little rubber plug inside output flange (centre of cap missing)

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

> i dont think thats teh case...the middle of the cap was definetly
> machined out by the part of the driveshaft that goes through the inner cv.
>
> http://images.cardomain.com/installs/254000-254999/254023_35.jpg

This kind of thing happens.. my best guess as to why is that you either
hit a curb at a weird suspension angle and it poked the axle in to the
cap, or the circlip was missing.. allowing the flange to walk in and out
on the splined output shaft. grinding itself against the CV at will. Note
that the axles have a good amount of slop in them by design to accomodate
different "effective axle lengths" resulting from the height of the wheel
changing relative to the transmission. This explains why such grinding is
possible although at first you'd think it wouldn't be because the inner CV
is bolted securely to the drive flange..

My advice is not to worry about it.. just clean any plasticy bits out of
the inner CV and re-install with a new cap. Make sure the circlip gets
fitted completely.

HTH

-Toby