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Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:00 am

Hi all!

I've been doing a lot of reading on here about replacing the boots on the transaxle/driveshaft joint.

I was under my van the other day running a wire for a tach signal, and discovered that the boots on one side of the transaxle was torn and the other kind of hanging out/off the seat of the transaxle. I just got back from a long-ish weekend away (550miles r/t) and wondering how much damage I have actually done. There are no strange noises, clicks, bangs, and bumps when driving it now- although I am not driving it more than I need to since discovering this.

I know that I probably need to really pull things apart and investigate, but because I am on a tight budget at the moment (DIY job), have limited space (on the street), and most of all not hearing anything remotely noisy coming from there, I may just repack the bearing and replace the boots. As much as I would love to get my hands on those silicone deals from ALIKA T3 (can we support him getting those molds made already?!!), I may spring for the Rockfords from T3Technique with the NEO HPCC#1 grease as they seem to be the go-to boots at the moment, clamped/zip-tied of course (I know there is a couple schools of thought on the clamp/non-clamp discussion).

The van has the GW 2" lift with 16" rims and General Grabber tires, which I know has altered the geometry of everything so I do have a few concerns about future wear and tear...

As I think that I am going to do it this way regardless, I am curious of peoples thoughts? Will I be able to do this on the street- it seems simple enough to remove the bolts, drop the axle, repack the bearing, replace the boot and bolt everything back up?

Any step-by-steps can be helpful if anyone has? Pointers?

I am super afraid of what I will find when I get in there [-o<

Thanks all!

Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:27 am

Nothing to be afraid of unless you don't like grease on your hands. Spend a lot of time cleaning the allen heads where the tool seats before trying to remove the bolts. I disconnect the inner joint first, then the outer. You can disassemble the joints, ie remove the balls and the outer race with the CV still on the shaft. Clean and inspect the ball ramps on the inner and outer races. You are looking for major pitting in the ball ramp faces to condemn a joint.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:27 am

i've done it a few times in campgrounds..

just don't let your feet hang out in the street..

and it can go bad if all thebolts don't come out w/o stripping out the centers.

some vanagons have triple square bolts
some have 6mm allen head bolts..

CLEAN the inside of either with a pick.. long pick for the outward ones.
tap the socket into the bolt not hard, but with a nice solid tap of a hammer.

keep the socket & extension as in line as possible so as not to slip out and round out the bolts.
I loosen all the bolts on one SIDE both joints before removing them..

don't let the van roll over you set your brake or chock the front wheels both fore&aft.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:47 am

Mine had the 6mm allen! It was scary stuff! Like others, I highly recommend cleaning the crap out of those old bolts. And also make sure your socket is fully seated in the bolt before you start torquing on it.

One of my CV's were making noise. I pulled it and found almost no grease, and gear oil in the CV. I believe my atmospheric vent was clogged - but it was basically leaking gear oil through my CV joint. I replaced the flange seals and unclogged the vent.

CV job is messy! I used a lot of brake cleaner, gloves, and paper towels! Look up how to 'clock' your CV's

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:24 am

It's a whole lot more expensive in both time and money to wait on replacing the boots. Get right on it. The concern isn't a bearing. The concern is the CV joints. If dirt or water get into the joint, you will very soon need to replace those as well.

To replace both boots you only need to pull one joint off the shaft. You will likely need to pull the shaft off the vehicle to do so, though. Use a fine file or a very fine dremel bit to clean up the axle splines on the edge of the circlip groove. Otherwise even slight metal displacement (not really visible to the naked eye) from wear can make it incredibly difficult to remove the CV joint even with a shop press. If there is no displaced metal at the edge of the circlip groove you can slide the joints off/on with just moderate pressure.

danfromsyr wrote: ...don't let the van roll over you set your brake AND chock the front wheels both fore&aft.

FIFY

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:31 am

I've done more CV joint and boot replacement on multiple VW Audi and Porsche vehicles than I can count. I have never considered "clocking" them. The factory manual makes no mention of clocking them. CV is short for Constant Velocity, which should not require clocking them. I'd have to see a valid study to believe that clocking has any affect on CV joint life or performance.

To the original poster, you don't mention if you have an automatic or a standard. The standard has equal length axle shafts. The automatic has different length shafts. I mention this, so that if you have an auto, you don't mix them up.

