Took the mechanic for a ride a little bit ago. He rode in the trunk:D (needs to be a factory option)
He could hear clicking that you can't hear from the drivers seat at all times. Will be replacing the rt. side axel tomorrow.

That was too easy, see if you can get him to ride under the hood....

He is a small guy, might ask him if he would ride there and catch the oil drips for me. Would keep the driveway cleaner

"Skunk Ape" - I live with one of them critters. And he smokes cigars.

Axle shaft replacement is fun. Just keep track of that little pin that keeps the whole thing together. Helps if you have smaller hands (unlike me).

Just keep track of that little pin that keeps the whole thing together
 

?Que? What little pin?

There is a circlip which you shouldn't loose, but a pin?

Also, keep track of the washers which go on the end of the shaft into the hub. I left one in the hub, then put one on the shaft (now there would be two, instead of one), so when I tried to put the circlip on (inside the pumpkin), it wouldn't fit!!
Stupido!

pin, clip, same difference :D


I ment the little C-clip that's a pain in the butt to get back on the axle shaft once it's off.

Ah, yes. I agree. You can imagine my pain when I tried to get that sucker in there with two washers on the end of the shaft...Jeepers!

god that hurt, I had to contort my self in all sorts of weird positions, and once I kinda got it on it would pop off and fly out past the bumper (dunno how). after the n-tenth time I tryed I just kept my finger on the bugger until it popped on, even though the gear was in a spot that made that very painful and very hard.

got my car back late yesterday. Rt. side axel was replaced. The knuckle joint was so bad it was pretty obvious what was wrong after it was off the car. The bad thing was it had put push-pull stress on the rear wheel and the bearing was showing signs of failure. So while it was in the shop I had both rear bearings replaced. I watched them do one side and this is not something I have the tools to do. Didn't look hard, just takes special tools. I see no mention in the service records of this ever being done so I guess the rears are good for 200k +. No more noise!