Date:         Fri, 17 May 1996 11:13:47 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         tbf@pacifier.com (Todd Francis)
Subject:      Re: CV joint Ball Bearing (and Re: Front Glass)

>>Todd,
>>  Thanks for the CV joint advice.  I think I will go with a replacement 
>>ball instead of an entire joint.   May I ask a related question?  When I 
>>repacked the joints, they became extremely stiff.  Is this common?  I was 
>>very careful that everything was put together correctly, at least I 
>>thought so...
>>  Is there a trick to reinstalling the drive shaft?  During installation 
>>is when the balls have fallen out (over and over again until I ran out of 
>>grease and was about to spontaneously combust in frustration.  The first 
>>shaft went in on the second try. Go figure.
>>
>>Greg   
>>
> 
>Greg:  Ah, CV joint greasing and installation:  Now there's a job that
sucks.  We have to do it every time we go to a race.  And we never relish
it.   But we have found ways to make it a bit easier.  First of all, you're
absolutely positive you've put the CV's together correctly.  Are they nice
and loose when there's no grease in?  We use SWEPPCO(?) high moly grease and
it's fairly stiff and will take fairly high temps.
>     I have two plates that have CV bolt hole patterns drilled in them, and
are 3/16" thick each.  We bolt those up to each CV joint. One of the plates
on the joint has a grease nipple in the middle and we just use a grease gun
to fill the CV joint up.  That packs the grease in nice and tight and the CV
won't flop around easily.  Now  after removing the plates I carefully put
the CV onto the drive axle, and put the clips in.  Jack the wheel up as much
as you can without lifting the body of the vehicle (so the drive flange and
the flange on the stub axle are as close to being in the same plane as
possible and you still have space betweem the flanges to be able to fit the
axle in). This makes it so you don't have to angle the joint as much when
fitting the CV. Then bolt your drive axle in.  The tightly packed grease
will keep the CV from moving so the balls won't fall out while you are
working to fit the alxle assembly. Try to keep the grease between the mating
surfaces of the CV and flange to a minimum. (on the race car we try to keep
them completely clean.) The grease will cause a very small space between the
joint and flange even after being bolted up and after being driven the
grease will  evacuate causing a space and  the bolts start to loosen. This
sounds like overkill but we had a lot of trouble with CVs getting loose at
races before we heard about this. After we started this practice we have had
no more trouble. 
>
>   Oh, to add to the CV tool/bolt discussion, we use FERRY CAP BOLTS. They
are bolts that have multiple points (I think 12) on the outside of the head
(sort of reverse of a stock bolt). They are great. The points don't strip or
round off and they come in a good grade (grade 8). They just require a
standard 12 point socket and you get a good solid feel when tightening or
loosening. The only problem is I don't know if they come in metric. We use
3/8 and drill everything out to accept them.
>
>
>good luck and try to keep that CV grease offaya.
>
>Todd Francis
>
>86 syncro and multiple VWs
>
>
>
>