CV Axle 'pop' question

[ddombrowski]

Changing control arms on a 2007 Honda Pilot. On the passenger side, I'm using a jack to put a little pressure on the strut to help line things up so the ball joint pops into place.

As I'm doing this, I hear a loud-ish 'POP' noise, and now the control arm is even less lined up with the strut. I notice the rotor can now spin freely and the CV axle is not engaged.

I rotated the axle until it I felt the teeth line up and popped the CV axle back into place. I got the control arm installed, tightened everything down, and took it for a test drive.

Everything seems okay, I don't hear any noises, no clicking. I did several hard right and hard left turns (as hard as I could in a Pilot) while staying on the gas and everything seems normal.

Did I F something up? Or will the axle be okay?

 

[The_Jeff]

Since you're not leaking transaxle fluid you're fine. A springy c-clip in the splines of the inner axle is what made that noise.

 

[Merkava_4]

It's easier to line up the ball joint to the steering knuckle if the lower control arm bolts are loose. The last thing you do is tighten the lower control arm bolts after everything is done and the car is down off the jack stands with the car's weight resting on the tires.

 

[ddombrowski]

I tried doing the balljoint first on the drivers side and had trouble getting the aft control arm bushing to line up. I think the factory procedure is to do the ball joint last but I'm not 100% on that.

 

[The_Jeff]

Sometimes a come-along helps when the suspension is blown apart to suck it all back together.

 

[Merkava_4]

What you do is get the control arm bushings hooked up first and then you swing the lower control arm up to insert the ball joint stud into the steering knuckle. You can move that ball joint stud to whichever angle you want to help it line up with the steering knuckle.