I know this sounds stupid, and im not trying to put down you or your dad, but the same kinda thing happened to me once, and i thought it was an axle or CV joint, and i couldnt figure out what the hell it was. so i ended up taking it to the family mechanic, he drove it and thought it was a bad CV joint as well. So we put it up on the lift and went to take off the wheel to get a better look at it and the problem was just the lug nuts had come loose somehow and the noise was the wheel shifting around on the hub. Needless to say, i felt like quite the dumbass. Moral of the story is, check your lug nuts too.