Hi everyone,

My 1982/83 C900 seems to have developed a problem with the left side
driveshaft/CV assembly and I'm trying to work out what it is...

I've tried the usual way of testing for a defective CV joint but that hasn't
given anything conclusive. When driving normally there is a noticable
metallic clunk with every revolution of the wheels, and this become more
audible under heavy braking and if turning.

It definitely seems like a CV issue and short of taking the car to my
preferred Saab dealer I'm not willing to drive it now without working out
what is wrong. Don't want things to go from bad to worse out on the road
without some idea on what is happening. 8-)

I'm going to lift the front of the car tomorrow and pull off both front
wheels to get a better look at what's going on behind the brake gear, but
the left-side outer CV boot is definitely cactus, so the outer CV might be
bad especially if because of the boot being broken the CV has become
contaminated with dirt or small rocks

The right-side outer CV boot is ok.

I'll need to look at the inner CV's too, but the left-side CD boot being
broken, along with the boots on the steering rack, might mean that I've
driven over something that's damaged them without realising it. The skid
plate is in place under the transmission and there isn't anything else under
the car from what I can see already that indicates scraping damage from an
object.

The area around here is fairly non-urban though so it's possible that I
might have driven over a piece of dead tree at some time in the last few
months. 8-)

In the interests of completeness I have been pricing up sources of CV joints
and complete driveshaft assemblies just in case, but hopefully it's just a
CV and not something more serious.

Regards,

Craig.