noahscott

Hi,

I am new here. I purchased a 1986 n/a in September with 82,500 miles. The usual suspects with the engine (timing belt, water pump, oils seals and clutch had been done by the previous owner). I knew I had more issues to sort out (oil sending unit, minor electrical bugs, cabin seals, and most urgently repacking or possibly replacing the driver side cv axle.

I bought the car as a dream car that I knew would need work (wanted one since I was twelve) but I have not worked on an antique car since my dad's MG TC and Triumph TR3. I guess my fond memories have been colored by time... I forgot how much of a PITA it can be when things do not go right.

Three weeks ago I put the car on stands, and started removing the axles. To find that the previous owner had already attempted it. Three bolts were stripped and a few others looked like the heads had been cleaned out with a brush and solvent..... So I popped off the bolts, ground off the heads on the stripped bolts and dropped the axles. Not a lot of fun, but it went as expected. When I examined the joints there seemed to be way too much play and wear on the driver's side, so I ordered a new pair of axles from parts geek.

We are now soundly into a cold November in Chicago with an unheated garage, so my brain gets a little muddy if I spend too much time outside meddling with the bugger. So things sit a bit on the car. Anyhow, I packed the axles with new grease per the instructions on Clark's Garage and went to mount them onto the car. The passenger side went on fine, but the Driver's side seemed like the joints were sitting too proud to make it over the flange on the wheel and transaxle side. So I took it out and compared it with the old passenger side axle (I did not take it apart to rebuild as once I felt the driver's side was shot I thought it better to replace the pair.

Here's the confusing part- The axles themselves are the same length, but the cv joints on the new axle do not seem to have much movement after repacking, especially along the length of the axle when compared to the movement of the old axle. It would seem that if I could get a little more play in the joint I could make the axle pop right in. With further reflection I really had to work to get the bearings into the cv joint.

Before I take the whole joint apart again, I thought it might be prudent to see if anyone else has had issues with really stiff cv joints. Any insight would be helpful.

gheedunk

I installed one new joint on an axle, and i remember it to be extremely stiff, but full range of motion could be verified. There was some maneuvering to install, but doable with effort. I started with the wheel side. Perhaps mine was easier because I had play in the other joint on the shaft.
It may be good practice to verify the joint is assembled correctly and has full range of motion. The joint I received was assembled differently from both the originals and what was read on Clark's.

PaulD_944S2

Possibly the CV is not assembled correctly?

It's too lengthy to describe by writing abut it, but here is a video on dis-assembly and reassembly that covers the process:


Hope that helps you find and fix the problem!

noahscott

Thanks. This does help. We got about 9 inches of snow followed by a hard freeze, so I am going to take the axle out of the garage and into the wood shop. too cold in the garage. Anyone know what size clips are on the end? They were a pain to get on and off, and I am worried about stressing them.