Date:         Sun, 22 Jul 2001 14:39:04 EDT
Reply-To:     Cotsford@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Cotsford <Cotsford@AOL.COM>
Subject:      CV joint rotation ?
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

On my recent camping trip out west, the CV joints started acting up on my '84.
The van had 69, 000 miles on it and I was under the probably false impression
that the joints were greased and sealed for life.
I had inspected the boots and soaked them in silicon spray from time to time
and I knew they were intact.
However going up a long hill, the infamous Saluda grade at 55 mph in 3rd, one
of them started making a noise and causing a vibration in the drive train.
It was July 4 so I could not do anything about it so I carried on.  It
seemed to be quieter after a while.   The next day, I found a NAPA somewhere
in Indiana and bought a grease needle, some special grease and a grease gun
and pumped the CV boot with a very generous amount of grease and worked it
into the joint.
Instant improvement.
About 100 miles later the other side started making a similar noise so I
repeated the process and pumped grease into all 4 CV joints.
No more noise for the rest of the trip, 5600 miles.
However there must be damage as there is still a vibration that never used to
be there.

My question is :  can I take the shafts out, clean and repack all the CV's
with the right grease etc. and then install them on the opposite sides of the
van so the pressure surfaces of the joints are then reversed ?
Is this a good idea or is it a waste of time ?

Should I replace the outers with new german joints or should I get complete
generic replacement shafts from NAPA orFLAPS ?

Anyone tried this and have experiences to share?

Thanks,     Steve Cotsford
'84 Westy  75600 miles


[text/html]