CV joints

Post Reply
nicko500s
Spanner Twirler
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

CV joints

Post by nicko500s »

i had a noise coming from the osf wheel as i went round roundabouts, which i took to be the damaged disk from where the pads wore out but by chance i checked that wheel for play while doing something else and there was alot of play in it, as the wheel bearings had only done 7k i thought maybe they had been damaged by hitting pot holes, the garage tourqued the end nut up and it was loose 1/4 of a turn, after this it was fine then a week later suddenly i got anouther noise from the same side but this is bad sounds like something is very wrong but everything is tight under he car and i did check tourque the end nut again and it was fine so im thinking its the cv joint, the noise only really happens excelerating and turning but its not the clicking noise i remember on my dads granada in the 80s when his cv joints went but what else could it be?

now the other thing is while i was checking to see if there was any play in the drive shafts i thought i would see if theres any movement latererally in the ns short shaft and pulled it out of the cv joint!

lucky i was able to re fit it by removing the rubber boot and just pushing it back in and the retaining clip (just a ring of metal) is still there, so im now thinking can i replace the cv joint on the os the same way without having to strip the suspension, maybe just remove the shock and spring and leg part? i dont really want to have to seperate the bottom ball joint again. any thoughts?
nicko500s
Spanner Twirler
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by nicko500s »

hmm the answer is not really, the cv joint is easy to replace anyway as all i did was undo the track rod end with a ball joint splitter and the bottom ball joint,mind you dispite greasing the splitter it still tore a hole in the ball joint rubber, i intend to reseal this with pu flex later although i have seen replacment rubbers on ebay.

on inspection it is the wheel bearing that has failed and is causing the hub to rub on the drive shaft.
i decided to fit the new cv joint as it was only £34 (ew not refurb) rimmers list theirs at £189 roughly and ebay around £30 i got my one from unipart, i ordered a new wheel bearing from euro car parts the most expensive at £45inc unipart was £31 and german and swedish £21 my concern was i wanted a quality bearing and only euro cp convinced me theirs was worth the money, i hope its better than the partco/unipart one i had before.

if anyones considering replacing a wheel bearing remember you have to press out the old one and press the new one in too, better to get a garage to do this
nicko500s
Spanner Twirler
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by nicko500s »

oops, that N/S drive shaft came back to haunt me, last night it slipped out of the outer C/V joint.
I had a look at it and it looks fine no obvious damage but what worries me is that simply putting it back together after changing the ripped boot clearly wont fix it.
I understand its the retaining rings that hold the driveshaft's in place or perhaps, rather stop the shafts from moving laterally do you think its just a matter of changing the rings?
I intend on replacing the outer C/V joint while its off the car so I should get one ring in the box with it but how can I get a second ring?
E_T_V
Site Admin
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:38 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by E_T_V »

The ring/circlips job is simply to retain things in place before they are fitted to the car.

Once on the car you shouldn't really need them. If the shaft has come out, then there is usually a reason. Either a bush or suspension issue or perhaps the inner CV joint sticking instead of sliding in and out as it should.

I don't think new outer CV's come with the circlips in, indeed getting hold of new ones can be problematic. I think mattyprices's online shop sells them if the originals can't be re-used.
nicko500s
Spanner Twirler
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by nicko500s »

What I think has happened is the spring clip that goes in the inner cv joint on the drive shaft (not in the gearbox) is broken or missing because I just pulled gently on the shaft and there is loads of movement in and out of the cv joint with no resistance from the clip (if its even there) which must be enough to allow the shaft to fully come out of the outer cv joint, it feels like its only the boot that's stopping it coming all the way out so I think that's the problem, does that sound right?

Also do you have the name or web address mattyprices's web site please?

many thanks
E_T_V
Site Admin
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:38 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by E_T_V »

nicko500s
Spanner Twirler
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

Re: CV joints

Post by nicko500s »

In the last month or so I had the O/S drive shaft off of the car and the garage changed the boots, then some time after I could hear a rotational rubbing/grinding noise from the O/S front, on inspection we discovered the O/S inner drive shaft boot was rubbing in the engine & the inner cv joint was worn so I got a new recon shaft, when we fitted it the wheel would not rotate fully as the crimp on the metal band on the boot was hitting the engine.
The only way around this was to grind off the lip that sticks out of the engine block by the cv joint.
The drive shafts fit and operate fine so im confused as to why they would rub unless somehow the generic stretch boots are different? im thinking perhaps the inner cv joints supplied on the recon shaft where larger?
has anyone else had this issue?
if you are doing this job it might be worth checking the clearance before you finish the job as its not something I ever thought of checking.
link to photo.
http://s1305.photobucket.com/user/nicko ... 6.jpg.html
Post Reply