TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:55 pm

Quick question about the CV cage. I've got my parts all cleaned up and have been putting them back together. All the balls once I've put them back in the cage have been free to spin. I have hit a single spot on the cage where I can't seem to get any of the balls to operate this way in. It's just really tight. I've used all six balls that were originally on this joint and none seem to fit as far as my understanding of fit is. That said the ball can move from side to side within the spot it just doesn't do it freely. It requires a bit of force.

Any thoughts on how stiff the cage movement should be? If this is acceptable?

Thanks!

Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:58 pm

An unworn joint can be very stiff, so if you are checking for looseness in a place with little or no wear, you could expect the balls to fit tightly.

Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:13 pm

Ok. Going for it. I mean one of those balls was in there and it didn't seem to cause a wear problem anywhere.

Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:36 pm

be sure to follow the directions exactly as to clocking.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

.

Tue Feb 13, 2018 5:53 pm

SGKent wrote: be sure to follow the directions exactly as to clocking.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

Yup! Thanks. Had that pulled up.

Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:36 pm

I just did this job last week. I found that things will be tight if it’s dry so lube it up and see what happens. If that doesn’t work then try swapping things around. Reverse the cage and move the parts around. You may then be able find the sweet spot.

Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:41 pm

In the past 4 years of owning a synro and replacing all 8 cv joints, I've gotten into the practice of polishing the joints. Why? Partly to save money, partly because I didn't want to throw out a joint that could've gone another 30 to 50k.

When I did a full front end rebuild it got 4 new cvs and didn't polish any. They were stiff. I kept the 2 used inner cvs as they had some life left. There were grooves from where the balls typically wore but not through the hardened surface. I swapped those to the rear axles along with 2 other used cvs that looked pretty good. I polished all of them with a dremel and a 120grit x 3/4" drum sanding attachment. This was after reading just about every cv thread could i find. It only takes literally 2 to 3 seconds per groove to polish them. After doing so the assembled joint is smooth and rotates freely as well as plunges straight in and out smoothly which is important imho.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years in trying to fix a vibration I had gained, I put all new cvs in the rear . Upon inspection the used , polished joints looked great with no real grooves that had formed in any one spot. I swapped them out anyhow with new, polished cvs. Shortly after that my trans failed, thus the vibration. While the van was down I took the opportunity to drop the front end off to fix some frame rot. In doing so I pulled the axles and found the inner cvs to be tight and not smooth. They also had worn grooves where the balls usually ran. I'm aware that grooves to some degree are going to form, but the polished used ones looked better.

Sorry for the long winded explanation but I will always polish a cv if there is a groove or if too stiff. These were all oem or lobro cvs.

Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:00 pm

Good info. Thanks alaskadan!

Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:29 pm

I didn't want to start a new thread to ask this, and I thought it might be relevant in this thread as well. I'm doing cv's right now. My outers have some wear, inners look good. For as easy as the job is to do, I think I'll just replace the worn ones. Does anybody know if Lobro is really that much better than the cheaper ones? Any gripes or success with the cheaper ones. I plan on going for Lobro at the moment, since I only need two, but I can get 4 of the cheaper ones for less money than a pair of Lobros. I'm not doing any offroading, but since buses are a little tougher on cv's than a bug, I thought German might be the way to go, especially since I plan on raising my 69 a couple of notches soon. Any feedback appreciated.

Fri Feb 16, 2018 1:42 pm

I can't speak to whether they are better or not, but with the bus I think it's always a good move to go for quality. Especially with a job that is as much work with this. Do you really want to be redoing this process twice as often to save some money?

Fri Feb 16, 2018 2:33 pm

ozzmonaut wrote: I didn't want to start a new thread to ask this, and I thought it might be relevant in this thread as well. I'm doing cv's right now. My outers have some wear, inners look good. For as easy as the job is to do, I think I'll just replace the worn ones. Does anybody know if Lobro is really that much better than the cheaper ones? Any gripes or success with the cheaper ones. I plan on going for Lobro at the moment, since I only need two, but I can get 4 of the cheaper ones for less money than a pair of Lobros. I'm not doing any offroading, but since buses are a little tougher on cv's than a bug, I thought German might be the way to go, especially since I plan on raising my 69 a couple of notches soon. Any feedback appreciated.

These things can last virtually forever. I am very certain that a very high amount of the wear happens in the first few thousand miles from the factory as the quantity and quality of the grease they used was pretty questionable. Polishing new joints would likely have had a major positive effect as well, and this of course was not done. This means that if your joints aren't showing serious wear at this point in time then swapping the axles side to side may be all you need to do to get another 100,000-200,000 miles out of them. Good clear photos would help.

Fri Feb 16, 2018 4:35 pm

maybe I am late to the party. But this guy has 2 videos about a 914 cv joint. 1 dismantle, 1 assemble. I remember watching them. I also remember some tight places like you have. here is video 1...

You are here tho. Putting it back together. Good luck