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CV Joint Fun

I'm currently in the process of rebuilding all of the bad pieces of our '71 Super. Since one of the rear axles has a split boot, I decided to order four new boots with grease. Those came in the other day.

Last night, I removed both rear axles from the car. I checked Bentley's on the procedure first, then started to work. First of all, our boots came already attached to the metal cap that seals the backside of the CV joint. I got the circlip loose from one end of the axle and now I'm at the point of removing the old boot from the CV joint. Since the new boots came with this metal cap already in place, I'm trying to remove the metal cap from the CV joint.

Bentley's indicates to take a drift punch and just "knock it loose". In the illustration, it just shows the axle laying there with the punch aimed at the edge of the cap, ready to strike. Checking Rob and Dave's VW page, it just says to "tap the cap off the back of the CV joint".

My caps are really cruddy and seem to be semi-permanently attached to the outer edge of the CV. Initial attempts to knock the cap off using a BFH and a screwdriver didn't work. It was late, so I soaked the cap with Liquid Wrench (TM) and went on to bed.

Any tips or advice? I tried searching via Google with no answers. Seems most everyone leaves the cap on and attaches a new boot to the old cap. Also, I guess it seems obvious that I should probably clamp down the CV in some fashion so that it won't move around and will let me get better leverage to remove this cap. Lacking a bench vise, looks like I might have just cause to travel to the Sears tool center. :-) (Did I just answer my own question?)

Reply to
Malcolm
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Malcolm, I've done this job may times. And yes, a bench vise makes the job a whole lot easier. Mount the axle in the vise, and then take a twist tie (long) and thread it through one of the screw holes and twist it. Leave plenty of slack so when you take your BFH and pin punch to the outer edge of the boot ring the whole damn thing dosen't end up on the floor and God only knows where the balls went. Don't ask how I know this :). Use LOTS of grease when you reassemble them. BTW, do ONE joint at a time; they are matched sets.

El Paso Bob

71 1776 Baja
Reply to
The Joneses

Well I admire your spunk for wanting to take on the actual tearing apart and repacking of the joints. I however must not be so adventurous. I just bought exchange axles from my VW FLAPS and swapped out the complete assys. I cleaned up all the old bolts very carefully (or so I thought) before I attempted to take them out. I still had quite a lot of trouble getting the old axle cap bolts (nomenclature?) out. I used an EZ Out on the ones that stripped out and then ended up using a die grinder to cut the heads off on some of them after my EZOut kind of dulled out and quit working. And then when I reinstalled the rebuilt axles, some of the used bolts I thought were good stripped out as I attempted to torque them to 25 ft-lbs so I ended up replacing them with new from my FLAPS. Only $1.20 ea.

If I had it to do over again, which I am sure I will soon on another car, I would just go ahead and buy all the axle bolts new and not have to mess around with them. I also wonder if I could replace the troublesome axle bolts with a allen head instead of the star pattern fitting. I may have to research that out and buy some of them in advance of my next attempt at this job.

Just my .02 worth. Good luck to all.

Doug

Reply to
ddh

...just curious, you *did* haver the 12 point metric tool, and not a

6 point tool right? I VERY rarely strip out these...assuming they are not "pre-stripped: from past owners with incorrect tools. I clean out most of the crud then hammer the bit into the bolt. There should be no rock factor..

...Gareth

Reply to
Gary Tateosian

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 18:25:36 -0400, Gary Tateosian ran around screaming and yelling:

Gareth speaketh the truth....too many people try to use a T40 star bit instead of the proper 12 point metric bit.. JT

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

Got 'em both apart, repacked, put back together. I have one axle in the car now, the other awaits tomorrow. I ran completely out of towels, paper towels and rags to clean grease off of everything.

I eventually clamped the axle down in the workbench and used a phillips screwdriver through one of the screw holes to hold it solid so I could pound off the caps.

What a messy job. A couple of times, when balls were falling out and rolling around the garage, I wish I had just purchased complete axle assemblies. If these present any problems in the future, I'll do just that.

Reply to
Malcolm

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