Should new CV's be stiff?
 

I fear I may have done something incredibly dumb. I am replacing my CV joints. So I pulled the old CV's off the axle and put the new ones on. But before doing so, I disassembled the new CV's so as to fully lube them and make sure there was CV grease in every nook and cranny. But when I tried to put the CV's back together all greased up, they didn't want to fit together easily. I figured it was just because of all of the grease so I squeezed them together and put them on the axle anyway. And when I got them on the axle shaft, they don't move. They are rigid. The old CV's were flexible and would rotate a bit. But these new ones with all their grease are feeling pretty solid. And that seems to defeat the whole purpose of a CV joint. So is this normal for a new CV that has been thoroughly packed with grease or have I somehow done something utterly wrong?

i did the same job last week - and yes they feel stiff
hardly any movement

Brilliant !! Thanks, I feel a lot better about it. Had to ask before torqueing anything down !!

I was warned by a 944 mech once about this....he told me that the CV joints only go back together a certain way....ie there's a right way and a wrong way. I still have 'em in my garage so I haven't crossed that bridge yet. Does anyone know about this? just like to make sure for Janus Cole as well as myself. I will probably be doing this job in the near future....

If they don't rotate without lots of force, you may have reassembled them one notch off.

Googled and copied this:

Notice how the grooves for the ball bearings in the outer race are not equally spaced. The inner race also has large and small spaces between the ball bearing grooves. To assemble the joint correctly, make sure to align the thin spaces of the inner race with the wide spaces of the outer race. Be careful - You can do this wrong! In fact, the joint goes together easier when you are doing it the wrong way. If you assemble it the wrong way, the joint will bind when it tries to flex.

Hope this helps

The inner race slides in and out of the outer race when you press the inner race with your thumbs while holding the outer race with your other fingers with minimal effort. While in the car, the axle shaft also moves in and out the cv's and the cv's also takes up any angular movement due to suspension travel.
Disassemble them again!
Make sure you match one pair of grooves in opposing fashion. The grooves are not straight. One pair of grooves converge at a point outside the race.
Just match one pair of grooves in the outer race that opens out with another pair in the inner race that closes in looking from one side. Hope this helps.

Bel

I asked the same question on the 911 BBS and they pointed me to this totally helpful thread with excellent pictures...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62514&highlight=cv+disa ssembly

dangerous, it's time to pull out those CV's !! :D

I really am amazed at the intricacies of our CV joints. They're like ancient chinese puzzles... I remember my first attempt at CV joint replacement. Was a fun learning experience of properly re-assembling them. They're like a puzzle -> they only go together one way. Make sure you lube everything incredibly well before re-assembly.

SUCCESS !! I used the pictures in that link (how did I miss that thread when I searched? I must have had a senior moment). And everything fit together perfectly. I definitely had them both in backwards because they would not move even a tiny bit. But once I followed the directions in the pictures, they were tight but definitely moved when pushed. So I bolted them up and went for a nice, QUIET drive with no clunking and no major catastrophes. Woo Hoo !! Thanks again. You guys have saved my butt more times than I can count !! :D:D:D