I was suspecting a wheel bearing gone bad so I jacked up the Cobalt to take a look see. After doing all the usual tests and wiggling a component or two, I discovered that I had ALOT of movement where the Passenger side axle goes into the intermediate shaft bracket. Am I looking at a bearing r+r, or do I have to replace the whole Intermediate shaft ?

I took a quick video but Im not sure how to post a video correctly on the forums.

 

smart money would source the bearing and replace it. Regretably the splines may be messed up on the shaft internally where the axle plunge joint end fits, check it out and hope for the best. Complete shafts are a lot of money, but check CED for best prices...

 

Thanks for your response.

Ive spent the last 5 hrs. searching the interwebs for just the bearing, but Im having trouble find it just yet. I did find a how-to for the bearing replacement on another Cobalt forum which is extremely helpful, but he gave no part # for the bearing. Im gonna dig into this tommorrow.

 

Is this a serviceable part anyone know?

Is there a grease fitting on it anywhere?

 

After looking at this more I am now realizing that this may be more (or less) involved than originaly thought.

My Cobalt has a AUTOMATIC TRANSAXLE so that changes things here. I am not sure if the intermediate shaft unbolts and slides out like on the manual trans.....?

Have we seen anyone else here with an auto trans. having an experience like this?

 

afaik the auto does not have an intermediate shaft. Its the trans you gotta deal with. Would have to go look at one to tell you, Best advice is talk to/go see a local auto trans shop.

 

This is my wifes car so Im going to have her bring it to the local dealership and have them decide. We have had good luck with them in the past.

This may be covered with the 5yr./100,000 mile powertrain warranty. We have also talked about perhaps trading this peice in for something else. lol

 

Get to the bottom of this? I have the same popping noise coming from my drivers side axle. But I checked an axle at work (new) and it does the same thing. So I figured it was nothing to be concerned about. I'm getting a cluck/pop noise turning and hitting potholes and thats the only movement I can find in my suspension/steering at all.

 

on the automatics its normal for there to be some slight up and down play. there is a short male-male axle stub shaft that goes into the differential side gear and into the female splines on the axle. now if its enough play that the axle seal is leaking, thats another story. generally what happens is the differential case bushing it worn out. this bushing supports the end of the differential, and when its loose the differential is able to move around. the only repair for this is to have the transmission completely disassembled and have that bushing replaced.

like i said to start with, if the seal isnt leaking its not a problem. any looseness in the differential will cause the seal to leak.