Adam Geist

in the rear axle shaft CV joint.

I'm in the middle of the axle rear axle shaft cleaning, grease repack and boot replacement. Both the inner and outer boots were torn but there was plenty of grease in there to be cleaned out. After cleaning, all 6 ball bearings in the inner joint are very dark in color - looks more shiny black than blue. The manufacturing date on the CV joint is the 35th week of 1986.

The cage and inner race show no signs of wear. The bearings are free of pitting or fretting. Should I continue forward with the grease repacking and boot replacement or replace the inner CV joint?

Thanks,
Adam

Mrmerlin

re assemble the CV joint per the WSM and with no grease see how much play the CV joint has, .
Your ***** may have gotten hot ( get yer mind out da gudder)as they are usually a silver polished color

AO

Leave it. If they fail, you're no worse off... except for the tow bil.

Adam Geist

The CV joint is reassembled sans grease on my kitchen island counter. I just checked my ***** (CV joint ***** that is) and there is no noticeable play or sloppiness between the inner race/cage/outer race.

Mrmerlin

grease it up and put it in service, if it starts going bad you will hear it

Adam Geist

Will do. Just pulled the other axle shaft and inner CV joint from the parts cleaner. The inner CV joint ball bearings are bright and shiny. No noticeable wear in the joint either. Quite the color contrast from side to side!

jcorenman

This may be a dumb question, please shoot me if so.
But if the joints look OK otherwise can't you just replace the *****? Aren't they standard sizes?
(The international standard of 25.4mm that is, I think bearing ***** are still standardized on fractional inches).

Adam Geist

Using an electronic caliper, both the shiny and dark colored ball bearings measured 22.28mm - give or take .01mm.

cold_beer839

No way man, you got big phuckin' hairy ***** for doing that work on the kitchen island counter!!!

Adam Geist

Well, my now ex-GF is gone for the weekend. The kitchen island is the right height for working on tasks like this - the overhead lighting is a plus.

I did put down some heavy cardboard to protect the countertop before working on the axle shafts.

mark kibort

those ***** dont get much action anyway (CV that is), especially if the half shafts are parallel to the ground.

Mike Frye

Adam,

I wish I'd known you were doing this yesterday I could have... Wait a minute, maybe this is something you were better off doing yourself. .

So it sounds like you made lots of progress, that's great. Will you be working on it today? The track meet I was supposed to go to yesterday was moved to tomorrow so I can't make it up in the am. How about today?

Mrmerlin

is it possible that the CV joint wasnt correctly assembled in the first place??
I dont recall ever seeing black/blue ***** on a CV joint

Adam Geist

I'll take pictures and post later today/tomorrow. It doesn't appear the CV joint was previously disassembled - OEM boots and clamps.

Mike Frye

...must.... resist....urge.... to comment about pics....