If the CV joints are making noise, but the bolts are snug...

[GHEN]

Hi All,

"87 944 today while driving I heard the dreaded "clunk" from the right rear but I thought...no way, I have Stage 8 locking fasteners on there...and then it happened again and again.

After limping my car home, the bolts are all in there snug...it appears Stage 8 fasterners did their job but the "clunk" while cornering continues.

So what is the next step? Do I remove the CV joints, inspect and then replace or repack?

Any assistance is, as always, appreciated.

GHEN

[thomasryan]

try cleaning the grease off the mating surfaces and see if the sound goes away. do a pelican search for grady clay on CV joints. it's about a ten page thread on loss of clamping force when the mating surfaces aren't pristine.

[GHEN]

Originally Posted by thomasryan

try cleaning the grease off the mating surfaces and see if the sound goes away. do a pelican search for grady clay on CV joints. it's about a ten page thread on loss of clamping force when the mating surfaces aren't pristine.

Great thanks!

GHEN

[thomasryan]

suspect the inner drivers joint as the exhaust heat makes the grease a bit more liquid.

in a nut shell, you need metal to metal contact or the torque load gets taken up by the bolts, not the flange and housing. from memory, the transfer/clamping drops by a factor of 5 when the surfaces get contaminated.

[GHEN]

I appreciate all of the assistance so far.

I have a couple of questions:

When I look at Clarke's Garage page, it appears that if I remove the CV bolts from both rear wheels, the axle will drop free. Is this correct?

Clark's garage says to draw an alignment mark to mark the orientation of the drive axles before removal, but the picture is really small. Does anyone have a better image or explanation?

Is there any science to repacking with grease? Clark's says moly-based CV grease. Any specific recommendations?

Are there any "gotchas" I should know about?

Thanks in advance,

GHEN

[Mike Goebel]

I replaced the CVs on both axles. Didn't make an alignment mark on the axle, don't really see a reason too. Use the CV joint grease from GKN. It's cheap and one bag is supposed to do it. I used more than one bag tho. The Axles need a bit of twisting and finagling to get em out. Not too bad. There's tons of videos on the YouTube showing how to take CVs apart and reassemble.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/9004311M60.htm?pn=9004311-M60&bt=Y&fs=0&SVSVSI=1023

Wish the link posting was more like on Rennlist where you can show just text instead of the entire link. Is that possible here?

Thanks
Mike G.

[Mike Goebel]

This stuffs pretty good. Just kidding $$$$

https://www.grainger.com/product/KRYTOX-White-35RV89?cm_sp=Product_Details-_-Customer_Also_Viewed-_-AZIDPRR_P-TEST-020320&cm_vc=AZIDPRR_P-TEST-020320&req=Customer_Also_Viewed

Thanks
Mike G.

[GHEN]

Originally Posted by mike goebel

this stuffs pretty good. Just kidding $$$$

https://www.grainger.com/product/krytox-white-35rv89?cm_sp=product_details-_-customer_also_viewed-_-azidprr_p-test-020320&cm_vc=azidprr_p-test-020320&req=customer_also_viewed

thanks
mike g.

lol

ghen

[thomasryan]

I believe the spec is for 60 grams of grease but that might be a front wheel bearing. The pouches hold the proper amount. GNK is the best way to go.

If you go through the thread from Grady, I think there is a page or two of how to offset the index of the spider on each end.

[pfarah]

NAPA sells bags-O-CV axle grease which I've used for years without issue; one bag per axle. Also, you may not want to let the axles "hang" from one side, either use a bungee cord or wire hanger to hold the axle.

[GHEN]

Originally Posted by pfarah

NAPA sells bags-O-CV axle grease which I've used for years without issue; one bag per axle. Also, you may not want to let the axles "hang" from one side, either use a bungee cord or wire hanger to hold the axle.

I'm not sure I understand. I am thinking about removing both axles, thoroughly cleaning, then packing and reinstalling.

How would they hang? Do some people just disconnect from each end separately and squeeze the grease in?

GHEN

[9FF]

Originally Posted by GHEN

...How would they hang? Do some people just disconnect from each end separately and squeeze the grease in?...

Yeh don’t let them hang, just remove them completely, clean and repack with fresh grease. If you don’t mark them you should “clock” or “phase” them to ensure maximum articulation, it’s just good engineering practice to do this anyway.

[DaddyGlenn]

Messy job. Here is what I would do, have done.

Remove both axles with the CV joints. Mark the direction of forward rotation on the axles. They have been stressed primarily in one direction, so we don't want to reverse that. Also mark the direction of forward rotation on each CV joint. This will come in handy in one scenario.

Disassemble the CV joints keeping all the parts together so you don't mix CV components and keep track of the orientation of the inner and outer bearing and cage. Clean everything thoroughly. You will see wear on the inner and outer bearing surfaces and some on the ball cage as well.

Depending on the wear, you have a few options. If it is really bad, replace the CV joint(s). If the wear heavy on one side and light on the other, reassemble the CV joint and reinstall it on the opposite side of the car so the forward rotation is the reverse of what it was. (This takes the load off the worn bearing side and places it on the less worn side.) The third scenario is little wear every where. In that case, reassemble and repack the CV joints and put it all back together the way it was.

Here the one shot I could find from the last time I did this job on my 911. You can clearly see the wear on the inner bearing surface.

[DaddyGlenn]

P.S. I use Swepco Moly 101 for CV grease

[Mike Goebel]

Originally Posted by DaddyGlenn

Mark the direction of forward rotation on the axles. They have been stressed primarily in one direction, so we don't want to reverse that.

That was my original thought and I did put them back in that orientation. But thinking about it more, braking forces can be more severe than acceleration forces, certainly for stock cars at least. I would still install in the direction removed.


Thanks
Mike G.

[GHEN]

UPDATE, new thread here:
Pretty sure I need new CV joints - PICS

I think I need to replace...happy to hear advice. Here is a sample of what I'm looking at.



GHEN