I snapped one at 223,000 miles finally on my SR

It's been making some noise for about a year or more, no tears in the boots, no holes or signs of lacking grease, was offroading a few weeks back and climbed a steep hill under a fair amount of throttle, loaded down and had 4 people in it, made it up the hill but over the top it started getting crunchy and once i shifted back to AWD it was obvious that the front end was having a problem.


I pulled busted driver side axle today, the boots were perfect and full of grease still, i cut the outer boot knowing that's where the break occurred to separate, clean and inspect it, the bearing cage exploded, pictured is all but one piece of the cage, if i had manual locking hubs i could just unlock the hub and keep driving but this caused constant grinding noise and i feared it would eventually start to bind, i didnt want to risk that so I parked it until the new axle came in.

for anyone wanting to change your CV's, it's not bad, have to remove the outer tie rod end, both ball joints from the steering knuckle, remove the outer axle clip, you dont have to remove the outer splined hub but it does make it easier and remove the brake caliper. then take the steering knuckle completely off, dont forget the ABS sensor if equipped.

then the old one pops out and the new one goes right back in, reverse the steps.

Yeah that is a pretty standard break when it comes to them blowing up just about always inner joint at the cage, pa_jero has snapped the shaft off in the diff before i think i broke an outer once.

I have a broken outer on mine right now, i have manual hubs so it's not doing much but it did used to bind and crunch when turning but the last time i took it 3 wheeling i think it broke in enough small bits not to bind anymore,

Here is the OEM part number: MR165860. Mitsu stated the part is obsolete. Good luck with the replacement. NAPA doesn't have the driver's side. Please let us know which brand you purchase and its longevity.

Happy Trails!

matseel

Not common, but I managed to shear the inside stub off inside the differential with my 4.3, and 33 LTB Swampers with a welded front diff.

Well, IMHO, it is fairly common. Went through 2 CV joints on my Porsche over a 6 yr period. Both were bearings breaking up. And, I lost one CV joint on my Dodge Ram. That was the bearing holder/race that cracked. In fact, it looked similar to the imaged posted.

CV joints do fail. Of my three, I do know that two had cracked boots. The Dodge (one cracked boot) had seen extensive off road and numerous mud excursions. The Porsche was strictly street but both CV joints showed signs of rust but only one boot had visible cracks.

I was asking about monteros specifically, but thanks. I've broken a ton of front and rear CV's in turbo 4g63 awd DSM's, 100% of the time that was from abuse though. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />


I bought a new one from http://www.drivetechamerica.com/Product-Axle.html

cost: $60 shipped

fitment was great, looks just like stock, so far, so good.

Breaking CV's is NOT common on monteros in particular. Surprising, but... they just seem to hold up.

It is fairly common in Gen I Monteros off-road when you turn the wheel hard one direction against an obsticle. Exceedingly rare on a Gen II, but the key is yours was making noise for a long time! So that is not really a failure, more just worn out and should have been replaced sooner. Dirt and water getting in through torn boots will certainly reduce life expectancy.

hey alpha male contact these guys I use to work for them they do awesome work and any axles people claim is rare they always laugh and have the parts. Also some great ideas on how to make them stronger. A lot of axle stuff is inner changeable. like I have some mazda parts on my evo axles..

http://www.cvjreman.com/