A new axle has caused me all kinds of trouble trying to diagnose a knocking sound. Replaced it with another new axle (because a "tech" didn't torque the bolts, so when it fell off, so I thought perhaps it had been damaged). After the 2nd replacement knocked even louder I thought some permanent damage may have been done. 

I don't know what the issue is with yours, but I can say with some experience, do not replace the axle and cv. (The Chinese ones I got have a courser spline pattern). If you ever need to replace the boot, just replace the boot and grease. 

Roman

Sent from someone's plumbing

> On May 15, 2017, at 14:42, David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> 
> Hard stuff can indeed be damaged by dropping onto concrete.  Dropping an
> axial-lead diode onto concrete can destroy it -- the article talking about
> that estimated peak loads of 25,000 gee from dropping four feet onto
> concrete, side impact.  There's undoubtedly some damage to the ball, but
> any effect from that will show up down the road.
> 
> A new Lobro joint has negative clearance between balls and races and is
> quite stiff to operate by hand.  I suspect that's what you're noticing.
> 
> Yrs,
> d
> 
> On Mon, May 15, 2017 at 1:41 PM, Steve Williams <
> steve@williamsitconsulting.com> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I decided to check for wear and re-grease my CV joints.
>> 
>> I did NOT remove the CV's from the axle, so the middle "cage" never came
>> off to get mis-aligned.
>> 
>> I cleaned, found two tiny pits on two different surfaces, so will rotate
>> my axles (standard transmission).
>> 
>> I did one joint at a time to ensure the parts did not get mixed up.
>> 
>> With the axle still off of the van...
>> 
>> When I re-assembled, the CV joint feels "smooth" when I operate it by
>> hand in approximately the same range of motion as it would have on the fan.
>> 
>> If I pull the shaft out a bit, there is some catching as I rotate the
>> shaft/cv by hand.
>> 
>> I have triple checked the assembly, making sure the thin part on the
>> inside cage is aligned with the "thick" part of the outer housing.
>> 
>> The only think I can think is that the steel balls didn't go back in the
>> same groove that the originally came from and aren't "mated" to their
>> new home.
>> 
>> Part of me wants to reassemble and just drive, but the other part of me
>> doesn't want a failure on the road!
>> 
>> I've never felt a "new" cv joint, so I do not have anything to compare
>> to.  All I have to compare to is the used CV's, which seemed to operate
>> smoothly throughout the entire range of motion.
>> 
>> I did drop a ball on the concrete floor of my garage, but it did not
>> appear damaged (yes, I cleaned it) and I cannot imagine the hardened
>> steel would be damaged by dropping 2 feet onto concrete.
>> 
>> Do I have a problem, or is this slight sticking "normal" after
>> reassembling used CV's?
>> 
>> It's really hard to describe the sticking :(
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Steve W.
>>