[Vwdiesel] Outer CV Joint Binding

[Gavrik Peterson]

>Remember it is a split bearing ---even a loose nut will be a wiggle. So >grab the wheel and really give it a test for slop.

I take it that you are saying that even a good bearing might have some
slop if the nut is not tight.

>Let us know if the big nut was tight when the scraping sound was heard.

I installed the joint and then tightened the axle nut by hand with a
ratchet.  This is when I noticed the scraping sound and the resistance
to rotation.  I never noticed any play in the wheel.

I then removed the driveline and marked the outer surface of the first
step inboard from the spline with a black marker.  The surface I refer
to is the short cylindrical section which is indicated in the drawing.

I then reinstalled the joint and rotated the wheel.  After rotating
the wheel I removed the driveshaft.  I then observed that the ink was
scraped off along a line around the outer surface of the step.

The 'drawing' below of an outer cv joint shows the location of the
step.


--.------------------- center line of cv joint ----------------.--
  .                                                            .
   ......'       spline                                        .
          ....................'                                .
                               .                               .
                               .     taper                     .
                               .      /                        .
          THE FIRST STEP ----> ..    /                         .
                                 '..             taper         .
                                    '..  ...      /            .
                                       .    '..  /             .
                                       |        '..    ......  .
                                       |           '...   |  ..
                                  dust shield             |
                                                         boot
                                                     clamp grove


It appeared to me that the only thing that could scrape off the ink
there was the lug on the circlip.

>When I asked for more info it was to find out if you have a good place to work on it.

The car is in a large garage next to the apartment building I live in.
The owner does not allow people to use the garage to work on their
cars.  Perhaps because I don't do any work while he is around he is
nice to me and ignores the obvious signs.

>Was it on the car?

Yep.  The bearing housing is on the car which is complete except for
the left drive line.  This makes it rather hard to get calipers in
there to make accurate measurements.  With some effort I can measure
things though.

>Did someone use a standard circlip for holding bearing in place?

I don't think that I would recognize the difference between the
standard type and something else.  What I do know is that the holes in
the circlip lugs just clear the edge of the grove the circlip is in.
This makes me think that it is fully seated.  Applying force seems to
confirm this.

Hagar.  If you have a bearing housing of the 'early type' (my machine
has an 83' body) could you measure how close a standard circlip gets
to the center line of the bearing?  This would help me to understand
if I have the wrong type of circlip.


Gavrik