anyone purchase new Lubro cv joints lately

hcoles · 11:39 AM

I ran into a dilemma. Ordered and got new cv joint Lubro (box said made in Germany but these may be made in other places). There was an amount of "surface" rust on the "races" and balls/etc. to the point that it would not move. I called supplier and he got another one... it also has "surface" rust. Apparently Lubro used to wrap the cv in a wax paper or some such... and now they don't. Anyone run into this? How much "surface" rust should I accept? I would think none... when I buy bearings they don't come standard with surface rust on the balls and races. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I didn't order these from Pelican, I sometimes use a smaller company in CA because I sort of know the guy and he does seem genuinely concerned about the problem. He has been in the Porsche part bis for at least 25 years. Do the Pelican cv's come wrapped?

rusnak · 04-23-2008, 12:40 PM

hcoles,

I think they're Lobro or something like that, but I'm fairly sure that they are not "Lubro".

I guess the answer depends on how much rust your cv joints have on them. They are not painted and when you pack them with grease they should be totally clean and not have any rust. When they are new, the joints themselves are tight and there is very very little clearance at all between the balls and cages. They should move freely, smoothly and with no clunking or clicking.

Here are the cv joints that I installed last year. I just took them off and inspected them this year since I had a premature failure two years ago after I bought some axle assemblies from a local vw shop (I was in the middle of work and did not have the time to assemble and pack my own).

I'm also curious and concerned about your situation. Can you PM me and let me know who you bought them from? Also pictures of your joints can help. If you are replacing 1 joint, chances are you are replacing at least 2. I have always ended up replacing all 4 at $150.00+ each, plus boots and washers, bolts, grease etc.

hcoles · 04-23-2008, 01:55 PM

you are right it's not Lobro..
I'll try and remember to take it out of the box (it's ready to go back) and take a picture.
I called and talked to Pelican to see if they are getting any complaints. Pelican hasn't but I was told they are drop shipped for Pelican so they don't have one to look at.
I called ********AZ and ordered one, the guy there will have it shipped to his desk for inspection before it goes out to me, that's why I ordered from them.

BTW - the pictures of your cv look very nice - clean and no rust.

The supplier that sent me the rusted cv said "oh this is like brake rotors... they get surface rust and it doesn't bother them" That sounds iffy to me... to say the least.

rusnak · 04-23-2008, 02:07 PM

I cleaned mine with some electronic parts cleaner and compressed air, then packed them with Valvoline Super Syn grease.

********AZ will take the rusty one back right? I wouldn't take a rusty cv joint, even slightly rusty. And they are not like brake rotors, I think answer is sort of lazy or dishonest. Totally different function, totally different type of application. Why do we carefully clean them and change the grease, and make sure the boots are in good shape? Because these things take a tremendous amount of torque, and because they need to be clean and well lubricated so that they can transmit that torque and not wear out. Maybe I'm being an overly picky Porsche fanatic.

911pcars · 04-23-2008, 02:13 PM

FWIW, Lobro is spelled with an umlat (sp) over the first "o". I don't know if this forum would recognize the ASCII symbol for it.

triviaaaaaaaaa

Sherwood

hcoles · 04-23-2008, 02:17 PM

******** were not the people that sent me the rusty one. I now ordered one from ********AZ that they will inspect first before sending.
I think it is resonable to expect cv joints to come clean, maybe with some sort of light oil for protection against rust, packed in a small heavy weight plastic bag or wax paper or some such.
You are not being too picky.. IMO

stevemfr · 04-24-2008, 02:08 AM

Löbro - the correct spelling w/o an umlaut would be Loebro. Pronunciation of the ö is sort of a valley-girlish "oew (gag me...)" That was today's German lesson.

I wonder if the fact that Löbro was bought out by GKN (British) has anything to do w/the rust? We all know of the Brit affinity to rust (and electrics...).

hcoles · 04-24-2008, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevemfr

Löbro - the correct spelling w/o an umlaut would be Loebro. Pronunciation of the ö is sort of a valley-girlish "oew (gag me...)" That was today's German lesson.

I wonder if the fact that Löbro was bought out by GKN (British) has anything to do w/the rust? We all know of the Brit affinity to rust (and electrics...).

Probably everything - GKN used to be Lucas.

I don't know re. Lucas... just thought it was funny

76912E · 76912E's Garage

Is there a manufacturing date on the boxes the CV joints came in? Are they very old stock? The lube will eventually dry up or turn acidic (think bad gasoline) and can cause rust. I was in the ball/roller bearing design & manufacturing business for 25 years--designing everything from military and commercial jet engine bearings to guidance system bearings for ICBMs to dental hand-piece drills, which whirl around in mouth at 100,000 RPM. In any of these applications, rust would be a leading cause of short life or failure!!!!

