acorad

I replaced my pass rear axle with a rebuilt Napa unit a month or so ago, and I noticed that the CV joint lube is weeping out of the bolt holes and also from under the CV cover plate almost as though that fiber gasket that came with the axle is not thick enough such that the lube is getting past it and leaking out.

I used Stage8 CV bolts and carefully torqued them to 30 ft-lbs, so they're not loose.

My thought is to cut two more gaskets from cardboard and lay them on top of the existing gaskets such that it effectively makes a thicker gasket.

Anybody ever have anything like this happen before? Any suggestions?

SeaCay

Think about what the CV joints do before using a thicker gasket to fix your problem.

Were the mounting surfaces completely clean prior to assembly?

acorad

Cleaned the mounting surfaces with brake cleaner. They were shiny clean.

Lizard944

What "fiber gasket"? My 86n/a CVs don't have any gaskets. What is your vehicle? Maybe you're just seeing grease that accidently got into the bolt holes when you were mating it up to the flange and it got pushed out when you tightened the bolts. Also, if you got a lot of grease into those bolt holes you may have issues with the bolts backing out. P.S. I just looked at the PET and I didn't see any CV gaskets for any model. Maybe those "gaskets" were just protectors to retain the grease during shipping and storage?

acorad

Thanks Lizard, it's an 87 944T, the car that's in my avatar. The NAPA axle came with two gaskets, one for each CV joint. Here's a pic of some other brand: http://www.vertexauto.com/ShowItem/1...20Pattern.aspx

It's a lot of grease that's coming out, much more than what might have accidentally gotten into the bolts holes (and I was super **** about not getting grease into the holes when I did the job).

I used Stage8 locking bolts, they can't back out.

Lizard944

Those gaskets appear to be only for 911/ 912 and some 356 models. I cross checked it on Pelican's site and it didn't show any for 944. I'm at a loss

acorad

Very weird indeed. This came up on google:

"From: James at Pelican Parts [james@pelicanparts.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 9:10 PM
To: John-Peter Van Zelm
Subject: Re: 85.5 944 CV joints.
[...]
> > Buy new CV gaskets."

The NAPA gaskets were dry and in a little bag, and the lube was in a completely separate sealed pouch.

If CV gaskets are not OEM, and also not needed, then all I can come up with is that I didn't torque the bolts down tightly enough. Which makes no sense at all...

xschop

There are some Type 4 CV's that have the outer flange machined for a gasket but they still have a machined surface when bolted flat to the 944/951 drive flanges, they seal without the gasket as well. I have a new set in for sale section with new axles. Probably you had some extra grease on the bolts upon install.....

Lizard944

"(and I was super **** about not getting grease into the holes when I did the job)."

Ahhh...nevermind!! Anywho, I still can't find them on a 944/951 series anywhere, but I do see them on early 911/912. I'm wondering what your communication with Jim at Pelican was about? Could he have confused the term CV "boots" for "gaskets?"

acorad

Lizard, it wasn't my convo with Jim at Pelican. That convo I quoted just came up when I googled "944 cv gasket." From the rest of the convo it was pretty clear he meant gaskets, not boot.

If gaskets aren't oem, I'm starting to wonder of the NAPA unit is just lame, like maybe the machined flanges aren't true or something...

Lizard944

Very strange. Maybe those shafts are the same ones sold to the 911 crowd and they just include those gaskets for everyone whether you need them or not. I know it's a pain in the **** but I'd pull them out and see what happens. Also, stupid question, but were there gaskets present when you pulled your old units off? That bears little weight to this mystery because who knows what previous owners have done, but it should be a slight clue.

acorad

Yes, the old axle had gaskets. I remember because I debated using the old gaskets instead of the new ones, because I knew the old ones worked.

Lizard944

I think I'm going to have to cry "uncle" and hope that some turbo guys can chime in. I've done three sets of CVs on 944n/a and have never seen those nor heard about them on any of the forums. However, anything with a gasket usually needs retorqued after it has been given a little time to settle in. You can try that, or rely on the fact that there is so little info out there on these that you probably don't need them, otherwise, you'd probably find a million posts about them!
Cheers --Lizard

acorad

Lizard, thanks for your help. The gaskets are not like normal gaskets in that they're not between the two mating surfaces. The surface of the cv flange is relieved a little, inboard of the rim and the bolt holes, and the gasket fits into that relieved area.

Let's see if this pic will work: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1302556141.jpg

This pic is shows a too-thick gasket, I don't think that's my problem!

Re-torquing is a good idea.

944Ross

Neither my '84 nor my '86 n/a use gaskets. I wonder if NAPA's rebuilder didn't just overfill the boot with grease?