Hello,
I'm reinstalling an IRS transaxle. Are there supposed to be any lockwashers on the cv joint bolts? Right now, I just have the boot (which has a metal flange as part of it), and a bunch of half-moon shaped things (two bolts per half-moon shaped thing). But no lockwashers...
If I do need some, do I need the special metric "wavy washer" kind, or will any style lockwasher of the appropriate size work?
What torque amount should I put to the bolts?
Thanks, Scott
Hi Scott
I asked the same question not so long ago.
No lock washers, just torque them up tight, or they WILL come loose.
Not sure on the figure amount of torque, but an alen key (hex key) isnt enough by hand.
Rich
Scott wrote:
Humm - mine have little toothed lock washers from the factory (1970).
They came with special serrated washers in the early cars, but sometime in the early to mid 70s the washers were dropped and the bolts were shortened by 1mm.
25 ft-lbs. This is MUCH MORE than you can apply with a hand L-wrench. Note that most of these bolts are NOT Allen bolts, rather they are a special bolt with a 12-point socket called an XZN. You can get a driver for these at most auto parts stores so you can use it with your torque wrench. The auto parts stores won't know this as an XZN, however, but that's the DIN designation.If you don't use a torque wrench on these they are very likely to come loose with regrettable consequences. If you use an Allen wrench on them you will strip out the bolt heads. If you find a XZN hand wrench (I have a set) they are guaranteed to come loose, because you really just can't get sufficient torque with that length handle.
BTW, clean off all the mating faces before you bolt these together. I suspect that some of these which come apart later were due to grit in there which kept the faces from mating right up against one another.
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Good point.
I should have said that, Mine are Allen bolts so I forgot .
Rich
"25 ft-lbs. This is MUCH MORE than you can apply with a hand L-wrench."
Wimps. I can easily torque that much with an allen wrench. :)
I've never actually seen any of the Allen bolts in there. What year/model do you have?
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Maybe you can. Maybe you can't. The one I had to fix because they came loose was put together by someone who was also strong, but they just weren't tight enough until I got some real leverage on them.
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Jim, probably replacements...i have replaced the stock ones when some previous owner had stripped them, with allen head jobbies......most specialty *fastener* stores(not lowes/home depot) carry the caphead bolts....
Allens were used on the early production IRS.
Bah, that means crawling under the car for a look before I work on my cv joints, I guess.
So if it has lock washers, then with those longer bolts you'd want to use them when reassembling, otherwise don't use them?
well hell.....learn new everyday....and to think i was being original...LOL...thanks for the info Speedy, we can always count on you to keep us straight on the info...
This worked for me just last Friday when I had a situation where I needed to mess with some allen-head bolts that were in hard-to-reach places... (was removing smog equipment from my bike)
When I first tackled mine , I assumed all were allen ! Guess I was just lucky - no new tools needed :-)
Rich
Jim Adney wrote:
Allens were used on the early production IRS.
The '69 type 3s got the XZN heads. Were they earlier than that?
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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Right.
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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According to VW, you are not supposed to use (or re-use) the washers. If you have the early 47mm bolts then you are to check that the extra protrusion does not interfere with the transmission, if it does then you replace the bolts for the later 46mm version. It sounds to me as if there was a potential problem with using the washers and that they preferred them removed, when servicing the shafts. I don't think it is a big deal, as VW stated that the washers were simply "unnecessary", but then why recommend replacing the bolts (if they were too long) rather than simply refitting the washers?
It had been a long time since I read the details on this in my Bentley, so I just went back and checked. The word they use regarding the washers is "unnecessary" so apparently it is okay to either omit or reuse them. There's no caution against reusing them, and I've been doing that for 35 years with no problems.
There are other washers that I've seen break in half and cause problems, but I've seen that problem with these serrated washers.
The manual seems to indicate that the special washers were discontinued starting with the '73 models. The shorter bolts were introduced at the same time.
------------------------------------------------ Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA
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