CV Axle Swaps + Archives

[Steve Jensen <sjensen@mindspring.com>]

Hi All:

The weekend before last I posted a question about swapping front axles -
installing the left side on the right - on my 5KCSTQ due to a bad outer CV
joint.  Couldn't find it in the archives, and received two relies about
"well, there shouldn't be a problem", but no personal BTDT's.  Since the
length on the axle shafts were identical, I went ahead and did it.  Works
just fine, and I didn't have to wait 7 to 10 working days for a boot kit
from Audi.  One lister said the VW bus crowd has been doing this for years
to extend CV joint life.

However, the old GIGO rule applies on this one.  Reason I didn't find it in
the archives is due to plugging in "CV axle" instead of "CV joint" into the
search engine.  Oops, my bad, thank you Wallace White for sending the
archived msgs.

And if you haven't tried the list search engine in a while, Dan has fixed
it so it searches multiple years now instead of just the present calendar
year like it used to.  Kudos to you, brother Dan, and once again I have
avoided a trip to the monkey lad cage.

One tip:  if you are pulling the CV joint stub out of the hub and you can't
keep it propped up cause you don't have three hands, try this - cram an old
plastic bottle of dino oil between the subframe and the axle.  Lying
sideways, it works great and is just the right height.

You're right Doyt, I feel much better now.

-Steve Jensen
87 5KCSTQ