Am getting less than 8K miles out of right front inner CV joints. Have been repacing whole drive shaft. Have seen some slop in spline fit on all replacement shafts. Shafts have come from Subaru, NAPA,& Les Schwab. All do the same. Am considering making shims for spline (ug). Have installed exaust heat shield; excessive heat not problem. One boot split after only about 500 mi. I think suttle driver had his foot into it (maybe 70 MPH for 250 mi.) to keep up with the pack. Any advice about potential causes & remedies? It's a vintage ('86) Brat.

a little bit of spline slop is no big deal, I would look at your tranny/engine mounts, because engine twist can make the angles much larger during accel. which will increase wear. Are you just having problems with boots splitting or do they actually start to click or shudder before the boots crack?

if the splines seem sloppy on the new axles, try inspecting the splines on the hub itselfalso you should have the height adjustable struts, if they are maxed out they can wear on the axles. try lowering them to half way if they are cranked up

ditton on the tranny mounts. I went through a axle in about 250 miles once because of it, and having my susp cranked all the way up.....

 

hub may also be worn, but shouldn't cause joint failure.....

Thanks for the reply. Both tranny & eng. I recently replaced. With mounts suspect on the CV joints, replaced mounts at that time. Have had both boot split & clicking happen first on separate occasions. The problem seems uneffected by tranny & mount change, & seems to be getting gradually worse with time.

a little bit of spline slop is no big deal, I would look at your tranny/engine mounts, because engine twist can make the angles much larger during accel. which will increase wear. Are you just having problems with boots splitting or do they actually start to click or shudder before the boots crack?

I haven't thought to look into the hub much because the probem is with the inner CV joint. Also, I wasn't aware that my suspention was ajustable for height. Thanks, I'll look at that.

if the splines seem sloppy on the new axles, try inspecting the splines on the hub itselfalso you should have the height adjustable struts, if they are maxed out they can wear on the axles. try lowering them to half way if they are cranked up

Being new to this chat game, I'm pleasently suprised. On the other hand, have been driving my Brat for 13 years. I tend to agree that the hub condition shouldn't effect inner joint much.

ditton on the tranny mounts. I went through a axle in about 250 miles once because of it, and having my susp cranked all the way up.....

 

hub may also be worn, but shouldn't cause joint failure.....