My family has a 87 2.8L camaro. the suspension in the rear end is getting really back. it shakes, ratlles, and makes alot of noise. we were told it's the CV joint, yet we have no clue what they are, what they do, and how hard they are to replace? anyone know, please help. thanx

 

no CV joints on our cars.

 

what are they?

 

Maybe you or they are meaning the U-joint? CV joints are mostly on front wheel drive cars. Works like a U-joint, but is part of a FWD drive axle. Now if the car was an RX-7 or Vette, then yeah, I could understand a CV type joint being a problem, lol.

 

No CV joints on those either.

 

You sure?

FC RX7, under the typing:


Newer Vette:


Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but those look like IRS with CV style joints on the rear axles coming from the differential. The older Vette's, and other older cars with IRS, had reg. U-joint axles coming from the differential.

Datsun 510 with 65-79 Vette rear differential and IRS:


I dunno, maybe I'm seeing things lol.

 

Ah, true enough, I wasn't thinking of the new stuff.

 

brad most likely they meant the u joints. the part that connects the drive shaft to the rear end and to the transmission yoke. i see you live in boyertown. i work for cabot but at the columbus location.

 

i think the personm is talking about U joints. i did some searching for cv joints on camaros before and i didnt find anything but now i did some searching on just cv joints and you're right there arent any on our cars, but i did notice the u joints, thanx alot.

 

didn't some late 70s early 80s caddys use CV joints on the drive shaft? seems like i worked on one that had to be replaced, but i wasn't the one that did the replacing.

 

The Eldorado/Buick Riviera/Olds Toranado had them. But those were FWD, AFAIK.

 

There's no reason why you couldn't use one I guess, it's just another type of universal joint. I wonder if there'd be any performance benefit from not having to accelerate the cross.

 

no it was RWD and cost was around 200 dollars for the part. i wasn't working on it but i can damn near picture it on the rack in texico station i worked in in high school

 

It wasn't the Allante was it? But I think that was FWD and based on a shortened Eldorado chassis. That was one of the oddballs from 87-90 I think. I have yet to work on one, so I'm not sure how the drivetrain and chassis is designed.

And the Cimarron, based on a Cavalier/Sunbird J-body chassis, and that was FWD too. That's an outcast that didn't last too long. Other than that, it was the usuall Caddys.

Who knows, lol.

 

no this would of been about 75-77 time frame, i know i was still in high school. i might not remember what i think i do too

 

Yeah, it may have been something other than a Cadillac. Who knows, lol.

 

My 74 Caprice 454 convertible has a double Cardan joint at the rear of the drive shaft.... uses 2 U-joints and a ball thing in between them, and a ring-shaped yoke.... they used to call that a "constant velocity U-joint". A real PITA to change.

But these cars don't have that, just a single U-joint at each end. They're not too hard to replace.

 

i feel better now knowing i had heard of CV joints way back then

 

got that in my winter vehicle(86 bronco) snapped the damn thing in half one night and drove home in 4wd at like 10 mph. had to go about 12 miles so that really sucked. easiest way to replace it is to cut of the old and weld on the new! lol

 

OK, now I got what you were probably talking about. Those in that pic are what's on the BIG cars of the '70s. These days when comeone says CV joint, you automatically thinks it's the kind like on a FWD car. So, like a dummy, I forgot about those in the pic, lol. Oops!