Testing CV joints

[Henry A Harper III]

> When our 4kq wouldn't move forward after my wife backed it out of her
> parking space, but just sit and make a strange whirring noise when the
> clutch was let out, I got it going by locking the differentials.
>
> So how do I determine which of the eight joints has failed?  They all look
> "normal" when eyeballed.

Up on blocks with diffs still locked and in gear (turned off) and see which
wheel(s) you can still turn independently (front rotating in opposite
direction would not count as "independently", of course)? The more
entertaining corollary is up on blocks and running in gear w/diffs unlocked,
look underneath for mismatched spinning parts. An imprudent individual could
even do this on the ground if it's still not going anywhere in gear with the
diffs unlocked.

I had a U-joint fail once that remained partially engaged in one rotational
direction but fell out when the tranny attempted to spin the driveshaft the
other way. Since there is only one U-joint and 10 CV joints, maybe look at
the U-joint?

Henry