Replacing an outer CV joint

[youngsyp]

Chaps,

I found a CV boot has split at the weekend so, as the CV joint is 93k miles old, I thought I'd replace that at the same time, seeing as you have to do the same amount of work to change the boot.

What I wanted to know is, how difficult is it to replace a O/S CV joint ?

I guess I just want to know if there is anything that makes it difficult, like the clip that's on the end of teh drive shaft ?

How long should it take, with the correct tools ?

Originally I was gonna take it somewhere to get it done but, I've just had a quote for 3.5 hours and I'm not that confident in giving the car to anyone else, to carry out the work.

Cheers

Paul

 

[Odin]

Originally I was gonna take it somewhere to get it done but, I've just had a quote for 3.5 hours and I'm not that confident in giving the car to anyone else, to carry out the work.

3.5 hours :shock: , They on drugs or what :der: .

You only have to remove the hub nut and split the lower ball joint and probably the track rod end, you can then get the drive shaft out.


I could do that job in less than an hour easy ;-) .



Rob

 

[youngsyp]

3.5 hours :shock: , They on drugs or what :der: .

At £50 an hour ! ;-)

The best price I've had to do it is £60 but, I just have a funny feeling about that guy, even though he 'claims' to have been a rally car mechanic.

To be fair, it's normally something I wouldn't have hesitated doing and just checking the tools that I need and don't have, I could get them all for about £30 to my door.

If you can get the drive shaft out by just popping the balljoint and track rod end, even better as, messing with my alignment settings was another worry, if I had to undo the damper at the hub end.

Will the driveshaft just pull out of the CV joint easily ? Even with the 'C' clip on the end of it ?

 

[pulsarboby]

3.5hrs:shock:
i can do one of those in half an hour, if im on a mission.

remove bottom ball joint and trackrod end
undo centre hubnut and remove driveshaft from hub
cut off the old boot with a knife
get a hammer and hold shaft firmly with one hand and give the cv joint a sharp wallop with the other (try and hit it squarely and firmly)
cv joint should then come off

when fitting new boot make sure all the old grease is off the shaft and the joint, repack it with new lithium grease to the joint making sure its well covered from every angle!
make sure snap ring isnt bent
simply knock new cv joint back onto shaft and reassemble in reverse order.
use plastic cable ties instead of the metal ones they give you with boot, if you do not have the correct tool for those they will come adrift, cable ties are much better imo

job done!

 

[youngsyp]

3.5hrs:shock:
i can do one of those in half an hour, if im on a mission.

remove bottom ball joint and trackrod end
undo centre hubnut and remove driveshaft from hub
cut off the old boot with a knife
get a hammer and hold shaft firmly with one hand and give the cv joint a sharp wallop with the other (try and hit it squarely and firmly)
cv joint should then come off

when fitting new boot make sure all the old grease is off the shaft and the joint, repack it with new lithium grease to the joint making sure its well covered from every angle!
make sure snap ring isnt bent
simply knock new cv joint back onto shaft and reassemble in reverse order.
use plastic cable ties instead of the metal ones they give you with boot, if you do not have the correct tool for those they will come adrift, cable ties are much better imo

job done!

Thanks Bob, and now for some silly questions ! :lol:

What type of hammer should I use ? Could I get away with a claw hammer and a lump of wood or, should I use a rubber mallet or lump hammer ?

I'm guessing I'd be hitting the CV joint on the backside, to force it off the driveshaft ?!

 

[jpward]

3.5hrs:shock:
i can do one of those in half an hour, if im on a mission.

remove bottom ball joint and trackrod end
undo centre hubnut and remove driveshaft from hub
cut off the old boot with a knife
get a hammer and hold shaft firmly with one hand and give the cv joint a sharp wallop with the other (try and hit it squarely and firmly)
cv joint should then come off

when fitting new boot make sure all the old grease is off the shaft and the joint, repack it with new lithium grease to the joint making sure its well covered from every angle!
make sure snap ring isnt bent
simply knock new cv joint back onto shaft and reassemble in reverse order.
use plastic cable ties instead of the metal ones they give you with boot, if you do not have the correct tool for those they will come adrift, cable ties are much better imo

job done!

