driveshaft n/s front

[rx jamie]

recently removed my engine. which obviously involved removing the shafts. now the thing is...when i removed the nearside shaft, the cv joint stayed in the hub.... and the driveshaft and other cv joint stayed attached to the box !!! now ive looked down the boot which is attached to the cv joint in the hub, and there seems to be a load of grey dusty material mixed in with( metal i pressume) a distinct lack of grease.
now i cant see any visible damage on the splines of the shaft, and when i have worked on other cars there is usually a snap ring of some sort holding the shaft in the cv. but this shaft doesnt seem to have a snap ring ?
the shafts were fine while the car was running and i had no knocking on corners/full lock etc. only a knock on speed bumps which sounded like suspension knock.
id imagine the shaft is fecked anyhow ???? or will be soon ? surely this isnt normal ?
im not familiar with nissans however.

 

[youngsyp]

If there's no visible wear to the shaft, it'll be fine. The snap ring may have come adrift when you removed the shaft and maybe in all that grease.

You could take the CV joint off, chemically clean all the old grease and shite away, including in the boot, smother it with new grease, making sure all the ball bearings and cages are well covered and re-assemble, with a new snap ring.

Then if you have any play or noise, when driving the car, replace the CV joint.

Or what I'd do is renew the CV joint. If you get the kit from www.japarts.co.uk, you'll get the joint, boot, snap rings and fixing straps for just under £50 delivered. The joint is probably as old as the car so, it certainly can't hurt ?!

 

[pulsarboby]

yep, as paul said, renew it anyway as i bet theres a lot of play in the joint!
if you can move it around easily with your fingers then its on its way out, when you buy a new one you will hardly be able to move the joint at all unless its placed in the shaft.

just make sure that the new joint is completely coated in grease from every angle of the joint;-) ive seen new joints wear out in under a month because they have not been greased up correctly.

 

[youngsyp]

just make sure that the new joint is completely coated in grease from every angle of the joint;-) ive seen new joints wear out in under a month because they have not been greased up correctly.

Totally agree with senor Bob. I completely covered the joint and filled the boot, just to be sure.

It's a hell of a messy job but, very easy to do.

 

[rx jamie]

cheers for the help lads !