CV joint grease question

Mine is a newbie question, obviously...

When you change CV joint boots, I guess a lot of the old grease will be removed when you pull off the old boots.

But what about the grease that's left in the joint? Are you supposed to get rid of all the old grease in/on the joint, or do you just leave it there?

Reply to
Tegger
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I have been forced to do that when I clumsily split the joint and let all the bearings fall on the ground. What a bummer!. But, I picked them up, washed everything in naphtha, dried it and repacked.. Never gave me a problem.

Now, depends upon the condition of your boot...If it has cracked, has allowed water to enter, or maybe even sand, I would say wash that sucker out and repack.

If you dont feel that the joint has been compromised, and a "good enough" job will do, you might repack over the remains of the old clean grease.

Reply to
hls

"hls" wrote in news:Qfydnfubf-i_uRbXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

The boots in question are the ones on the Tercel driveshaft I couldn't remove last weekend. I'm just planning for next weekend or next time I get to this, and it occurred to me I'd never thought of what to do about the the grease (the Toyota kit I bought from the dealer comes with two tubes of grease).

These are the OEM shafts with the OEM boots still installed.

The boots are still intact. The outer one is in the middle of cracking, and has gotten worse over the last couple of winters. It's not leaking yet, and I'd like to replace the boots before the cold weather comes, just in case the original doesn't make another winter.

The factory shop manual says simply to add the tubes of grease to the joints and the new boots, and makes no mention of what's to be done with the old grease in the joints.

I know that tapered roller wheel bearings are normally entirely flushed of old grease before being repacked, but it appears that CV joints are different. I therefore ask in order to be more sure.

Reply to
Tegger

I've always washed the big chunks off in kerosene and then followed up with carb cleaner or other strong solvent to get all the old grease out. But if you bought your grease at the dealership, and/or know that the grease you are using is the same as whatever toyota used from the factory, you shouldn't have to do that. I think the real issue is not dirt - if the boots aren't cracked there shouldn't be much in there - but grease compatibility. Same goes for wheel bearings. Personally I always flush but I'm usually working on cars a half century older than yours, so who knows what grease has been put in there (and I usually use Mobil 1 chassis grease for everything.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Considering the relative ease of taking a CV joint entirely apart (at least the ones I've worked on), I think it would be silly to not take them apart, fully clean and repack them if you've already gone to the effort of removing them.

Reply to
Pete C.

If the boot you removed is torn in any way, the grease inside is contaminated. Clean it out with a solvent and a toothbrush, get all of the grit and crap out, and repack it with Mobil 1 racing grease, which seems to last longer in those things than anything else I have tried.

If the boot isn't torn... why are you replacing it? I suppose if the boot is intact there's no reason to clean the thing out, but I wouldn't bother replacing it either.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:h6fjv2$g8p$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:

Would you bother to replace it if cracks were /very/ evident? I would and I will.

It takes several years for those cracks to deepen until the boot splits entirely, so there's no excuse for /anybody/ to allow a boot to split. I've been monitoring this one for some time.

Thanks to all for their help. I'm just going to wipe off the old OEM grease without flushing the joint with solvent, and add the new OEM grease to the new OEM boots.

The car is my wife's daily driver. She and I have very different schedules, so I don't know when I'm going to have the car available next for the boot change. Will report back when I do. Especially as to success or not in dislodging the driveshaft (my Honda's shafts come out very easily compared to this one!).

Reply to
Tegger

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