Yeah, yeah. In Soviet Russia minivan drives you. Sometimes it drives you nuts.

OK, so we've got a FWD '02 Dodge Caravan that 's up to stand immobile rather than move, due to left (driver's side) drive axle failure.
Can anyone tell what it takes to break left constant velocity joints apart?
Geometry was a suggestion when it broke in second time, but it was corrected recently, and I have the same thing. Third in a row drive axle is out in less than 10 miles.

And every time there were a very similar conditions:
- constant speed (2 times) or moderate acceleration;
- steering wheel is in center position (2 times) or it was a very broad arc turn;
- some ripple on an road, like cracks, poor asphalt surface or a railway crossing.

Transmission and reducer is said to be fine. All rubber parts, like silent blocks and engine mounts were replaced.
What I'm aware of, is that the wheel hub was replaced right before all that cr... things started to happen.

Wheel hub is labeled "Raybestos", it's PN is 713123 and it matches Chrysler's OEM code 4641517ad.
Drive axles were labeled "Concorde", PN CV1-0004 and it matches OEM code 4641855AE.

 

That's odd. I've not heard of 3 breaking in a row.

Moving at a constant speed is not putting any great strain on the driveshaft. If the geometry is out then it would wear it out over time, not in 10 miles.

Did the replacement parts come from the same source?

Regards
Richard

 

Actually I've ordered them at my local Chrysler parts subdealer.
And they sent a request through their BRM service to bunch of companies. So, i'm not sure if it were the same one. Moreover, the first axle that I've bought was at the local stock, so it was transferred here relatively long ago.

 

Maybe I should make some corrections. Sorry for my English.
Joints are not simply breaking, they are more like disconnecting and failing in that moment. Like they always lack about 0.5'' of length. That 's why I mentioned geometry and replaced wheel hub.
Can anyone tell any suggestions?

 

The problem was left engine mount. Previous owner lowered it for some reason. Maybe he wanted to overcome engine tilt occured after wearing of front and rear mount. After I've replaced both of them the engine became tilted once again. Servicemen blamed it on poor geometry, so we've totally missed that left mount was misfitted and weared out.
In some cases engine swung causing axle to hit the ungerframe. Some severe hits caused significant damage to CVJ bearings that the same time let the axle to disassemble.

 

thanks for the update and glad you got it sorted

Regards
Richard

 

And I hope none of you would ever suffer from such a "redneck engineering" outcomes