Re: help! CV joint repair question

[Jeremy R King <kingjer@eng.auburn.edu>]

Finally a question I can answer with authority - yeah!

The best thing to do is drop the ball joint out of the strut assembly.  
This will allow the strut to freely travel away from the car.  Take the 
axle nut off (loosen it before you lift the car up - you'll probably 
need a cheater bar) (you should get a new one to put on - they're lock nuts)  
use a three jaw puller to push the half shaft out of the hub.  It should 
move pretty freely after it's about halfway out.  Use a torx bit 
w/extension to loosen the inner cv (you should loosen these six bolts 
before you lift the car to keep the half shaft from spinning).  You 
should be able to pull the whole cv out and do whatever work you need to 
on it without much problem at all.  The only problem you might have is 
getting the ball joint to drop out of the strut.  You may need to take 
the sway bar loose from the a-arm.  Let me know if you need any other 
information.

Jeremy R. King
'86 VW Quantum GL5
Audi at Heart

ps. If you want kick in the pants, replace your rear muffler with a Glaspack!



On Fri, 29 Dec 1995 barwise@tuxedo.ENET.dec.com wrote:

> Although I don't have an official Audi, I own an 87 VW Quantum GL5 with
> the *wonderful* 5 cyl. engine.  I'm going to try and pull the right-side
> driveshaft to replace a deteriorated outer CV joint boot.  I read in one of
> my Audi manuals that the front exhaust section should be removed to work
> on the right side, presumably to provide some room to move the inner CV 
> upward in order to then press the shaft out of the hub.  Looking at my
> car, the exhaust appears to be only 2 inches above the inner joint.
> 
> My question is, have others on the list been successful removing the
> right-side driveshaft without first removing that exhaust section?
> 
> Thanks,
> rob
>