Quattro Drive Line

[Smierch@aol.com]

To all my fellow list members,

Last month, the CV Joints on my drive shaft (Centre Diff to Rear)
Disintigrated.  I too ran into the shock of $750.00 for a new drive shaft,
rather than $150 for a CV Joint, which just so happens to be the exact same
CV as an inner on an axle.  Well, I found a shop in Everett Washington,
Constant Velocity, Inc that would try and rebuild it for me.  In removing the
shaft, a prerequisite for their working on it, Three of the rear studs were
stripped.  When I went to a shop to have them taken out, they used a torch
which burned through the boot.  Well, come to find out that the boot is
designed internally because of the high rotational speed of the drive shaft,
relative to the speed of a drive axle.

We first tried a standard Audi rubber CV boot.  This worked fine until the
car hit a speed of 80 mph, at which time the boot exploded with a loud BANG.
 I drove back to the shop, and the guys got to work inventing a solution.  I
had tried to hit several wrecking yards for a boot, but I've got to say that
all of the drivelines that I found, the boots were trashed.  I looked at
three drivelines and every one of the boots had holes or were severly rotted.

Anyway, back in Everett, the guys at Constant Velocity, took a boot with two
very close bellows, cut it down short, and inserted it between an inner and
outer flange by using a press.  I believe that some autos have this set up.
 It was also held in place with some RTV to give extra holding strength in
addition to the pressed pieces.  This construction allowed the boot to have
very little exposed rubber, somewhat similar to the stock boot.  This
construction, with the two close bellows right at the end of the metal
flange, and the end banded to the driveline, there isn't enough room for the
boot to expand enough to explode, thus giving the roughly the same result as
the AUDI boot.  

It's been on there for almost two months with no problem, and the whole deal,
one new CV, and one rebuilt, essentially a new driveline, cost just over
$300.  Savings of $450.

Larry Smierciak
86 4kCSq
Smierch@aol.com