jbar Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, but I couldn't find quite what I was looking for in a search of previous posts. Feel free to redirect me if I've missed an answer to my question in another thread. I replaced the front half-shafts/axles on my '03 Baja with manual transmission about a year and <10,000 miles ago. The boots were torn and it was cheaper to replace the shafts than have a shop do the boots. The job was pretty straight forward and there were no obvious red flags for anything I missed or messed up. Shortly afterward, I get a hard clunk when making a tight turn at low speeds (parking usually) in both direction. It doesn't always do it unless I turn the wheel hard and it feels like the cv joint is binding then releasing. There's no difference between forward or reverse. Two things come to mind. I did not fully remove the spindle assembly because I found that I could work the shafts out of the vehicle without this step. Here's the kicker, I got the replacements from Autozone and paid $70/ea for them, so they could just be crap and I should've known better. Anyone else have a similar experience with cheap replacements or is there something I might have missed in getting these aligned/seated/etc. that would cause this binding? Or am I looking in the wrong place entirely? The spindle nuts were taken to proper torque and the roll pin hole alignment went fine. One front wheel bearing has been replaced and the other has no issue. I'm inclined to order proper parts and swap them out, but want to get a feel for whether I can work this issue out in a simpler way first. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 (edited) Aftermarket axles have a high failure rate in subarus. You would have been much better off in the long run to reboot the oem axles with some fresh grease. It's really not a hard job, a flathead screwdriver, snap ring pliers, and a cv band tool (or something makeshift) is all that's needed beyond the tools needed to change the axles. I would browse the junkyards for a pair of oem axles from a compatible model, 00-04 legacy/outback axles in your case. And run those. Edited August 9, 2016 by 86BRATMAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 this: Aftermarket axles have a high failure rate in subarus. You would have been much better off in the long run to reboot the oem axles with some fresh grease. It's really not a hard job, a flathead screwdriver, snap ring pliers, and a cv band tool (or something makeshift) is all that's needed beyond the tools needed to change the axles. I would browse the junkyards for a pair of oem axles from a compatible model, 00-04 legacy/outback axles in your case. And run those. used OEM Subaru axles and reboot or install and try to get a few years/miles out of the existing boots. Subaru OEM boots last longer than aftermarket boots, particularly on my lifted Subarus. www.car-part.com for cheap used axles aftermarket axles have a high percentage of issues, very common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 The hard clunk you get on slow speed turns--are you sure it's not torque bind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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