KnockKnock...Who's there...a Tow Truck CV Joint tips and repair

[castlerox]

Hi everyone! I am back after purchasing a new Westy Wolfsburg. That being said, I am back on the board with a broken van - naturally.

Specs - 1985 Wolfsburg weekender SVX

Today I hoped in the van to take my dogs to the dog park. After pulling on the road I notice a pretty violent knocking. I am thinking to myself CV joints right away. I proceeded to the Dog Park, about 2 miles away, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

After parking a poked my head under the van and did a visual inspection of CV's and nothing out of the ordinary. I decide to fire her up and take her the 2 miles home.

After about 1/2 mile and the knocking quickly increasing... she dropped out of gear and coasted to a stop till the tow truck came to save the day.

Now It starts, engine sounds great but will not engage in any gears.

Could the linkage have anything to do with a knocking sounds or is my transmission likely fried?

Thanks in advance!
Matt
_________________
1985 Wolfsburg weekender SVX
1998 Gen 2.5 Montero - all locked up
2014 Acura RDX - my never let me down

[Sodo]

Bummer. Very sorry to hear that.
Was hoping it was a CV problem.
With luck, maybe it is.

Automatic transmission?
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Wildthings]

CV's can sit in place and look just fine and do nothing because the bolts have either backed out or broken off. Chock the wheels, put the parking brake on and start the engine. Put the tranny in gear and then go back and see if either of the output flanges the inner CV's attach to are turning or not. Only one will turn, not both.

[djkeev]

I agree, ^^

The bad knocking could have been the last death sounds from a severely broken CV joint which gave up almost back home.

It could still look fine be be internally deatroyed.

If not that....... severe clutch or transaxle problems.

Dave
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[dobryan]

X3 on checking CVs first. Slide under the bus and grab each axle and wiggle hard up and down. There should be no play. Now push toward the tranny then toward the rear wheel along the axle. It should have an inch or so of play. Based on what you describe if it is a CV you'll have up and down play (90 degrees to the axle axis).
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

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[castlerox]

Okay I waited for a little daylight and coffee.

I just went under the van and tugged around.

The Driver side Axle is DEFINITELY loose. A lot of vertical play and its particularly loose where it meets the wheel. It feels very secure at the Tranny point.

I guess its time to start reading about CV joint replacement...

Thanks for your input so far!
_________________
1985 Wolfsburg weekender SVX
1998 Gen 2.5 Montero - all locked up
2014 Acura RDX - my never let me down

[djkeev]

Whatever you read and wherever you read it.
Understand that CV quality varies widely, the old adage "you get what you pay for" is 100% true!

If you spend $100 on a "rebuilt axle" at auto zone or similar..... you most likely wasted $100 and you need to plan on replacing it again..... most likely sooner rather than later.
Even if they give you a free warranty replacement, you're still running crap CV's.

Dave
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[sanchius]

Yes, hopefully it's just a CV. Dave's already talked about CV quality.

Maybe you already know all the following, but here's my experience...

It's about a difficulty level 2-4 (vs level 8 for a trans pull) job, depending on if everything goes right or not.

There's a thread on removing the CV bolts.
Caution, there can be a mix of M8 Allen and M8 Triple Square head CV bolts.
Clean all the gunk out of the bolt holes, be certain what type the head is and make sure the tool is completely seated.
It doesn't hurt to tap the tool in with a hammer to make sure it's seated.

Don't panic if you encounter a stripped CV bolt.
In these cases, hammering in an impact torkx socket can work, even if it requires incrementally drilling out the hole until it's big enough for the torkx tool to go in, yet leaving enough material for the torkx "splines" to bite.
I feel naked without a set of these in my tool box.

.
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[DanHoug]

just fyi, VanCafe is newly offering a new axle shaft custom made very high quality, Lobro joints, and Rockford boots all as a combo. best of everything in one stop. 2.5X the price of cheap stuff, it will last far more than 2.5X longer.

https://www.vancafe.com/RCVA-p/rcva.htm
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
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[Wildthings]

You need a roll of decent quality paper towels and a pile of shop rags as well, as dealing with CV's is a very messy job.

It is easier to get the bolts out and back in if you have an extra long bit, and as others said the bit may need to be one of two kinds to match your bolts, you may even need both style bits if you have a mixture of different bolts. Carefully cleaning of the socket head will save a lot of grief, you also need to tap the bit into the cleaned socket using a small hammer.

[ftp2leta]

It should be pretty obvious if it's a CV, have someone look under wile your trying to put her in speed.

I have an old page about rebuilding - checking CV

http://www.benplace.com/cv_joint_maintenance.htm

Ben
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[dobryan]

You do not need to remove the axle nut to remove the CV. In 40 years I have not needed to do that.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[[email protected]]

You don't have to remove wheel. Just jack her up a bit so that you can spin it to get to all the bolts. My westy is up high so I can crawl under easily, wheel high enough just to spin, use a 2x4 ad a wheel chock to stop it spinning when you need leverage. Also no need to remove rear axle nut, if you are just doing cv's. You probably want 944 joints.

[sanchius]

[Wildthings]

The wheels are certainly on when I do this job, I will get the van up on 4-6" of blocks to get extra room underneath to move around and will use a screw or hydraulic jack to lift the wheel momentarily off its block so I can rotate it.

The torque for the bolts is high, 33ft*lbs and if you don't want your bolts coming out again at some inconvenient time the use of a torque wrench is required, a 3/8" torque wrench being easier to use when under the van than a 1/2" torque wrench, but either will do.

The front wheels need to be chocked!!!

[sanchius]

[Jeffrey Lee]

If your old bolts are nearing the end of their service life, or are mixed head types (Allen, triplesquare, etc.), or if you just like to make things right as you go, replace them all with the proper bolts from the same vendor you buy your CV joints from, along with the specified lock washers.

But save one of your old bolts to make this helpful little tool. Cut the head off the bolt, and cut a slot in the unthreaded end so you can insert a flat screwdriver. When installing your new CV's, first thread this ‘alignment tool’ into the uppermost hole in the drive flange of the transaxle or wheel hub, then slip the axle’s CV joint over the protruding tool. The axle will hang in position while you install five proper bolts in the remaining holes; use a screwdriver to remove the tool, then install the final bolt.

It's also advisable to torque the bolts in stages, working your way around in a 'star' pattern just as you would with lug nuts or head bolts: on the first lap first snug them all down, next lap torque to 15-20 ft/lbs, final lap torque to 33 ft/lbs. Remember to check them all again after driving 100 miles, and periodically after that.

Good luck, you got this!
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[alaskadan]

That's a great idea ! Duh, I have a bunch of old axle bolts. Could even make two. I don't think I've once gotten an outer axle installed without smearing grease into the bolt holes in the hub. Supposed to install bolts dry evidently. They've always gotten greased, I'm over it. Used good washers and torqued to spec without any loosening up, knock on wood. To the OP, you may need to get a tap to chase the bolt holes. At least once the axle is out make sure a bolt will go in easily to each hole. Good luck

[[email protected]]

^^^
Yup super smart

[Wildthings]

Another thing that I do is take a piece of cardboard (like half of a file folder) and shape it into a "U" shape and stuff it up into the cavity in the swing arm member where the out CV fits into the stub axle. The idea is to cover all the dirty crud that lays around in the cavity that can pollute the CV as you set it up into place. Even a tiny piece of dirt between the CV and the flange can keep them from mating tightly leading to bolts that will quickly work loose even if torque correctly. Dirt can of course cause accelerated wear to the CV.

The inner CV wears it ZipLoc bag until the outer bolts are snugged up to keep it protected.