There is a long thread somewhere hear about "rotating" CV joints to move the wear to the opposite face to get more life out of the CV's. It does get confusing. There is also an internet opinion that the CV shafts should never change directions. That you could snap one if you did. I've never paid attention to that either and have never seen a snapped axle shaft in stock application.

There is a word of caution. You only make this mistake once, but the inner and outer races have wide ramps and narrow ramps. When looking at the face of the CV, you always have a narrow ramp opposite a wide ramp. You can assemble the CV joint without paying attention wrong and it will feel like it welded after you slip in the last ball.

You only need to remove one joint completely to replace both boots. I like to use silicone spray to help slide the boot along the shaft.

Good luck.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:44 am

For disassembly/reassembly I like to keep the outer race, cage, inner hub, and balls all in their same locations relative to each other. For that I mark the hub, cage, outer, and place the balls in an egg carton oriented so I know where they go. If taking that approach there is no way to assemble the joint incorrectly. If wear is prominent on one side of the races then reversing the drive direction (by moving the shafts from one side of the van to the other if MT or swapping joints to the other shaft if AT) can help extend the life of the joint.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:49 am

I maybe an outlier - but I had to press on/off my joints. They were super tight on the axle. I would not tackle this job on the road unless I had to.

Also regarding the clocking - I thought it just allowed for higher angles/articulation? I did it anyways. It took about 5 minutes of reading to understand how to do it/apply it.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:49 am

MarkWard wrote: I've done more CV joint and boot replacement on multiple VW Audi and Porsche vehicles than I can count. I have never considered "clocking" them. The factory manual makes no mention of clocking them. CV is short for Constant Velocity, which should not require clocking them. I'd have to see a valid study to believe that clocking has any affect on CV joint life or performance.

Constant Velocity joints aren't really constant velocity, just a lot closure to it than standard yoke type joints. That said, I am not sold that when people clock their joints they are even doing it correctly as using the recommendations I have seen they are essentially doing it backward from the way that yoke type joints are clocked. I would like to see the math on this and see some kind of plot showing the output velocity when the joints are clocked in various positions.

On a loaded bay with no lift clocking isn't going to matter as the joints are running at only a slight angle to straight.

I really consider a well greased joint as a non issue so long as the boot is intact.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:54 am

MarkWard wrote: I've done more CV joint and boot replacement on multiple VW Audi and Porsche vehicles than I can count. I have never considered "clocking" them. The factory manual makes no mention of clocking them. CV is short for Constant Velocity, which should not require clocking them. I'd have to see a valid study to believe that clocking has any affect on CV joint life or performance.

To the original poster, you don't mention if you have an automatic or a standard. The standard has equal length axle shafts. The automatic has different length shafts. I mention this, so that if you have an auto, you don't mix them up.

There is a long thread somewhere hear about "rotating" CV joints to move the wear to the opposite face to get more life out of the CV's. It does get confusing. There is also an internet opinion that the CV shafts should never change directions. That you could snap one if you did. I've never paid attention to that either and have never seen a snapped axle shaft in stock application.

There is a word of caution. You only make this mistake once, but the inner and outer races have wide ramps and narrow ramps. When looking at the face of the CV, you always have a narrow ramp opposite a wide ramp. You can assemble the CV joint without paying attention wrong and it will feel like it welded after you slip in the last ball.

You only need to remove one joint completely to replace both boots. I like to use silicone spray to help slide the boot along the shaft.

Good luck.

I appreciate this as everyones responses here- It's a manual trans and to be clear, I only want to replace the boots that cover the joint between the transmission and the axle coming out of it at this point
I don't think I will be really pulling apart the joints at this point and will just be replacing the boots and repacking with grease. If you had to remove only one would it be the transaxle side or the wheel side? <-nevermind- doesn't make sense to pull the wheelside.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:54 am

shagginwagon83 wrote: I maybe an outlier - but I had to press on/off my joints. They were super tight on the axle. I would not tackle this job on the road unless I had to.

Yes, that is common. As I mentioned, you had displaced metal at the edge of the circlip groove. If you had followed the recommendation to clean up that edge with a file or very fine dremel, the joints would have slid off without trouble.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:59 am

To the OP, just run the one side of your van up on a curb to get extra room underneath and chock the wheels well as you will need to release the parking brake to turn the axle shaft to get at all the bolts. You will need a hydraulic or screw jack to raise the wheel to turn it or you can just roll the van forward and backward to do so (but with one side up on a curb this may not be so easy to do).

