So My car is finally finished and the DMV actually got off their asses to inspect it. Wonderful right? One would assume.. however the first day it was up and running, my brother was driving it with my dad. He killed the motor in it at a redlight, went to start it back up and let the clutch out and the axle was just free spinning..

Back at the garage we found that the axle did NOT break, it just fell out.. its the right axle, not too short so how the hell could it just fall out? The motor seems to move alot, as in rise up when its revved, so perhaps it moves enough to drop the axle out idk.. we can't see any broken motor mounts tho so i wouldn't know why it would rise so much..

Can anyone tell me what could be wrong? has this ever happened to anyone? Does anyone's motor raise that much? i have no clue and its pretty depressing seeing as i just finally got it going..

 

Bump.. hoping some morning guys may be able to help me out..

 

your the guiy who was rebuilding the totaled one right? make sure all the engine mounts are tight(i'm sure you have) i have never had an axle out of this car, but make sure the clip is there. if your front suspension is out of wack it could cause a strange angle on the cv joints. maybe if you have a drive on lift, pull it up and shake the shitout of it while someone is under it watching the axle.

 

Was the car ever put on a rack to see if it's straight? My guess is the car is not straight. Therefore the axle isn't sitting in as much as it normally would causing the normal free play to let it slide out?

Just guessing.

 

Hmm..I wonder how much the cost to fix will be if it's not straight.

 

Minimum of a grand I would say.

 

well the engine jumping like that is normal. this engine likes to move like crazy without better mounts.

but never head of an axle just falling out like that.

 

the car is straight.. its withen millimeters of GM's dimensions, we've been through all of that and i'm 99% sure thats not the problem.. My dad went the other day to check out another SS Cobalt and the motor moves NOTHING like mine does.. mine moves quite a bit more than it did.. We're pretty sure its a motor mount, but they all seem fine.. I believe i'll go ahead and replace the bushings

 

Seems like it would have been easier to just spend a couple more thousand and not have the wait and problems with a clear title used SS.

 

now what fun is that? besides i saved quite a bit

 

Engine movement IMO won't cause an axle to fall out...

 

yea its a headache but its a good experience too

well, what else could it be? i'm out of ideas and i know the engine moves too much, so if nothing else i at least thing it contributes to it and needs to be fixed

 

Is there a snap ring that hols the axles on to the output shafts?

 

Alright so here's the current status.. got a new axle in it and drove it for a few days for the first time.. it drives great but i wasn't to hard on it, didn't pull out hard or jerk it around too much.. no sense pushing my luck.

Did some measurements and it appears that i'm roughly 3/8" to 1/2" wider from ball joint to ball joint than another cobalt ss/sc. this doesnt' seem like much at all to me but i guess the combination of that and the motor jerking when my brother killed it could have caused the axle to pop out.

Like i said before tho, the frame is straight so i'm off somewhere in the carraige. I could replace the carraige, which ultimately i'll probably end up doing or my dad has suggested (and is actually having one made for me now) a spacer for the axle to give it that little bit of extra length. At first i felt like this was a little bit of "afro engineering" but he's confident that it will solve my problem.. any opinions?

 

If the chassis is in spec then so would the undercarriage. Sounds like who ever did the frame work didn't do it right.

 

the carriage isn't part of the frame. when frames are pulled the dimensions are taken from the front where the bumper cover mounts so its still possible that the carriage would be out.. how it became bowed out rather than pushed in is what baffles me.

 

if u had the axle nut off perhaps someone forgot to put the nut back on before the blasted the nut on. im not sure if they have a nut and washer or the washer may be built in to the nut. id say its worth looking into cuz iv heard that if the washer isnt there the axle and pop out some.

 

so the ball joints are farther apart then a not hit one? how are the control arm bushings? try measureing from the top of one strut to the other, maybe they are pushed in toward the middle causing the ball joints to be farther apart. if so you may be able to fix that with a strut bar.


didn't think about that dsp86. make sure the nuts are in all the way, that could cause it to

 

I'll check this to be sure.. either way i'm still about a half inch off.


Well i replaces the left strut so it should be fine. The carriage was twisted in the wreck but fixed itself once the frame was pulled.. Could it be possible that the carriage bowed out half of an inch? I just dont see how.. you'd think it'd be pushed inward if anything

 

wait the carriage, as in the subframe? if that was out of wack i could see that doing it no problem.

is the knuckle stright?

i'd check from strut to strut see how that is. if its off throw a strut bar on it and see how it is after. i saw an old 3 series that the body was cracked and he threw a strut bar on it and it pulled it stright.

 

Measure from control arm mount point to mounting point to prove its the carriage and not bushings or control arms them selves. Also measure the the top strut mounting point to mounting point. That might give you some more ideas.

 

The carriage as in the K-member? Its not part of the frame it bolts to the frame and is what the engine is mounted on so i wouldn't really consider it part of the frame but yea i do believe it is the problem.. Like i said before tho i have replaced the strut tower.. i strut bar could be a good investment but i doubt that would bring my axle in to where it needs to be.

I can make these measurements but i dont' have another cobalt to compare it to anymore. the one i was comparing too was sold.

the spacer that i'm having made will simply push the axle into the transmission 3/8" inward which would hopefully eliminate my axle popping out problem.. but could disrupt my abs sensor..

do you think this could solve my problem? and if so do you think that much movement would effect my ABS?

 

Could solve problem but not the right way.

 

not all totaled vehicles have a salvage title. You shoudnt have to get a spaced made. If you think they motor moves too much they try replacein the motor mounts.

Also did you get it aligned yet? If not are you sure you don't have a bent control arm?

 

yea i realize this but at least i could drive it until i found a more definite answer.. the only thing that concerns me is the ABS sensor

I have considered going ahead and replacing the motor mounts but they aren't broken so that shouldn't cause it even if it would help the problem..

No i replaced the control arm, it should be fine..