MrJumpingBeans

Hey yall,

I have a 2003 AWD Astro Van it came to me with a loud banging sound and i discovered that the driver side axle shaft was not installed all the way. so i installed it and henceforth discovered that the diff. fluid had metal shavings. Discovered the diff. bearings and gears had ground some how. so i rebuilt the front differential and replaced both axle shafts. Now my issue is; it is still making the same sound as when i got it. I know the diff. is good, but the driver side axle shaft has popped out about 1 inch. now i tapped it in till it would go no farther. Only about half inch of visibility of the taper on the shaft it's self when installed. i don't get why it's backing out. now could it be it's still not installed all the way? This is nothing like what i saw over seas when i worked on military trucks. trust me i have seen alot. this is boggling me.

ihatemybike

Were fresh spider gears used for the CVs to plug into? Is the spring clip in the groove on the CV? Have you serviced the transfer case and used GM's special fluid?

MrJumpingBeans

ya all the gears are completely new. Seals and all. Yes i also went to GM and they gave me the Fluid to. and as far as i can tell the ring is going in beacuse the is no more room for the shaft to go into.

*Amendum* Can a passanger side wheel bearing cause the Driver side axle shaft to pop out of the differential causing the axle shaft to skip and round off the tip at the snap ring?

MrJumpingBeans

Ok I discovered what was wrong. The Tires were all different sizes causing the diff. to grind and pop the axle shaft out on the driver side. The Hub was just something that had gone bad regardless of the diff. Just watch for a diff. with a different gear artio. I ran into that on this 03' but all is good now dispite much help from here. Thanks to ihatemybike for the inquiry though.

ihatemybike

Yikes! The AWDs hate mis-matched tires. Get a set of four that match and do four tire rotation.

Personally, when I buy tires for my AWD vans I get a matching rim for the spare, buy five tires and include the spare in the rotation. That way if I get a flat on a road trip the spare is worn the same amount and can be left on until I get back home.