92builtbird

Hey guys, do any of you know how to tell if your rack and pinion is shot. Right now I can't tell if its the rack, or my cv joints. I hear popping sounds when i turn the wheel in either direction, and when traveling on an on-ramp for a highway, its difficult to turn.

Anyone with experience in this?

92builtbird

Upon doing some more research, it is sounding more and more like the CV joints. Does this sound right?

91parkave

iTrader: (4)

Sounds more like strut mounts and/or sway bar endlinks

If it were CV joints there would be grease flung everywhere underneath the car coupled with click type noise when turning

92builtbird

It's my CV joints i'm almost sure of it. There is grease on my drivers side. Well I'm going to just do them when I throw in my new struts. It clicks when I turn, and it feels "heavy" when I corner.

06MonteSS

it's the CV joints...

and on these cars, you have to replaced the whole front axle assemblie's for that issue...

have done it 3 or 4 times now

and might as well replace the wheel hub assemblies as well while that's being done and parts are all off.. I'm sure the bearings are about done, unless you have really low mileage on that car....

92builtbird

I'm not hearing any droning or whining like a wheel bearing usually does. Are you sure they're toast? Also I have 128k miles, I bought it with 119k. No knowledge if the prior owner replaced them but my guess would be no.

92builtbird

Also can you advise on what hub replacement and cv axles you went with? Not sure what brand I should use.

91parkave

iTrader: (4)

timken or SKF,hpnestly if your bearing have no movement at 12 and 6 oclock then dont replace them. just keep them on hand for when they do go bad which they eventually. for Cv axles just dont go to advance auto parts. there notorious for splitting boots. duralast golds from autozone are what i have with no issues along with a lifetime warranty

06MonteSS

I went with genuine GM parts.... GM front axle assemblies, and GM front wheel hub assemblies... have to do the full assemblies, can't just do the bearings or cv joints on these cars...

and at 128k, yeah I would definitely replace them, especially if you don't know if the previous owner ever did or not...

you can find genuine GM parts at newgmparts.com

and yeah.. while everything is pulled off already to do the axle assemblies anyway, might as well replace the wheel hub assemblies too and save yourself some time/labor charges...

92builtbird

On newgmparts.com the front axle assemblies are $270 per side and the hub assemblies are $200 a side. Does that sound right?

06MonteSS

yep.... they're not cheap, heh... cheaper than getting from a dealer though...

92builtbird

So what's the benefit of buying those as opposed to the masterpro's that are 80 bucks a piece?

I just bought new bilstein HD struts and ssc lowering springs from zzp. I might have a heart attack!

06MonteSS

better quality, will last longer... before I replaced mine again this last time, the 2 times before that, I had gotten the **** from NAPA.. was crap.. lasted about a year before having to replace them again...

but, do whatever you want man hehe... just be aware that you'll probably be replacing those cheap ones again in a year or so....

91parkave

iTrader: (4)

You're better off going with timken or skf because of the warranty that way if you do have a issue you can just get new ones free regardless of brand most aftermarket wheel bearings only last so long on fwd vehicles. Getting them from gm doesn't mean they don't suck.

GXP25

iTrader: (3)

Go with SKF! They've actually been engineered properly.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/ls4-perfo...-bearings.html

$~91 each for the fronts.

92builtbird

Perfect. And what do you recommend for the cv axles? The duralast golds like 91 parkave recommended?

GXP25

iTrader: (3)

I'm not familiar with CV axle brands because I haven't had a need to replace mine yet. I do know that duralast is AutoZone's brand so YMMV.