Replace CV Joint or Halfshaft?

I've always replaced the bad joint and the other's boot. But once I took the easy out and got a "rebuilt" half shaft. They rebuild them by grinding the grooves bigger and putting in new larger balls. I found the rebuilt shaft to be inferior as it did not turn smoothly. So it depends on what your plans for the rabbit are. Also as I recall the outer one is the least expensive one.

JoBo

Hi Jo, Thanks for the reply. I've never done a CV Joint repair, or a halfshaft replacement. So, I've decided to replace the halfshaft. I just ordered one my from local autoparts store (remanufactured by Cardone). It should be here tomorrow, so assuming the CV joint tool I ordered from Snap-on arrives tomorrow as planned, I'll be tackling the shaft replacement on Saturday. My research online seems to suggest that it is less work to replace the halfshaft (the reason I decided to go this route - having never tackled this type of work before), but like your email, many people question the comparative quality. As for manufacturer, in my unscientific research research on Google, it seemed like most people were happy with Cardone (which is why I went that route). It does have a lifetime warranty, hopefully all will go well, and I won't need to take advantage of that. A followup question for the list. I received a private reply from a fellow who told me regarding the procedure that when removing the axle nut, it is not meant to be reused and that I should get a new one. Does this usually come with the remanufactured halfshaft, or do I need to purchase that separately? If so, is the axle nut something that is VW specific, or usually obtainable from any autoparts store?

Thanks, Bryan

"Bryan K. Walton" wrote

There was just a long discussion of this on another vehicle. I would refer to that.

Harry

Bryan, regarding the recent long discussion on 1/2 shafts, search for " Inner CV joint, gasket to be replaced?" in this group. Discusson started Jan 1, 2006.

Hi Everybody, Thanks for the replies and the link to the previous thread on this issue. I ended up replacing the entire halfshaft. All went well and the rabbit back in good shape again. One thing that I found interesting was how much easier it was to tighten the axle nut to the proper torque than it was to loosen the old nut when I started the job. Of course, maybe the old nut was tightened too much (I didn't own the car before about a month ago). Speaking of proper torque, the How to Keep Your Rabbit Alive book said to torque the nut to 173 foot pounds. Can anybody tell me whether Bentley agrees with that spec? Another thing I noticed that might be useful for others attempting to do this job on a rabbit in the future. It is MUCH easier to remove and replace the driver's side halfshaft if you temporarily remove the shift rod that resides just above the inner CV joint.

Thanks again, Bryan Walton

Hi Bryan, sorry can't help you out with the torque on that nut for a Rabbit. I only have Bentley for '85 - '90 Golfs which specifies 195 ft.lbs for that nut. But getting the correct specs for your car would be reassuring, I'm sure.

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps I'm misreading your post. But am I correct in thinking that I should only peen a reused axle nut? I was under the impression that one does not need to peen a brand new axle nut. My axle nut was brand new.

Thanks, Bryan

Well, after closer inspection, it looks like I have a different kind of halfshaft and axle nut. There was no ridge/slit on my axle where I could peen the nut into. And the nut that came with halfshaft was a self-locking nut. But I'll be sure to keep an eye out for something like this in the future.

Thanks! Bryan