CV Joints - Question

[radness 0]

Guys,

 

I'm a bit of a newbie but; I know there are inner and outer CV joints, I'm just curious about why they go so much.

 

They obviously clunk a lot when they're on their way out, only when you have lock on, so I'm assuming that while on any sort of lock that they're at their most stressed point.

 

For those that have had CV joints go, how is your driving style? Do you pull out of corners (with lock on) and apply a lot torque/power? Do you wheel spin with lock applied?

 

I remember having a CV joint go on a Mazda, i had full lock and pulled out of a corner very quick and BANG it went, tbh, i was a bit of a moron and did small wheel spins while pulling out of corners, i loved the sound of the squeech when i dropped it into 2nd gear, it's the only time i felt safe doing a wheel spin in that car (obviously you have less traction when turning+accelerating - all to do with that famous traction circle!!) to wheel spin on a straight line my engine would've almost jumped out of it's mounts due to the tires having too much grip.

 

Now, I'm really anti wheel spin, tires are too good to do this with and when you do it , it stresses a whole lot more than just the rubber on the end of your tires and your clutch.

[davidwort 0]

The main reason they go is CV boots splitting and letting in moisture, hence a split boot (on an outer joint) being an MOT failure.

The grease does seem to go hard/dry over the years, so cleaning and re-packing is a wise precaution for longevity.

Obviously once they are old and have wear they're more prone to sudden jolts like banging the clutch up and high speed gear changes only made worse by very firm or solid aftermarket engine mountings - somethings gotta give...

[andy 0]

The simple answer is that they don't break often, VW ones are bombproof under normal driving. I have had one start clicking due to a failed boot allowing the grease to escape. VW didn't even have them available because they relace them so infrequently. If however you start giving the drivetrain loads of abuse, you're going to start stressing your CVs. Its a bit like saying how come tyres wear out so often, they don't, but if you start wheelspinning and throwing it about they will wear quicker. :D

[aclwalker 3]

Guys,

 

I'm a bit of a newbie but; I know there are inner and outer CV joints, I'm just curious about why they go so much.

 

They obviously clunk a lot when they're on their way out, only when you have lock on, so I'm assuming that while on any sort of lock that they're at their most stressed point.

 

For those that have had CV joints go, how is your driving style? Do you pull out of corners (with lock on) and apply a lot torque/power? Do you wheel spin with lock applied?

 

I remember having a CV joint go on a Mazda, i had full lock and pulled out of a corner very quick and BANG it went, tbh, i was a bit of a moron and did small wheel spins while pulling out of corners, i loved the sound of the squeech when i dropped it into 2nd gear, it's the only time i felt safe doing a wheel spin in that car (obviously you have less traction when turning+accelerating - all to do with that famous traction circle!!) to wheel spin on a straight line my engine would've almost jumped out of it's mounts due to the tires having too much grip.

 

Now, I'm really anti wheel spin, tires are too good to do this with and when you do it , it stresses a whole lot more than just the rubber on the end of your tires and your clutch.

Well, last year I had to replace an inner CV joint as it had got to the point where it was a horrendous continual clunk which could be felt through the steering. I had had an intermittent problem ever since I got the car but couldn't quite pin it down.

 

With the VR6, the driver's side inner CV joint is right above the exhaust, like about 1 inch away and all that heat dries out the grease over time. Non-VR6 cars seem to have a heat shield but I could could not get a definitive answer as to whether or not the VR6 should have one. IIRC, ETKA doesn't list one for the VR6.

 

My grease had turned into a black powder almost and the ball bearings were totally pitted. I could barely rotate the wheel there was so much resistance and when it got past the resistance point it clicked very loudly and rapidly rotated round until the resistance point again.

 

With inner CV joints you get the click in a straight line. Inner CV joints are barely stressed by steering at all. They mainly move with the up and down motion of the suspension and in fact more or less stay in the same orientation in the horizontal axis all the time.

 

Inner CV joints, if worn, will click on application of power, or sometimes during engine braking. Only outer CV joints will click on full lock.

 

Some cars have a cheaper tripod design for inner CV joints due to the fact that they get very little angular motion, but I'm pleased to say that the Corrado has huge hefty ball-and-cage designs for the inners. Obviously the outers are ball-and-cage.

 

I decided to buy both inner and outer CV joints, from GSF, but I've only fitted them on one side so far. My boots were showing signs of cracking in the rubber, but were not yet contaminated. My outer was very free moving and was probably OK, but I decided to change it anyway.

 

The job is not too difficult, provided you can get the 3 bolts holding the ball joint onto the wishbone off. I had huge difficulty with this because the welded nut came off and simply spun with the bolt, so I had to dremel it off, which is not easy due to the access. You are as well to replace the ball joint at the same time as it will almost certainly be burst if it's the original. Once this is off (and the hub nut is off too), you basically swing the strut away from the car and push the outer CV joint half shaft through the hub.

 

The only other difficulty is that the driver's side assembled driveshaft (i.e. with CVs attached) is really heavy and so you will need another person to guide it through as it's far to heavy to hold at one end of it and try to fit it through the gap. Tie plastic bags over both ends to keep out contamination while you do this (especially the inner CV as it is not actually sealed. It seals against the flange on the tranamission.).

 

All in all, it's not that difficult a job if you don't have difficulty with seized nuts.