CV Joint Wear

[sjf911]

I am in the process of replacing the rear trainling arm and spring plate bushings. When I went to reconnect the right axle to the hub, the outer CV joint would not rotate smoothly and locked up on installation. I didn't have any indication that the joint was bad prior to this. The inner CV joints turn smoothly but the left is a sticky (not as much as the right).


The only damage I could find is this wear on two of the inner races.


The corresponding balls and outer races look relatively good.


To my eye, this looks like corrosion related damage rather than wear. Or, is the race surface hardened and this pattern is what you see when you finally break the surface and expose softer metal underneath?

[jmancool]

It just looks like normal wear marks. I'm not 100% sure but you maybe able to turn the joint around on the shaft (if you want to be a tight ar** and not fit new joints) and the drive will be on the none worn part of the joint. Some one else might to comment on this process.

[old man neri]

Isn't it an old trick to swap left vs right?

[SteveinTO]

I think the really old trick would be to replace. Maybe time to service the others, and be prepared for similar news.

My experience is once they start to come apart, you'll be replaceing them soon.

[sjf911]

I don't think it is usable. I could not get the joint to work smoothly in any direction, PP already has my order for replacements. Just another surprise/expense along the way. According to my records, the PO replaced the axles only 10,000 miles ago.

[michael lang]

I remember when I had to replace an inner boot on the left side a couple of years ago, I ended up doing all four. The thing that stuck out in my mind was while I was looking at various threads, Bentley Manual, etc on how to do this I kept thinking "don't let the CV ball bearings come out of the housing, it might not go back together". Turns out when I was replacing the boots, KurtM was telling me how important it is to make sure the bearings go back in the exact same position they were in but preferably not to take the CV apart if it didn't need to come apart. Sorry you had the unexpected expense.

[Vereeken]

That is a lot of wear for 10.000 miles. I serviced mine recently and only one of four was shot and looked like yours (they where manufactured in 1982 and did 135.000 km. It is possible that your inner race looks like this and that the balls are fine but it is weird. I too had a bad inner race and almost no marking on some of tne balls...it is one of those weird things.

I replaced one joint and reconditioned all others; then the left went on the right and vice versa, and gearbox side went on wheel side and vice versa.

Call me a cheap a*$


Michel

[sjf911]

Originally Posted by Vereeken

That is a lot of wear for 10.000 miles. I serviced mine recently and only one of four was shot and looked like yours (they where manufactured in 1982 and did 135.000 km. It is possible that your inner race looks like this and that the balls are fine but it is weird. I too had a bad inner race and almost no marking on some of tne balls...it is one of those weird things.

I replaced one joint and reconditioned all others; then the left went on the right and vice versa, and gearbox side went on wheel side and vice versa.

Call me a cheap a*$


Michel

I actually have a receipt from the PO showing that he had paid for new axles to be installed. This car is never tracked and the boots are in very good shape (almost new looking) which makes me wonder if something not quite right was done (i.e. new boots only and charged for new shafts). I guess I'll have to completely disassemble the inners and have a look at those as well. I had planned on replacing only the outers.

[sjf911]

Sure enough, the inner CV joint shows early pitting on one of the inner races. Looks like 4 new CV joints and boots. Ah, the Porsche tax strikes again.

[Nine9six]

Those look shot! Possibly some non-OEM replacement CV joint if they look like that @ 10K mi. Typical life span is 100-125K mi. Replace them with quality items as provided by our host and be done with it.