My 08 Z51 optioned car is making clunking noise from the rear. The end links seem fine. When I jack the car up with the wheels hanging free, wheels off, I turn the axle back and forth there is a looseness and it clunks. Seems to be a lot of play and I want to replace both axle shafts, the car has 121,000 miles on it. I have replaced one of the wheel bearing before so I know how to remove everything from the wheel side. What I would like to know is once I get everything off on the wheel end how do I get the axle disconnected from the rear itself. Does it just pop off or are there clips holding it on, do I need to go inside the rear to remove clips? I guess my question is can I do this myself? OK one more, is there a video out there on "How To" remove the Axle shaft?

 

luck

 

HK thanx for the video.

I've been reading for over an hour now and it seems that I can use C5 axle shafts in my 08 Z51, am I getting this right because I see rebuilt shafts on ebay for like $120 each and new C6 shafts are like $500 each, a hard pill to swallow.

 

You can use C5 axles and they are stronger too. If I remember right I paid less than 300 for new ones from GM. I would Go that route or used OEM axles. I don't trust the reman stuff

 

Yes $300 for the pair would be great, I start looking around for that deal. Yes I'm not real crazy about reman either but that was the first thing that popped up.

 

More like 250 each for new I believe. Easy to check online.

 

Check out Cheapestgmparts.com. I got my axles from them for a great price. And they just pull out of the diff. Pretty easy once you get to that point.

I also had a clinking noise when I let off the brakes while still moving. Axles did not help.

 

There will be some amount of slack turning the wheels like that. Have you tried checking the axle nuts?

 

I bought new C5 shafts from Advance auto, pure junk. Ended up buying GForce axles and they have been trouble free for several years now. The Advance shafts were $200 and the Gforce are 7 times that.

I only have 540 at the wheels, so I guess they should hold up well.

Here is a stock C6 vs GForce.

 

not lately but I will tomorrow when I get to the plant, i don't have a socket that big in my garage tool box.

 

yea they are real pretty but I'm not spending that kind of money on cv shafts, OEM are half that.

 

Just don't buy axles from a big box store. They look good, but are junk.

 

325.56 at Cheapestgmparts.com for genuine GM part.

 

It just seems that either you buy made in china both for $225 or you buy GM $550 - $650. I'll tighten up on my nutz and see what happens. The car runs great it just clunks when I first start moving. I guess I need to never stop driving.

 

I'm thinking you may have an issue with your differential rather than the axle itself. While making over 3000 low 10 second passes with stock axles on my cars, I've only ever snapped one a grand total of two times. In both cases the axles were never noisy or clunky prior to them breaking.

What I have however seen 4 or 5 times (both with my cars and others that I've worked on) is things start to get sloppy inside the differential, particularly the output shafts which is what the inner portion of the axle slides in to.

What I'd recommend you do is jack up the car again but this time when you attempt to move the axle back and forth, try to have somebody else hold it steady - first from the shaft and then at the inner cup where it goes into the differential.

The goal here is determine what exactly is making the clunking sound. If you can still move the axle back and forth while somebody else is trying to hold it steady from either spot then it probably is bad. If however you find that it's difficult or impossible to move it back and forth while somebody is holding it and you don't start hearing the clunking sound until the other person lets go, then your differential is likely the issue in this case.

 

I agree with the above...a good diagnostic plan. I can't see how axle shafts would help with the free play that you describe and I also think that some free play in that situation is normal.

 

It is possible that the constant velocity joints wear and get some play in them. Possible, yes, probable, no.

 

For reference, I can rotate my wheel about 3* of free play. That's the equivalent of 11/16" measured at the outer tire radius. I'm a little under 500 1/4 mile passes at quite a bit less power than Christopher, but I do have 138K miles on the car.

 

Doubt it is an axle issue. They also swapped splines around 08, so c5 axles may not fit.

 

I thought the splines on the wheel end changed in 2009, but I could be wrong.