[V8] Front CV questions.

[kneale at coslink.net]

AT V8s have different front axle lengths.

Original Message:
-----------------
From: urq urq at pacbell.net
Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 08:43:24 -0700
To: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] Front CV questions.


The Audi Inner CVJ's are true CV joints, not tripods.  They look similar to
the outer CVJ's ... inner and outer parts, 6 large ball bearings and a cage
which controls the location of the bearings.  Where the outer CVJ is built
to handle large angles between input and output the inner CV is built to
allow the overall length of the shaft to change and small angle changes.
The inner and outer pieces have grooves which are arranged in a "V" shape.
The joint is assembled with the inner and outer "V" shapes overlapped, so
the ball bearings track around the center.  My brother had a FWD car that
used tripods for the inner attachment to the transaxle ... I don't have any
BTDT there, but from his experience I'd suspect they are not as robust as
the inner CVJs on the quattros.  I've never had an issue with an inner CVJ.
In fact, other than having to replace boots I've never had a problem with a
CVJ on a prop/half shaft on an Audi.

I suspect the AT cars have equal length half shafts too ... just a different
length than the MT cars have.  Nonetheless, the MT shafts are the same
length, but I'd see little chance that anything would be gained by trying to
swap left and right ... 

Steve Buchholz

-----Original Message-----

Since we are talking about axles, just wanted to verify something.   
The Manual car's had the same length axles, correct?  When the old  
saab's got noisy(they had a "driver cup" that was mounted to the  
tranny with 6 hex bolts) and the tripod bearings slipped in there and  
the inner boot was just hose clamped on which made for easy front end  
work), you could swap the "drivers"(as the axles were different  
sizes), and get rid of the noise.  All the wear was on the forward  
part of the tripod/driver housing.  Tripod needle bearing units  
didn't really wear if they stayed greased.  Might make some noise in  
reverse, but who cares.  Since the 5-speed has equal axles, has  
anyone tried to swap sides and see if their noise goes away?   
Regardless, all the wear is on the front of the tripod bearing   
housing(inner) and so you might get another 150K out of your inners  
if you do the swap.....any 5-speed people done this?....Tom
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