Even stainless steel bearings can rust under the correct (wrong?) conditions.

Fran

hcoles · 04-24-2008, 06:27 AM

Fran and others:

Fran, thanks for the comment/info. do you think these should be wrapped? Word has it that they used to come wrapped in some sort of wax paper.

Because of the history of the supplier there is a good chance of this being old stock. Still, there is no wrapping or plastic bag of any type.

Here is a med. quality picture of the good side. I didn't want to knock the cap off the other side this morning.

Here is a picture of the only info. markings I see on the box. Probably one of these is a date code... not sure. Someone may know.

hcoles · 04-24-2008, 10:20 AM

Well before I send these back here is a picture of the other side.

The ********AZ guy just said the one he inspected this morning has a bit of rust like this but from verbal description I'm assuming it is better than what I have now. Also, there were no plastic or paper wrapping on the AutoAZ part either. So it seems that protective coverings have been discontinued. If someone asks me, I'll pay the additional $1 for coverings of some sort assuming it cuts the rust down.

911pcars · 04-24-2008, 11:15 AM

Could be you received a returned part from a previous customer who removed packaging and lube. The lube/packaging is discontinued? Don't think so. Return for a new part w/o the rust.

Sherwood

hcoles · 04-24-2008, 11:19 AM

the lube packs are included... packaging detail e.g. a bag or cover just around the cv itself.. I still think could be discontinued.. do you have recent info. to the contrary? Kit is being returned.

911pcars · 04-24-2008, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hcoles

the lube packs are included... packaging detail e.g. a bag or cover just around the cv itself.. I still think could be discontinued.. do you have recent info. to the contrary? Kit is being returned.

No info to the contrary. Maybe the manufacturer thinks their product sits in the warehouse, ship, truck, store shelf and customer shelf for just a few days before installation? And they don't mind replacing new parts to replace rusted new parts? I'm glad you returned it and requested a part without the optional rust.

Sherwood

hcoles · 04-29-2008, 05:41 PM

update and interesting info.
first the update - got another cv from a different company, this time ********AZ.. very clean almost no sign of rust...it does look like something was sprayed or the part was dipped... because the balls have a dried area where it looks like some liquid was applied and allowed to drip dry... the "rusted" one also looked to have similar markings... maybe as Fran mentioned above there was a shelf life issue with the rusted one.

interesting info at least for this thread - the "new" one without rust comes/came without a bag of new cv attach bolts.. the other box with rust issue had a bag of bolts.. the part numbers and universal product code are the same... maybe they have now started to not include the new bolts.

got'a love the car parts business always something "new" happening.

At this point I'm now ready to start the cv project... finally.

hcoles · 04-29-2008, 06:47 PM

someone had the special lock washers for sale.. where did that part of this thread go? I must be having some sort of senior moment.

hcoles · 04-30-2008, 07:11 PM

for those following this... I took the "new" cv apart tonight... there was still some rust but very surface and very light. There is some sort of coating on the parts, very thin and needs some scrubbing to get off. I used some gun barrel cleaning oil and 3in1 oil and an old scrub cloth and cleaned everything up. I was able to keep track of the inner race, cage and outer race and put them back together... the balls I don't know. The feel after reassembly.. it is tight when passing the middle and square but feels like it is breaking in after moving back and forth with TriFlow oil. the balls don't ride in the middle so I checked that they all looked to have the same clearance and it seemed they do. So I think on this one, I'm good to go. The races, if you want to call them that are a very crude finish, maybe they are that way for a reason. This leads me to think this is not what I would call a precision assembly. I can post pictures if people want them, but don't want to muck up Wayne's server needlessly.

911pcars · 04-30-2008, 07:32 PM

The concept of rebuilding new parts is new to me, but perhaps this only applies to CV joints.

Sorry you have to do this with new parts.

Sherwood

hcoles · 04-30-2008, 07:39 PM

I think I get your point, ... if I see some sort of coating or light rust... I feel like I need to clean it off and grease.
the cv's are not arriving looking like a spanking new part... I don't think they do from what I've seen. I'm probably being over careful...

It is interesting.. all the parts but the cage seem to be so so on tolerance... the cage guide edges seem to be very precise..

JFairman · 04-30-2008, 08:11 PM

Maybe a warehouse full of these was hammered by a tornado or hurricane somewhere in the last few years... and they sat around damp for a while.

I would return them if you can find some without any pitting or rust.