CV Axle failure? Pulsating noise from front.

[kagr17]

I think I already know the answer to my question but I figure I would ask.

When I drive my truck around 40mph, I notice a pulsating noise coming from the passenger front. I thought it may be a wheel bearing so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Today I decide I would take a look. Everything seemed fine. I didn’t have any play. I decided attempt to turn and rotate my tire. While doing this I could turn the tire about 20 degrees forward and back before it had resistance. I attempted to turn the driver side and it spun freely. When I went back to the passenger side I decided to try again. There was resistance but I forced the tire to turn. When I did that I heard a click that came from the CV axle where it joins to the front differential. The cv axle pops/clicks at a certain point and doesn’t allow the tire to spin freely.

My question is... is my CV axle the issue or could it be a front diff issue as well?

 

[Will Evans]

Hello kagr17,
Is there any play in your cv axle? Just reach under your truck, grab the axle and give it a wiggle. If there is play, you have a bad cv joint.

What is model is your truck? It's not front wheel drive is it? I'd be surprised for your cv joint to wear out if you don't use 4x4 a lot because I would think there's little to no load on it?

 

[drtyota09]

How many miles are on the truck? Mine has 175k with stock cv axles. It should be pretty easy to tell if the cv axle is bad. If it’s making a pop and a click that’s the sound they make when the ball bearings fall out of them.