CV joint gaiter

[ChrisCar6]

I've been replacing my low pressure fuel hose with alcohol resistant stuff as the existing is 10 years old. While at it I found a big split in the offside inner cv joint boot. Can that be replaced in situ or do I need to take the hubcarrier and driveshaft off?

[turbonutter]

Personally I would take the shaft out & change the boot, but you can get split boots like this one. (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Universal-Split-CV-Joint-Boot-Gaiter-Kit-for-Driveshafts-EASY-FIT-SYSTEM-/190924523878?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c73fd0966)

On the Corse'I', its "Just" the 2 sets of CV joint bolts to undo to get the shaft Out....

[Guy Mayers]

Both the CV joint boots can be replaced without removing the shaft Chris although if the boot is split/torn really badly on the outer one it's best to pull the whole shaft to strip the old grease out in case it's contaminated with something that'll kill the races and wreck the joint. If you're just doing the inner one you just undo the 6 securing nuts/allen bolts, the inner or outer lower wishbone bolts (to give you a little more room) and remove the circlip on the inner end. The inner CV will then slip easily off the splined end of the shaft and you can clean it on the bench. Whilst it's off look at the condition of the outer boot and replace that if it's at all suspect. Clean the driveshaft before reassembly so you don't drag anything off it when you slide the new outer boot down the shaft. Reassemble the inner CV onto the shaft after putting the CV boot on the shaft first. I've always treated these boots as a service item and swap them out as soon as I notice any wear/cracking, they're a lot cheaper than CV joints. My car still has 3 joints that came off the 1978 donor car, only one has failed. The rest are probably 36 years old...

Guy

[ChrisCar6]

Thanks chaps!
are these split gaiters sensible, or are they one of the too-good-to-be-true solutions?

[Guy Mayers]

Never tried one Chris but I'd not bother. If grease can get out then crap can get in. Strip the shaft down, clean out the old grease and rebuild with a new boot and new grease.

Guy

[ChrisCar6]

OK, got it done. Anybody know the torque setting for the Hawk adapter - CV nuts? They're M8 x 1, ?12.9

[LM mic]

Hello if they are M8 so they are 8x 1,25 ( which metric NF )
I will apply some 70 DaN each ( say there on the continent ! 7Kg/M)
And if you are able to source some ; use of "Simmonds" lock nuts is advisable not those standards nylocks, they are too flexible and do not suffer
the temp sometime the cv joint is reaching
Hope this helps

http://www.oreca-store.com/ecrous-simmonds-autofreines.html

[ChrisCar6]

There was also evidence of some grease being thrown out of the outer(larger) end of the outer boot, although the boot appears intact. Could this be plunge pressurising forcing it out or just the strap not being tight enough?

[LM mic]

Its more pressuring than anything else
CV becoming hot this makes the grease to melt and being liquid to leak more kickly everywhere and specially on the bigger diameter due to centrifugal effect
On racing cars we used to insert in beetwen the small diameter of the gaiter and the shaft sort of 2mm rod in order to make a "vent" preventing this "pressurizing"
There are also 2 other reasons for this pressurizing ;
One is too much grease on the CV joint so the extra grease tend to be thrown out from any clearance or hole on the arrangement
Another is the quality of grease ; if you do not use hight quality ( specially friction hight temp grease ) melting point of that bad grease is so low that you can get more leaks and kicker

Again for le Mans shafts and cv 's we used to mix 50/100Total transmission grease with 50/100 white "marine grease and that give us a lot more reliability on our LMP1 even with th 700 Hp JUDD power !!

Just for you to know ; we did years ago temp test on cv joint and the inlet one's where able to reach more than 90 ° C to 110°C on the outlet !!
This why on big powerfull cars Tripodes where more reliable ( beside the fact they where kicker to swap during any pit stop !!)

[ChrisCar6]

Merci beacoup Michel!

[LM mic]

You are welcome !