outer CV Gaiter replacement .

[V8NRG]

Can anyone give some guidance as to how to replace the outer drive shaft CV gaiters ?

Can it be done by just disconnecting the driveshafts at the wheel end ?

I “assume” one or both wishbones need to be unbolted then the hex bolts on the inside of the hub ? (you know what they say about assumptions).

Any guidance would be gratefully received.

[scotty_d]

Yeah undo the allen caps at the wheel end after lifting it off the ground and you should be able to get it out.

[philh]

You shouldnt have to remove any wishbones just undo the allen headed bolts at each end and wiggle it out.

[martinipaul]

I did mine a few years ago. I decided to replace all four at once and took the opportunity to clean and paint everthing in that area. Things I needed:

gaiters & clips from www.racetechdirect.co.uk £15 each
moly grease about £5
gaiter clip tool from www.toolcrew.co.uk £9 inc postage
a good/new 1/2" drive 8mm hex key & circlip pliers
used one of those pencil wire brushes and a bit of carb cleaner to clean out the hex head bolts
released lower wishbone pivot, pretty easy and gives good access
torque setting on CV joint bolts is 45 lbft

Hope that helps

[Sparky99]

Sorry to hi-jack

martinipaul,

Top note very helpful.

Was the car up on a ramp when you did this?

I need to replace all 4 on mine but its going to be a driveway and trolley jack job.

Is it do-able or am I going to struggle with the out gaiter?

Cheers

[Sparky99]

martinipaul,

Also, having not looked at the parts yet what are the circlip pliers for?

Cheers

[Sparky99]

I think really what i'm asking is what's the process from start to finish if you've got the time.

I can see that you would unbolt the diff side.

I was guessing after that I would slide the drive shaft out from the out CV then slip both the boots on , securing the inner boot fully, bolt the drive shaft back up and then clip the outer boot in place (this bit I was wondering how I would get the clip tightened properly....)

Clearly this isn't going to work as I'm missing a few steps....

Thanks

[Pink_Floyd]

Sparky99 said:

I was guessing after that I would slide the drive shaft out from the outer CV

There is a circlip on the end of the drive shaft that you will need to remove to allow the cv joint to slide off.

[martinipaul]

Sparky99,

sorry not to reply sooner, I'm away in France with work. Yes, I just used used a trolley jack to get the rear end up nice and high on a couple of axle stands so I had good access to get the driveshafts out and to give the chassis a good going over. It was quite a while ago so I might have forgotten a few things, but basically:

- take wheels off
- clean the hex bolts (on the in-board and out-board CV joint flanges) out well and loosen them all off.
- remove the bolt connecting the lower wish bone to the hub carrier
- now remove all the hex bolts.
- lift the hub carrier a bit, watch out not to strain the brake hose.
- the drive shaft can now come out complete with CV joints.
- for each joint:
- take the circlip off and slide the CV joint and old boot off the shaft.
- don't let any dirt into the CV joint !
- clear out the old grease.
- fit new boot and re-fit CV joint and circlip to driveshaft.
- slide boot over joint and fit the boot clips with the tool.
- pack new grease in. Some boot kits come with a measured amount of grease, can't remember how much, but you're not supposed to over pack. I think I used just under a quarter of a standard tin of grease in each joint.
- clean everything up on the car if needed(and paint while access is good?)
- re-fit driveshaft in reverse order, torquing correctly.

It's quite an easy job, probably the only problem you'll have is with seized bolts. Be careful, use a new / good hex driver, and use heat on the wishbone bolt if you need to.

Hope I've remembered it correctly, and hope that helps !

Paul

[Sparky99]

Martinipaul - Thanks so much. This is sat nicely in my bookmarks ready for attack after holidays.

Quinny - top tip.

Cheers

Sparky99

[Del 203]

Quinny said:

One more Gotchya to consider...

The cap head screws on the diff end, are a different thread to the ones on the wheel end...

Not on mine

[Pink_Floyd]

Del 203 said:

Quinny said:

One more Gotchya to consider... The cap head screws on the diff end, are a different thread to the ones on the wheel end...

