Pelican'CV Joint rebuild kit observation

[Jameel]

So I've read pretty much every on this forum about CV joints and all the different versions, including Grady's excellent advice which I've followed on several cars over the years.

Most recently I got lazy and against my better judgement I ordered CV rebuild kit from our host. Here's the kit. I am usually very anal about parts ordering and don't often trust the preassembed kits.

I bought this for a '79 SC. The original CVs that we took off had the thick flanges, and 6 8mm bolts, with NO washers under the bolt heads. They have been fine for the past 40,000 miles (I'm talking about the bolts staying put)

I made the stupid mistake of tossing the original boots and flanges, so those are gone. The boots that came with the kit are these:


Here's the issues. The kit comes with 50mm bolts. Since the flanges are just thin sheet metal, these bolts are too long. They are designed to be used with the thick flanges. The other issue is the way I understand it, the thin sheet metal boots are intended to be used with moon washers so the pressure from the bolt gets spread over the circumference of the flange and help to keep the grease from getting past the gasket inside, AND to keep the mating surfaces of the axle flange and CV from slipping (Grady Clay mentions this). The solution? There is none, because the thin flanges on these are designed for moon washers, but no moon washers were ever made for 8mm bolts and 6-bolt spacing. So that's out.

This kit should be packaged with thick flanges. Not to mention the kit comes with twice the amount of grease pouches (plus an entire tube of grease) and twice the amount of gaskets and snap rings needed. It's a cobbled together kit.

Right now I'm trying to source thick flange boots to put on this car. And I honestly don't know what the thin flange boots with 8mm holes are actually for. I've ran them on this car for about 700 miles and they are already leaking past the gaskets because the flanges are so thin. I did add schnoor washers, and they have stayed tight.

Here's the other interesting thing. You can get an entire assembled axle assembly (new CVs assembled to new axles, greased and ready to go) for about $570. That's less than I paid for two rebuild kits using my original axles.

The tech guys at Pelican are working on a solution, and I appreciate their help. Just thought I would post this as a heads up.

[safe]

With thin flange boots, moon washers and schnorr washers are mandatory. You can exchange the schnorr with nord locks that are superior, but you need longer bolts

[Marc Bixen]

We keep it original. Thick flanges are available from the dealer, $121 each.

[Jeff Alton]

Both of the above posts are correct. If using the thin flange less expensive kit, you need the 2 hole moon plates. If using new Porsche thick flange parts those are not required. Never a bad idea to use a schnorr washer with either set up.

Cheers

[Jameel]

Thanks guys. Pelican ended up sending me a set of the thick flange boots n/c. They are crazy expensive, so if anyone is reading this make sure you try to reuse your thick flange boot flanges when redoing CV joints.

Also, to reiterate, the thin sheet metal boot flanges sold for the 8mm bolts do not work at all, because there are NO moon plates available for the bolt size and spacing. I honestly don't know why these are being made by manufacturers. Maybe people are just running them and figuring they will hold? I dunno. Chime in here if you are.

[safe]

Originally Posted by Jameel

Also, to reiterate, the thin sheet metal boot flanges sold for the 8mm bolts do not work at all, because there are NO moon plates available for the bolt size and spacing. I honestly don't know why these are being made by manufacturers.

On a tangent:
I recently bought* new driveshafts for a 3.2 G50. But I could not get them to fit to the G50 flange. The metal cup on the end that holds in the geese wasn't the same shape as the old, they were more square.
I didn't have time to send them back, had to reuse some old cups from broken driveshafts.
I guess they were from a later car 996ish car, because they didn't fit a 993 either.

*Not from Pelican