I may have to do some of this work on my van; thanks for this writeup! I found a dab of grease on the garage floor directly underneath the driveshaft's CV joint, though I could not find any evidence on the driveshaft itself of a failure.
The "bearing" with the six balls is a CV joint, and it is used to accommodate rear axle upward/downward movement in a much smoother fashion than a U-joint provides. If perchance the boot has failed, unfortunately I may have to replace the entire driveshaft since those parts aren't individually available (unless I can somehow find a salvage vehicle with a low mileage driveshaft on it). Or maybe I'll remove the boot clamp and squirt some grease in there and see how things go.
For now I'll keep an eye (and an ear) on it.
- G
The "bearing" with the six balls is a CV joint, and it is used to accommodate rear axle upward/downward movement in a much smoother fashion than a U-joint provides. If perchance the boot has failed, unfortunately I may have to replace the entire driveshaft since those parts aren't individually available (unless I can somehow find a salvage vehicle with a low mileage driveshaft on it). Or maybe I'll remove the boot clamp and squirt some grease in there and see how things go.
For now I'll keep an eye (and an ear) on it.
- G