Hi, I have a cv joint apart (not because there was a problem, I swapping to manual-size axles because I'm converting my AT to manual [btw automatic transmission plus the stuff you need to convert (like shifter, etc) for sale, contact me off list]). I'm on my third one, and when I was wiping the grease off of the outer part of the joint I noticed grooves running perpendicular to the groove that is supposed to be there. It actually looks quite a bit like this shot from Ben's cv maintenance writeup: http://www.benplace.com/images_westfalia/assembling2.jpg However, you can't tell from that picture if that's just a "highly polished" area or an actual little groove you can feel with your finger. Mine has grooves you can feel when you run your finger down the groove in the outer race. The inner race looks fine, all surfaces smooth, and the balls look ok. Should I replace this joint, or is that normal wear and not worth worrying about? I have the joints from the donor van available, so I might find one of them without any blemishes (haven't disassembled them so I don't know yet). In other words, I might not have to order a joint, in case you were factoring price into the answer. Is it worth pulling the other ones apart to see if there's a better one? I don't know if a picture will show any more detail than the one above--you almost can't tell visually that it's a groove--in fact on most of them it's more of a "ripple" than a groove. Let me know what you think! mike |
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