I took apart my disconnect today due to it clicking for a few revolutions before the collar would engage. I assumed that one of the two outer bearings were toast allowing for the cv shaft to tilt up and misaligning the two gears.
Well I took it apart and was greeted with the same peanut butter looking grease Caleb saw in his. Once I cleaned everything up I could find nothing wrong. Both bearings were intact and NOT worn.
The only thing I could find wrong was that the 4 nubs in the inside of the outside shell were worn down to the point of almost not engaging the washer (part number 4).
1. How important are those nubs.
2. Could those worn nubs be causing my issue and if not what could?
Also I have some insight into why the outer bearings might fail so quickly. My inner bearing on the outer shell was covered in grease while the outside was barely wet at all. The gap between the two bearings seems to prevent the outer bearing from effectively getting the grease. Maybe to help prevent wear and save time, simply remove the cv shaft and put some grease on the outer bearing every so often. This way you don't have to take apart the whole disconnect as the majority of the innards seem to be greased relatively well.
Photos:
^Bad grease.
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^ Both bearings intact with no apparent wear.
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^Worn down nubs.
Looks like the washer was made to fit with those nubs. Your disco doesn't look as bad as what mine was. If you do a rebuild hopefully you won't have to was weeks to get your parts.
Btw IIRC the lose in mpg is insignificant everything up front is already turning as it is.
