Stuck CV - Or Trans?

wesinls

wesinls

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My bother picked up a car last weekend (LS3 with an S5 and 934's.) and at the end of the 1st trip one of the wheels bound up - made a noise and was then binding when he'd try to drive it...I tried towing him - but after a few feet the wheels locked up (i cant say for certain if it was one or both sides).
Since he was only 1/4 mile from camp, we just took off the axle and both CV's on the one side he assumes was the problem - and I towed him back to camp - it towed and rolled easily.

We assumed / hoped it was a CV - he cleaned them up and apparently, both look decent / no smoking gun.

Does that make sense? Meaning - if we took off the axle and the car towed just fine, how could it be the trans? I'd think that if the trans was a problem, even with one axle on it making it spin, it would still lock up?

I'm hoping he just hasn't noticed something majorly wrong with one of the CV's...I told him to clean them - and compare to one of his new spares. It's his first time taking them apart / putting CV's back together, and cause he's my brother, I told him he's a douche and just doesn't see the issue. :) - Hoping for his sake it's not the trans.
 
Thinking the wheel bearing has seized.

Edit to say probably not the wheel bearing if you removed the axle and it rolled freely.
 
Did he check that the clip was still on when he removed the CVs? That happened to my pops over New Years twice. His limit straps had fatigued enough that when his rear wheels came off the ground, the inside clip would blow off the backside of the axel and the inner CV would bind and the wheel wouldn't spin. Put a shorter limit strap on it and immediately fixed the issue. CVs weren't wasted but the star was pretty banged up from the end of the axel spinning on the outside of it.
 
Trans needs to come out.
Car rolled once you removed the CV/Axle because these trans axles are "open diffs", meaning 1 side will spin while the other side doesn't.

With the axle out, lift the car off the ground and spin the side with the axle still attached.
The opposite side should still spin, the drive flange I mean.
It should go in the opposite direction.

For the CV's, you have to put them back together right or they will bind.
Small section on star has to line up with large section on CV body.
 
Linc is correct, if the ring and pinion is broken the open diff will still function as it should spinning within the diff carrier but if both wheels are trying to roll in the same direction it will spin the ring and pinion which could be jammed up stopping the car from rolling forward. if the car rolls in neutral with both axles intact then the R/P is likely ok and you have gears within the gearbox jammed up. But i assume you tried rolling the car in neutral so this is all pointing to a bad R/P
 
I would agree that it is likely the trans if the CV's looked ok when you inspected them.

Quick check would be jacking one rear tire off the ground and spinning it in neutral. That will turn the spider gears and R&P. That should give you a fairly obvious noise from inside the trans.
 
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