I usually clean the holes out with a pocket screwdriver and then pound the tool in. Once you have cleaned the bolt head with a pick or screw driver you can use WD40 to blast the holes a bit cleaner.

The proper torque for these bots is pretty high, 33-36ft*lbs. If any of the bolt heads look less than perfect replace them. Many boot kits come with new bolts or they are available separately.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:08 am

WonderinMan wrote: MarkWard wrote: I've done more CV joint and boot replacement on multiple VW Audi and Porsche vehicles than I can count. I have never considered "clocking" them. The factory manual makes no mention of clocking them. CV is short for Constant Velocity, which should not require clocking them. I'd have to see a valid study to believe that clocking has any affect on CV joint life or performance.

To the original poster, you don't mention if you have an automatic or a standard. The standard has equal length axle shafts. The automatic has different length shafts. I mention this, so that if you have an auto, you don't mix them up.

There is a long thread somewhere hear about "rotating" CV joints to move the wear to the opposite face to get more life out of the CV's. It does get confusing. There is also an internet opinion that the CV shafts should never change directions. That you could snap one if you did. I've never paid attention to that either and have never seen a snapped axle shaft in stock application.

There is a word of caution. You only make this mistake once, but the inner and outer races have wide ramps and narrow ramps. When looking at the face of the CV, you always have a narrow ramp opposite a wide ramp. You can assemble the CV joint without paying attention wrong and it will feel like it welded after you slip in the last ball.

You only need to remove one joint completely to replace both boots. I like to use silicone spray to help slide the boot along the shaft.

Good luck.

I appreciate this as everyones responses here- It's a manual trans and to be clear, I only want to replace the boots that cover the joint between the transmission and the axle coming out of it at this point
I don't think I will be really pulling apart the joints at this point and will just be replacing the boots and repacking with grease. If you had to remove only one would it be the transaxle side or the wheel side? <-nevermind- doesn't make sense to pull the wheelside.

You have to remove at least one joint from the axle to do this job and it may take a lot of force. You will also find that the joint will likely fall apart while you are handling it and thus you will have no option but to clean and reassemble it. Also if one boot on an axle is bad the other is usually (but not always) not far from failing.

If you want to do this job with one end of the axle still attached you should have a suitable puller available to pull the joint off the axleshaft.

You might be a candidate for just buying a replacement shaft. They don't have that good of a reputation but they would get you back in service in a very short time and you could then rebuild your old shaft at your leisure.

Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:17 pm

I was a poor student at one time in life and found that going to an industrial area parking lot on a Saturday or a Sunday gave me a nice, safe "outdoor garage" to work in. Brooklyn might not have such spaces - - hope I am wrong.

For a parking lot repair, you could do almost the whole job under the vehicle:

1. Cut off the inner CV boot with a utility knife;
2. Now you have good access to the CV joint to wipe off some grease and to remove the CV joint bolts. Do so. Then use a hammer and screwdriver to knock the circlip off the shaft unless you own a circlip tool which is preferred.
3. With a hammer and a drift, hit the CV inner race to push it off the shaft. If it is stubborn, then put a couple Vise Grips on the shaft and have a friend hold them while you hammer the drift against the inner race.
4. The CV joint will come off at some point. Wrap one or two zip ties through it so that it stays together.

5. Put the joint into a one-quart coffee can or similar with a pint of varsol, put the lid on and agitate until the joint is clean. Install the new boot on the axle, slide it to the middle of the axle, then install the CV joint (dry) and the circlip.

6. Now apply grease to both sides of the CV joint, and slide the boot into place.

7. Before attaching the CV joint to the axle flange on the transaxle, wipe the mating face of the CV joint and also wipe the mating surface on the axle flange. Now mate the CV to the axle flange and install two bolts. Now use whatever is available to you to remove grease from the other four bolt holes. Q-tips can do this. (I use solvent and compressed air, but I have a nice garage).

8. Install the 4 bolts snugly and then remove the other two bolts to clean the bolt holes as above.

9. Now tighten all six bolts. I don't use a torque wrench. I tighten as tightly as I can with a standard 1/2" drive ratchet. I can estimate that the torque I use is likely around 50 ft/lbs. This is more than the factory specification. I have never had one loosen after this approach, but I do check about a week later just in case.