I replaced my front airsprings. When I pulled the hub assembly away to allow the airspring removal I mistakenly pulled the axle out of the trans. Passenger side axle, I managed to push it back in but it seems to need about 3 millimeters more. It make a rattling noise as I drive over bumps but not on a smooth road. Is there a clip I damaged that holds it in place ? How do I push it further in and keep it in place .

 

There are no clips - it should just push right back in. Are you positive that the noise is coming from the axle? Maybe there's something else loose that didn't get tightened back down properly.

 

I feel that something is stopping it from staying in place. I located the noise by tapping on the housing and held the drive shaft, no noise. I let go of the drive shaft and tap and the noise is there.
went to a MB dealer and we looked at a new drive shaft, it has a small washer at the end and to properly put it back in place he's telling me that the drive shaft nut has to come off and then it can be put back properly.
Here is a pic of the small washer

 

There is usually a snap ring that takes one last forceful push to be pushed in completely. I would suggest to go back under there and compare driver and passenger side. If passenger side is a little far from housing than driver side or there is some transmission fluid seeping slowly, then it is not seated fully. Give is one last push. It is not easy to get enough leverage in that area unless is truck is on the lift. In past, i have used a long pipe to push on big metal on axle near housing. It is not recommended to push on outer edge of axle. If still in doubt, take a picture and post it here.
it should not make a rattling sound on bumps even if it is not in place completely. This sound might come from loose stabilizer bar end links or some other suspension component. You might want to go back and check if everything is tight and properly aligned.

 

There is a circlip that holds the shaft in place. It needs a good push to click in place. When fully inserted there are couple of mm between the tranny case and the cv joint bulky metal. If not fully inserted or circlip is mangled the cv joint will bang against the tranny over certain bumps.

 

I guess it didn't realize there was a clip - sorry about that. When mine came out, I was able to push it back in easily - although I do remember feeling a "click". But there is/was definitely nothing "extra" to do (no external clips of any kind). In fact, it popped out on me a couple times during the shock replacement. Each time was very simple.

 

Yes. The clip stays on the axle. It doesn’t come out. But depending on the phase of th moon when inserted into the differential housing it might not click and becomes wedged and then crushed when the vehicle moves. Seen it a couple times.

 

Dennis, I think yours has been popping out because of lack of snap ring.

 

LOL

 

Mine was only popping out when doing the shock replacement - it's just that I popped it out more than once, by accident, during the process. I wonder if I was able to compress the shock a bit if it would have helped? There was no way I was getting the old one out or the new one in without the axle coming out (had a helper, too).

 

i am surprised you managed to get out the old shock and the new one in without compressing them - with the cv joint out or in... use wire to compress shock and hold it compressed during removal/ installation. your sanity will be preserved.

 

It's funny you mentioned compressing them. It's funny because I had realized AFTER I reinstalled it that compressing it before hand would have made things simpler. That was definitely a Homer Simpson "Doh!" moment! Hopefully I'll remember for next time!

 

Guys, I think I might have caused this problem on my GL. I replaced the struts - Arnott was fantastic, by the way - and after a few miles the right started making a clunking noise going over bumps.

Arnott was very kind and sent me a replacement strut. The replacement started making a similar clunking noise over bumps. You can hear it when you rock the truck side to side.

Arnott politely informed me that the strut they received back did not have anything wrong.

I'm wondering if I'm experiencing this problem with play in where the transaxle goes into the diff. Ironically, we used a jack to push the strut up, and didn't muscle things around all that much. Suggestions?

 

If you can get the noise to repeat itself by simply having someone rock the vehicle, you are miles ahead. Get underneath while they rock it and you should be able to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Use your hand to feel, as well as listening. You can also push/pull on various things to see if you get the knocking to stop. A pry bar can be used as extra leverage for pushing/pulling. Also look at your sway bar end links.

 

I used a mechanic's stethoscope while my helper rocked the truck back and forth.

However, it was easier than I thought to pinpoint. You can literally see the ball end of the swaybar link shifting up and down in its socket. Now, this kills me, because I had the stabilizer links replaced by my indy not long ago. I really don't think we abused them when doing the strut swap, but it's hard to be sure. Are these things really that vulnerable?

They're cheap, so I ordered a pair and will replace - and take back to el mecho and see what he says.

 

The Arnott shocks are pressurized, so they take a fair amount of force to compress. I used a jack to push it up, but man it was not fun. It would be great to figure out a way to easily compress it off the car and tie it in compressed form. Arnott should put a plastic strap around it for installation.

 

Yup, sometimes you get an easy one and just taking a quick look is all you need.

End links seem to be short lived with this vehicle, for some reason. I don't fully understand it as heavier vehicles can have their end links last longer. But for whatever reason, it is what it is. Good thing they're inexpensive and super, super easy to replace.

 

i am not exactly a weakling, so every shock i have installed on the x164 i compressed by hand... slow but steady effort does it...

 

I didn't realize the "a" stood for Arnold.
Yeah, it's doable off the car. I remember noticing I could push it down. Sadly that didn't occur to me actually use that fact.

 

You're lucky you found it. The end links where good on my GL and the issue was found to be the passenger front axle. BUT as they checked further we found another loud banging noise coming from the transfer case. Apparently a transfer case gear was "jumping" and to repair this just wasn't worth it. Sold the truck last month. It was only worth around 13K with the miles it had and it was quite just not worth it. I got 11K after finding the repairs would run close to 2K on the safe side.
I went back to a Denali... LOL.