how do you clean and determine if your CV joints are O.K

[jk911]

Is it safe to use degreaser and water to wash all the grease out to inspect them ??

Does anyone have pics of how to remove them, Its a 1975 sporto.

[Early_S_Man]

CV joint disassembly

[jk911]

Thanks S man,

Sorry I missed that post. We can always rely on you.

What is the best thing to clean all the old grease off ! Degreaser, methylated spirits, mineral turpentine, WD40 ? Any suggestions.

[TimT]

cleaning and repacking the cv's is a dirty job.....

the dinosaur doo doo that we call grease is slow to be removed and gets everywhere. it take lots of solvent to get everything cleaned.

Then you have to repack with high quality dino doo doo

[Don Plumley]

Yeah, dirty job. Did it a couple of weeks ago.

Wear nitrile gloves. Wipe away most of the grease with paper towels. Have large, open trash bag handy. Used mineral spirits and Castrol degreaser with a toothbrush to remove old grease. WD-40 would work, but just takes a lot.

If you are taking the time to take the grease out to inspect, then buy CV boot kits - includes the grease (pre-measured), boots, circlip and clamps.

If the CV's look worn/problematic - buy replacement axle assemblies. Don't bother buying CV's and repacking. If you rebuild/repack your CV's, swap sides when you reinstall.

Good luck!

Don

[Jim Sims]

Some more comments. Replace the "Schnorr" or "Rib Spring" lock washers under the theads of the CV joint screws. Clean out the heads of the screws before you put a bit to them to loosen them. I believe in mid-year 1975 the size of the screws changed. If you have 10 mm (diameter across the thread crests)screws, there will be four screws plus two roll pins (pins are hidden) holding each joint together. The roll pins sometimes make the joint hard to separate; I made wedges of plastic tent pegs to drive the joints apart at the cardboard gaskets to avoid marring the joints. If you have 8 mm screws there will be 6 screws per joint and no roll pins. You will also need new cardboard gaskets; one per joint for the 10 mm size screws and 2 per joint for the 8 mm screws. Use a torque wrench to retighten the screws (60 ft-lbs for the 10 mm screws or 36 ft-lbs for the 8 mm screws). Use a good molygrease (containing molybdenum disulfide) to repack the joints after cleaning them; Swepco 101 is such a grease. One tube is enough to repack all four joints. Pelican sells all the stuff one needs. I use mineral spirits to clean off the old grease. I would not use WD-40 as a cleaner as any WD-40 residue will turn gummy with time. If your CV joint boots are original they're likely due to be changed, the boots that go with the 10 mm screws need metal bands to secure the edges of the boots to the shaft and the CV joint. Typically later designs do not require bands on the boot edges.

Now, how's your Sportomatic tranny and what did you do or have done to fix it? Inquiring minds want to know!

Cheers, Jim

[Zeke]

Re cleaning: I brushed away as much of the old grease as posible in a small amount of solvent. Then I dropped the CV into carb cleaner overnight. Took them out and hit them with a narrow stream from the water hose. Much easier to manipulate the CV around to expose all sufaces and get blasted by water in the face than some nasty chemical. I then immediately imersed them in lacquer thinner to displace the water and blew them dry as a bone. Even a yard blower or shop vac will do that. Last step was to pack the grease in.

I know guys that would rather buy a used axle and install it than deal with these things. But when you know who did it and how clean it is, well, it always runs smoother.

[jk911]

Thanks guy's

Jim , My sporto transmission is O.K for some reason I havent had any problems.

I have fixed the electrical problem and I put new vacume hoses on the sporto system. Touch wood things are O.K.

I suspect the low voltage was giving me the problems.