Add me to the list of broken 3rd gen CV's! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" />

Now that I'm personally interested, I've just begun reading CV-related posts, and came across one from February where Jeff the marmot states...
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Dang! I feel lucky I haven't broken one yet. I've heard of at least a few people on these forums (3 or 4 prior to you?) who've broken a CV on a 3rd gen 4Runner. And it's always the right front outer CV. But each of those was due to wheel spin/bouncing according to what they posted. ... ALL of those others so far that broke a CV had either open diffs or just the '01-'02 4Runner traction control system. No one with at least a rear locker has broken a front CV yet on a 3rd gen.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Helv, Helvetica, Sans">Well, true to the pattern, it was the right outer CV and I have the '01 traction control system. Not certain it was due to wheel spin or bouncing, but it might have been spin.

Here's what happened:

I was running Carnage Canyon (outside of Boulder) for the first time, and was at an obstacle consisting of an upward slope, a sharp turn to the left, off-cambre to the passenger side, mountain dirt with ruts/holes, and big tree root blocking the front tires. (Not a recipe for success. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" /> ) I had the tires turned to the full leftward position and was attempting to crawl up. I didn't hear a noise or notice anything peculiar. My spotter just announced that I had ball bearings and grease dripping onto the trail. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> I didn't think I was really pushing it. (Guys who wheel with me know I'm usaully pretty mellow.) It's possible though that the tire was spinning and then stopped suddenly. No doubt the geometry was bad.

Driving out with the axle loose and clicking made me see the wisdom in getting manual hubs to be able to disengage in such situations. Is this something I should consider putting in while I'm having the CV fixed? Would it increase the cost of repair considerably? (This may have been discussed before -- I didn't get through all the posts.)

<small>[ April 13, 2003, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Aurora Sandman ]</small>