Report: another CV Boot done

[Wallace White <wallace@remdesign.com>]

Last week, I happened to notice a tear in my right-front outer, too, so
I did the job over this last weekend. Mike Veglia's original post and
direct correspondence helped me a lot on this. I've got a few things to
add:

- Order a tube of G6.2 CV joint grease along with the boot kit. The kit
comes with a 120g tube, and the individually-sold tube (at least from
TPC) is 90g--which just happens to be the specified amount for the
joint. I thought that was convenient and was glad I had that 90g tube.

- As for the circlip issue, any external lock ring pliers (not snap ring
pliers, since snap rings have the little holes but lock rings don't)
should work fine. I picked up a Cal-Van set at the local cheapo auto
parts store.

- The entire job can be done without an assistant, if you've got enough
rubber bands! To drive off the joint from the shaft, you've got to hold
that lock ring open as you hammer. To do so, I put rubber bands around
the handles of the pliers, to force them open, and then rubber-banded
the pliers lightly to the shaft (with a bench vise holding the shaft).
Then I hammered away--a little harder than I had hoped would be
necessary, but everything seemed okay afterwards.

And now some questions: 

- How did your CV joint look, anyone? While I couldn't detect much of
any play in the outer and the races showed no pitting, I was disturbed
by the heat discoloration on the outer race. The boot just cracked
recently and there was still very much grease in it, but it looks like
it sure had gotten hot at some point. Hope it's okay.

- Should there be lateral play in the _inner_ joint? There sure was in
mine--maybe an 1/8". Radial play was minimal. This didn't seem right,
but maybe the entire shaft is designed to have a degree of freedom here,
or is that just wishful thinking?

Thanks to all who have been adding to this thread of late, which helped
a great deal, and especially to Mike for his advice. 

- Wallace
  '87 5kcstq 150k

MSV96@aol.com wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 98-09-10 16:29:45 EDT, you write:
> 
> Hi Wallace,
> 
> << That reminds me of another question: what's a drift? >>
> 
> Just somethin' ya put between the hammah and what you want to beat on.
> Typically a shaft that is blunt on both ends. I think I used a blunt cold
> chisle or the like.
> 
> << Well, I'll slap some on there just for the heck of it, though I agree
>  with your point and hope that you're right! Thanks again. >>
> 
> I was going to and I looked in there and decided not to. The gasket does not
> go all the way to the edge of the flange. I decided I didn't want to diminish
> the metal to metal contact of the output flange to CV flange. I can't imagine
> any grease getting past all that once all is torqued up (or even oil for that
> matter). Good luck and again, you're welcome!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mike

--

 Wallace White                             wallace@remdesign.com
 REM Design                                     tel 415.621.3922
 290 Division St., Suite 401                    fax 415.621.4024
 San Francisco, CA  94103                      www.remdesign.com