So 05:15 came and I was up and ready. I picked Rob up at 05:45 and we headed off to meet Tuffty and JoJo at Notcutts at 07:30 for breakfast.
We cruised up in good time, pressing on a bit, and the car was feeling good. We were excited for the day ahead.
As we pulled off the m42 to meet the guys, I felt an odd tug at the Steering wheel. It was as if we'd run over a small stone or something that snagged at the wheel.
We didn't think much of it, and wet into Maccys for breakfast with Paul and Joe.
8L parking only please.
Breakfast done, we waited for Al to arrive. Funnily enough Al turned out to be Big Al from this very forum. Not my Big Bad Dad, but the other name stealing Big Al
We headed off, but sadly we didn't get too far.....
We accelerated off the round about gently, and as I let off to change to 3rd the wheel snagged again.
Something felt odd. I wasn't happy. Time to pull over.
We got the car up in the air and started checking it over. I'd had the wheels off earlier in the week and thoroughly checked everything and found no issues, so it was a bit of a mystery.
Top mounts fine. Ball joints fine. Wheel bearings felt fine.
Then I rotated the wheels, drivers side fine. Passengers side - not so much!
There was a good 30-40mm of back lash on the wheel, which when looking at the shaft not moving was all in the joint.
Head further inside the arch and I saw that the CV Boot had failed totally. There was grease everywhere. And one VERY hot looking knocking joint.
That'll be the issue then!
Being just a few miles from Curby, we dropped it down, and limped to the track.
As we went it was getting worse, and snagging really bad every time I lifted. As we came I to the paddock it started clunking badly. I think we were lucky to get there at all to be honest.
I wasted no time, and got ready to remove the shaft. We unpacked the car, got out the tools. And made a start.
Only, it didn't get too far.....
Breaker bar on the hub nut. Pull for England, nothing.
I got the 4' jack handle on the breaker bar, and had another go:
BANG!
Phew. It's off.
Oh, crap. No.
Extension bar snapped. D'oh!
I borrowed another extension from Alex (Sparrow) and had another go.
The socket slipped off. This wasn't looking good at all. The nut was looking pretty rough at this point too.
I compared sockets with a few others, and found that Alex's 30mm socket had less of an internal chamfer than mine, so gripped more of the nut.
I sprayed it up with penetrating fluid, left it for a while, then gave it a few extended blasts with the impact gun, both tightening and loosening to try and shock it off.
After another spray, we tried again, with a bigger breaker bar, and THANKFULLY it came off.
Thank god!
With the shaft out, it was pretty clear that the joint was destroyed. There was so much play in every direction, no wonder we'd been having issues!