Constant Velocity Joint, CV Joint Service - Maintenance

[Grady Clay]

Anyone rebuilding their CV joints, or even have the axles off the transmission, should study this thread:
Reconstructing Constant Velocity (CV) Joints
Randy’s classic thread: “Reconstructing Constant Velocity (CV) Joints”

While this thread is very long, it is “must reading” when dealing with the issues around CV joints staying attached to your Porsche. I’ll encourage everyone to read and study the entire thread.

Best,
Grady

[Gordo2]

Originally Posted by Gordo2

It didn't appear that you could incorrectly re-assemble the ball cage (the center race is symmetrical - either side can face inward/outward).

Yes, I'm quoting myself - for correction.

I did find something unique about how the CV cage & center race go together. The outer edge of the cage has one side that is beveled/angled and the other side is flat. Here's a close up of the beveled side, which was facing outward (away from the axle) on all of my CV's prior to dissasembly:



If you want to re-assemble the inner race back in the cage with the same orientation as you took it out, its easy - the race has wear marks where the circlip was - just put it back in the cage so that the side with the circlip marks matches up to the beveled side of the cage. I didn't notice any difference (which way the inner race faced) - but decided to re-assemble with the same orientation as it was in when I took it apart.

Here's an interesting one:



Noticed the date as I was taking the picture. Can these CV's really be 27 years old with 190,000 miles on them? They all inspected pretty good, with one CV being questionable due to 2 discolored ball bearings (I assume from heat).

Just thought I should clarify my earlier statement on race/cage assembly.

Gordo

[Gordo2]

I took a bit of a break to order some Schnorr washers (8mm), purchase a new torque wrench (Proto 3/8" 10-80 ft-lbs) and 4 more new CV joint gaskets.

Quick note on the Schnorr washers - it wasn't obvious to me, but from what I was able to dig up on Pelican, the raised side of the washer should mate to the bolt head (the washer is slightly cone shaped).

I started the installation effort by applying the Swepco CV grease to the CV joints. I packed it in from the outside (squirted some from the grease gun onto the joint and packed it in with my fingers) until it was showing on the other side of the joint and then added some grease to the inside edge of the joint:





After I packed them, I cleaned the surfaces and bolt holes with a paper towel soaked with brake cleaner to remove any grease from these areas.

Here's a little tip. The CV boots that I purchased had the clamps crimped right in line with one of the holes (making it difficult to get the bolt head past the crimp). I flattened it out by levering a screwdriver head between the bolt and the crimp:



Once the CVs were packed with grease and cleaned I inserted the bolts part way into the CVs - this holds the boot and CV steady for installation:



I then prepared the flanges for installation. I cleaned the out the cupped area of the flange, and did a thorough job of cleaning the bolt threads, the mating surfaces and recessed areas where the gasket adheres to (the gaskets have a peel off that exposes a sticky side). I then stuck the gasket to the flange and put some grease in the cup (picture of the wheel spindle flange, inside of the swing arm):



My first shot at installing the axles didn't go so well - I tried to bolt both CVs to the flanges at the same time. I ended up getting grease all over the mating surfaces and threads of the spindle flange. Realizing my failure, I pulled the axle back out, re-cleaned the surfaces, bolts and threads and then remembered that I had read a recommendation to install the wheel side CV first

Once everything was ready to give it another go, I moved the axle into place, propped the transmission side CV up on some boards and attached the wheel side CV bolts. This method went very well, allowing me to install the wheel side CV, snug the bolts and then postion the transmission side CV in place to bolt it up. I think I managed to get the bolts in without smearing grease on the CV/flange surface or on the bolts.



Once the axles/CV's were bolted up (finger tight) I began to torque the bolts. I started at 20 ft-lbs and moved up to 30 ft-lbs for my second pass. Made a third pass at 30 ft-lbs to ensure I properly torqued all the bolts:



My long extension with a locking head came in handy - the allen socket stays with the extension instead of getting stuck in the bolt head.

To keep the axles from spinning, I wedged a 19mm box end wrench against the spindle nut housing; this avoided contact with the wheel stud negating possible damage to the stud. The wrench was pressed against my thigh to keep the spindle/axel from spinning as I torqued each bolt. This allowed me to torque 2 bolts at a time, then rotate the axle, put the wrench back on and torque 2 more.



Long thread, long evening...

I'm out

Gordo

[euro911sc]

Nice work! Great write up. I'll be following it in the near future.

-Michael

[RWebb]

axle - search engine will not pick up mis-spellings

big screwdriver, etc. jammed into rotor vents will save your lug nuts - they are Al and pretty soft

for the correct washer orientation, search on: Schnorr + washer + concave + convex

[Gordo2]

ax-el:  Pronunciation [ak-suhl]
–noun Figure Skating. a jump performed by a skater leaping from the front outer edge of one skate into the air to make 1 1/2 rotations of the body and landing on the back outer edge of the other skate.

Origin:
1925–30; after Axel Paulsen (1855–1938), Norwegian figure skater, who popularized the maneuver
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bet-cha didn't know that!

RWebb, thanks for the catch - I edited to correct (damn - 5 years of college toward an engineering degree and my 10 year old can still out spell me ). BTW - my disks weren't installed, otherwise I would have pulled the parking brake or inserted a screw driver. Also, I just did a search for Schnorr + washer + concave + convex and it pulled up this thread. Wouldn't it have been easier to recommend looking at page 1 of this thread ?
Gordo