[Vwdiesel] CV axle problems

[James Hansen]

Well.... I have to chime in here.
The reason joints go bad is due to lack of maintenance. An occasional clean
and repack will go a long way to maintaining the life of the joint, in any
circumstance, so every couplea years, remove, clean, repack, and they will
last a really long time.  You get to check the boots as well at that time.
I changed ONE outboard joint on my Jetta over the time I had it- sold just
the other day with 545 thou km on the clock.  Grease has a finite lifespan,
and when it's worn out, it ceases to provide sufficient lubrication and
cooling... then the joint wears and starts to get noisy.  Even then, when it
first has symptoms and clicks or you feel a shimmy in the wheel on turns,
you can usually clean and repack it, and keep on running it.  They are
amazingly strong, and properly looked after should last a very long time.
Either a synthetic grease or a moly microgel is much preferred over the
standard clay based grease.  If you pull the boot off, and see the grease
well away from a dry joint, it is generally a poor grade of grease that has
been use, OR it is really old and the lighter components of the grease are
long gone.
Rather than reversing the joints, just cleaning and repacking would make an
immense improvement over just waiting for them to go bad so you can replace
them.
-James

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com]On
> Behalf Of HWY9FERGS at cs.com
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 9:35 AM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] CV axle problems
>
>
> Hi again,
>
> >Hi all, One idea on getting the most out of your joints is to swap them
> >over
> >to the other side. The worn surfaces will only be loaded during
> >deceleration
> >and in reverse. Lots less stress. I haven't tried that yet but
> seems like
> >it
> >makes sense. Later on. Doug
> >
>
> >>The problem I see with this is that you'll put a sudden load on things
> >>as the ball rolls across the previously worn grove. This could break
> >>the cage, the weakest part of the joint. When that cage goes there's a
> >>crunch and then free wheeling. It may only clunk or clack as well.
> >>Loren
>
>
>  Thanks for your input, Loren.  This idea came from a guy who
> used to work at
> a VW dealership and it was his idea to swap them around. It has merit. I
> guess the real question is how bad do the symptoms need to be
> before one takes
> action.  If you have REALLY badly worn cages, you would be seeing
> those severe
> kinds of symptoms already during deceleration, and of course
> you'd want to
> change them out if you're getting clunking or clacking. However,
> if you are just
> starting to notice a lack of smoothness in the driveline or other
> relatively
> minor problems, this might be well worth trying. I can't imagine
> someone driving
> on bad joints long enough to where the cage explodes, but I
> suppose there are
> people out there that clueless.  For my own self, if I'm going to
> the trouble
> of removing them, it's worth it to me to put on new ones, so I
> hopefully won't
> have to think about them again for a long time.  Take care, Doug
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