Not on mine

Not on mine either, 1998 4.0ltr

[Tyre Tread]

I'm doing mine today. Thanks for the info. It has made it soooo much easier.

Oh and an air ratchet takes the wrist ache out of undoing the 24 bolts one they are loose.

[quattrophenia]

Tyre Tread said:

I'm doing mine today. Thanks for the info. It has made it soooo much easier.

Oh and an air ratchet takes the wrist ache out of undoing the 24 bolts one they are loose.

How much grease should you put into the new gaiter?

[Tyre Tread]

quattrophenia said:

How much grease should you put into the new gaiter?

I read on another thread (or was it this one) about 85 grammes but I shall be packing the joints generously with a generous amount to spare without overloading them.

After taking off one of the gaiters I whizzed along to the main factors this afternoon but they couldn't match it accurately and have asked for the dimensions.

I like the look of the gaiters shown earlier in this thread if anyone can tell me where to get them.

The dimensonns of the gaiter in case anyone wants them are Shaft aperture 27mm, joint aperture 64mm and length/height (stood on end on bench) 90mm.

If anyone can confirm a part number or suitable other vehicles I'd be grateful.

The local factors couldn't match up the Unipart number above.

Molybdenum Grease?

ETA: Te gaiters shown earlier are from Clever Trevor and I think I shall go for those having spent half a day cleaning everything up and finding that standard gaiters of good quality are likely to be at least half the price.

Edited by Tyre Tread on Sunday 6th February 16:20

[jonbford]

Hi, I have been following this thread to change my CV Gaiters, I have got to the "remove the circlip bit" but after doing that I cant seem to be able to slide the CV joint off the drive shaft, I can slide it back and forth by about 2mm but thats about it!
Should this slide off easily or does it need a bit of force? ie, hit it with a block and hammer??

[carsy]

In theory they should just slide off. If they wont give them a clout like you say, hopefully this will move them but not always. When i did mine i could only remove one joint out of the four. The others were impossible to move and i had to take them to a garage and got them to press them off.

[jonbford]

Thanks carsy I shall give it a bit of force then.

[Barreti]

I think I've identified my clanging as one of the CV joints on the OS driveshaft.

So I'm following the noddy guide kindly put together by Paul - which I've created below as a numbered list to make my question easier to reference against it

I'm wondering if for Step 3. I can't remove the top wishbone to hub carrier bolt instead of the bottom two, because the bottom ones have nuts on the inside of the bottom of the carrier which are a bugger to get a socket on to.
I can't see any reason why not so I'm looking for a gotcha.

Ta.
IanB

martinipaul said:

I just used used a trolley jack to get the rear end up nice and high on a couple of axle stands so I had good access to get the driveshafts out and to give the chassis a good going over. It was quite a while ago so I might have forgotten a few things, but basically:

1. take wheels off
2. clean the hex bolts (on the in-board and out-board CV joint flanges) out well and loosen them all off.
3. remove the bolt connecting the lower wish bone to the hub carrier
4. now remove all the hex bolts.
5. lift the hub carrier a bit, watch out not to strain the brake hose.
6. the drive shaft can now come out complete with CV joints.

for each joint:

1. take the circlip off and slide the CV joint and old boot off the shaft.
2. don't let any dirt into the CV joint !
3. clear out the old grease.
4. fit new boot and re-fit CV joint and circlip to driveshaft.
5. slide boot over joint and fit the boot clips with the tool.
6. pack new grease in. Some boot kits come with a measured amount of grease, can't remember how much, but you're not supposed to over pack. I think I used just under a quarter of a standard tin of grease in each joint.
7. clean everything up on the car if needed(and paint while access is good?)
8. re-fit driveshaft in reverse order, torquing correctly.

It's quite an easy job, probably the only problem you'll have is with seized bolts. Be careful, use a new / good hex driver, and use heat on the wishbone bolt if you need to.

Hope I've remembered it correctly, and hope that helps !

Paul

[carsy]

You can remove the top wishbone bolt. Only problem is you will have to re set the camber afterwards.