Date:         Sun, 2 Aug 2009 11:11:40 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: Easy CV joint replacement
Comments: To: Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
In-Reply-To:  <20090802122407.95FE51E83CD@tc2.main.nc.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Congrats on a successful and trouble free replacement.

Boy, you sure let that sucker go longer than I would have. I get my van
on a rack at least once every 6 months and have a good look around. The
boots and transaxles get a good going over and shake out to catch such
things early.

Again - congrats!

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver




Edward Maglott wrote:
> I just replaced one of my outer CV joints.  It went so well I thought
> I would write about it.  Seems like we always write about troubles we
> have working on our vans.  I was worried about stripped or broken
> bolts.  Especially the ones on the outboard joint which is hard to
> get to inside the box shaped control arm.  I did have to use this
> combination to install the outer bolts:  1/2" drive torque wrench +
> 1/2" to 3/8" adapter + short extension + long extension + 3/8" to
> 1/4" adapter + 8mm socket + 8mm star bit.  Got a nice new CV joint
> and boot kit from Bus Depot which installed perfectly.  Used the
> cheap blue nitrile gloves from harbor Freight Tools to keep all that
> nasty grease off my hands.
>
> The symptom the outboard joint was exhibiting was like
> this:  intermittent and slowly worsening over several years.  A low
> heavy knocking sound related to wheel rotation speed.  Occurred when
> under more power.  Occurred more often when turning such that the
> suspension was not at it's neutral position.  Also would happen when
> climbing straight up a mountain at full power in 2nd gear (AT).  In
> that case it would often go from quiet, fade in to more intense and
> then fade out back to quiet.  Hands on analysis eventually found that
> I could move the outer end of the driveshaft up and down very
> slightly and hear/feel  a tiny version of the heavy knocking sound.
>
> Happy wrenching!
> Edward
>
>