Aye Bob whats the craic with them tools i have always used cable ties and thought it was shabby are the expensive to get ive never seen them on my travels :?

By the way when i was removing engine few months back all i did was;

To remove 2# strut/hub bolts and centre shaft nut and then full steering angle and you do not have to remove either bottom ball joint or track rod end ;-) ;-)
helps if you have a friend but we were in a rush to get engine and box out had both wheels off and on again job done in about 15 mins :lol:

 

[Odin]

Will the driveshaft just pull out of the CV joint easily ? Even with the 'C' clip on the end of it ?

You will need a 32mm socket on the hub nut.

You will need 19mm on the track rod end I think not sure about the bottom joint maybe 21mm or 22mm can't remember :doh: , once you've done that you should be able to pull out the strut enough to get the drive shaft out the back, Even with removing the whole strut would only take another few mins.

Once you've cut the metal bands on the old boot you should be able to pull the cv joint apart.

OK just read bobs reply, you may need to give it a tap with a nice big rubber mallet or cooper ended hammer.

Rob

 

[pulsarboby]

just use a club hammer if you dont have a rubber or copper mallet! (not a claw hammer) wrap a lump of rag round cv to deaden the blow, you should only need to give it one firm wallop and it will come off.

jp.....not a good idea to loosen his strut bolts as hes had it setup and tracked. once you loosen them it will effect the track alignment!
i havent got a strap tool either, tbh i dont like them and think tie clips do a better job, if their secured properly then they will not come undone.

if you dont want to remove any of that, then you can buy the universal glue together boot kit for around £12 these are good but you have to cut them to size and make sure everything is clean before you glue them together. will take you around 20 minutes with those.
or
theres also a stretchy boot gator but you need a special funnel to use to stretch these over the cv joint. i have a spare one if you wanna borrow it. that saves having to remove the cv joint also.

 

[jpward]

just use a club hammer if you dont have a rubber or copper mallet! (not a claw hammer) wrap a lump of rag round cv to deaden the blow, you should only need to give it one firm wallop and it will come off.

jp.....not a good idea to loosen his strut bolts as hes had it setup and tracked. once you loosen them it will effect the track alignment!
i havent got a strap tool either, tbh i dont like them and think tie clips do a better job, if their secured properly then they will not come undone.

if you dont want to remove any of that, then you can buy the universal glue together boot kit for around £12 these are good but you have to cut them to size and make sure everything is clean before you glue them together. will take you around 20 minutes with those.
or
theres also a stretchy boot gator but you need a special funnel to use to stretch these over the cv joint. i have a spare one if you wanna borrow it. that saves having to remove the cv joint also.

Ahh fair point didnt know he was using camber bolts have mine in hand just not fitted so obviously not an issue with standard bolts. ;-)

 

[youngsyp]

You will need a 32mm socket on the hub nut.

You will need 19mm on the track rod end I think not sure about the bottom joint maybe 21mm or 22mm

Can anyone confirm these two nut sizes and the track rod end balljoint nut size, so I can order the requisite sockets or spanners ?

The tool list, consisting of 600mm, 1/2 breaker bar, ball joint separator spanner and socket, including shipping is about £37.00 which, is pretty good I thought !

 

[youngsyp]

Ahh fair point didnt know he was using camber bolts have mine in hand just not fitted so obviously not an issue with standard bolts. ;-)

I'm not bud. I'm using coilovers with adjustable topmounts but, the bottom damper mounting does have elongated bolt holes too ! ;-)

 

[Odin]

Can anyone confirm these two nut sizes and the track rod end ball joint nut size, so I can order the requisite sockets or spanners ?

The tool list, consisting of 600mm, 1/2 breaker bar, ball joint separator spanner and socket, including shipping is about £37.00 which, is pretty good I thought !

