart and broke in 2 pieces and internals were everywhere. I still have them in my 89 over a year now without a problem.

 

[fyremanpat]

You said it was on a lift when it was really hard to rotate the wheel. I'm assuming the suspension was at full travel with the wheels hanging. That would cause half shafts to bind.

 

[bowtiefreak]

^^^^on a lift is the max droop thetruck can have and it will bind this way. Can you take a picture of the front suspension while the truck is on the ground? This will give us a good idea of angles and so on.

 

[Brandon X]

Yeah I can take some pics. I'm not sure what angles but ill take a few.

 

[fyremanpat]

Ideally you want no half shaft angle but that's hard to do sometimes

 

[bowtiefreak]

this picture would be ideal

 

[96ProCompTahoe]

imm thinking the same thing with it being on a lift at the time.

if you go aftermarket plan to drop some big money on them.