Axle seal?

[syljay]

On the subject of CV joint boots:
Sure its a messy job, but that's why we fix our own cars, to get all 
mucked up, no? Saving money is purely an incidental by-product of our 
endeavors. :-)

Speaking of costs, I just called my parts guy and a a good quality 
boot kit, with grease included, is about $20 for my 88 5kq or the 90 100q.

I just checked my parts bin and the CV joint boots I have were made by 
Meistersatz of Germany, Febi of Germany, and Beck/Arnley of Taiwan.

Long ago, when I looked into CV joint repairs, this is what I found out.
On Rebuilds:
When they rebuild the axles, they grind the ball races to the next 
size of ball bearings - just a few thousands of an inch. With the 
races smooth and polished, they put in the new ball bearings, lube it 
up and seal it.
However . . . the original bearing races are inductively heat treated 
and the hardness does not extend far beyond the surface of the steel. 
When they regrind the races, there isn't much left of the original 
hard surface - sometimes none. With the result that some rebuilds dont 
last very long.
You get different results from different rebuilders. Some may not 
grind beyond a certain ball bearing size. Others arent as scrupulous 
in their zeal to make a buck.

Given a choice, I'd rather take apart, clean and rebuild my axles than 
buy a rebuilt one.

You have a good chance of not damaging the CV joint races if you 
periodically check the boots when under the car and replace the boot 
before it gets too damaged. The boots will first show evidence of 
failure in the boot grooves which will exhibit small surface 
cracking/checking.

Also, as a maintenance item, once a year I clean the boots, apply 
heavy duty silicone spray, and rub the silicone into the rubber. I'm 
hoping the silicone will keep the boots pliable and keep dirt and 
grime from sticking to the boot.

And yes, if you dont take notes and mark things, you will be in tears 
trying to put the damn thing together again! Putting it together the 
wrong way is easier than the right way - but the joint will bind up if 
you try and flex it. BTDT a couple of times !!!!

SJ in NJ


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From: thejimrose <thejimrose at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Axle seal?

while that is true, i had a different experience.  i did all 4 boots on my
a4 when i did all 8 front control arms as a 'might as well while it's
apart'.  i WILL NEVER do cv boots again. it's very messy FING PITA and 
while
you can save a few $ the boot kits are surprisingly expensive [even mail
order]. plus  i got the wrong ones about 4 times, which added to the 
fiasco.


if you do the boots, and another reason not to, is that when you take 
the cv
apart make sure you stamp / mark the faces when it's assembled [i didn't
know this] because although the parts LOOK symmetrical they fit together 1
way. which took about 2 hours to sort out on one of them. like some 
kind of
billet rubiks cube.

on my car the boot kits were about 50 ea. while a remanned axle is 
like 150.
TOTALLY worth it, imo to plug n play the axle,
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