I just checked mine and it's 19mm for the track rod end nut and 22mm for the bottom ball joint, I wouldn't use a ball joint splitter either because they just f*ck up the joint, just give the hub a few shape taps with a big hammer that will work for both the track rod end and the bottom ball joint split, You need to do them both though, I didn't mean they'd both come off at the same time lol.



Rob

 

[youngsyp]

I just checked mine and it's 19mm for the track rod end nut and 22mm for the bottom ball joint, I wouldn't use a ball joint splitter either because they just f*ck up the joint, just give the hub a few shape taps with a big hammer that will work for both the track rod end and the bottom ball joint split, You need to do them both though, I didn't mean they'd both come off at the same time lol.



Rob

Thanks Rob, I'll get the tools ordered !

With regards to the ball joint splitting, you need to leave the nut just at the top of the thread, so the splitter is pressing against that, and not the thread. That way, you get an undamaged ball joint everytime ! ;-)

And I know you need to break each ball joint separately. I'm not a complete novice. :roll: :lol: I've just not changed a CV joint before ! ;-)

 

[antgtir]

With the ball joint splitter, i normally apply some grease to the fork so that the rubber boot doesn't get damaged at all.

When you are knocking the joints out of place remember to keep the nut on the end of the rod so that the rod doesn't splay when you hit it with the hammer, once the seal is broke unscrew and take off as normal.

Just a word of warning to about the CV joint removal, there is actually a circlip inside holding the joint in place, ideally you should remove this with a set of circlip pliers before you knock the joint.

Plus be extra careful you dont knock the CV joint so hard it pops the shaft out of the box as you will have to get yourself some new oil for that otherwise lol, plus the gearbox end of the shft is on a circlip to (although these circlips do generally pop in and out with no troubles)

Good luck with it.

Ant.

 

[youngsyp]

With the ball joint splitter, i normally apply some grease to the fork so that the rubber boot doesn't get damaged at all.

When you are knocking the joints out of place remember to keep the nut on the end of the rod so that the rod doesn't splay when you hit it with the hammer, once the seal is broke unscrew and take off as normal.

Ah, you boys use the splitter forks ?!

I'll be using a proper ball joint separator, of the scissor variety ! :lol:

No hammers needed, just a correct sized socket or spanner ! ;-)

I'm hoping not to have too much bother (famous last words !) as, I do all the maintanence on the Pulsar (and every other car I've had) and have changed the lower arms before and, the track rod ends on more occasions than I can remember !

 

[antgtir]

Ah, you boys use the splitter forks ?!

I'll be using a proper ball joint separator, of the scissor variety ! :lol:

No hammers needed, just a correct sized socket or spanner ! ;-)

I'm hoping not to have too much bother (famous last words !) as, I do all the maintanence on the Pulsar (and every other car I've had) and have changed the lower arms before and, the track rod ends on more occasions than I can remember !

If they are used in the right manner they are the best tools;-) :lol: 8)

Im sure you will do fine lol, still as you say famous last words, and you have just said them ;-)

Ant.

 

[pulsarboby]

its not a circlip ant its a snap ring there 2 completely different things!

you will never knock one off which is fitted with a circlip unless you remove the circlip first.
the type on these cars are a lock or otherwise known as snap ring which have to be knocked off.

 

[antgtir]

its not a circlip ant its a snap ring there 2 completely different things!

you will never knock one off which is fitted with a circlip unless you remove the circlip first.
the type on these cars are a lock or otherwise known as snap ring which have to be knocked off.

I knew that:lol:

I did have to use the old circlip pliers when i did mine but as you say these are different items so a good knock will suffice:lol:

When im there i know what to do :lol:

Ant.

 

[youngsyp]

I knew that:lol:

I did have to use the old circlip pliers when i did mine but as you say these are different items so a good knock will suffice:lol:

When im there i know what to do :lol:

Ant.

Don't worry mate, I knew what you meant ! ;-)