CV Joints

Author
Discussion

craig7l

Original Poster:

1,135 posts

272 months

Thursday 23rd November 2006
quotequote all
Hi,
bearing in mind i am used to a fixed axel driven by a chain with 2 wheels bolted on the ends (superkarts) what is the procedure (in real simple terms) for greasing CV joints and how often should this be done. Any other thing i should be keeping an eye on on the whole drive system.
thanks

RobC

967 posts

290 months

Friday 24th November 2006
quotequote all
If they are sealed they shouldn't need greasing. They do die though after a while, both are XR2i 1.6 items. Diff needs servicing from time to time but I don't know the recommended hours. I just whack some grease in there when I have the CV joints off

jpivey

572 posts

224 months

Friday 24th November 2006
quotequote all
Re: the diff spoke to quaife a while ago the diff is out of the RS Focus and was designed to do 100000 miles, can't see many radical's lasting that long, so should be good for life, if you suffer front lot's of wheel spin then it might need a service.

RobC

967 posts

290 months

Friday 24th November 2006
quotequote all
Interesting bit of info there, thanks

NASA racer

89 posts

231 months

Tuesday 28th November 2006
quotequote all
The CV joints are relatively easy to service...pull the axles and boots, clean out all the old grease and regrease with something like Red Line synthetic CV grease.

I've heard varying numbers but as little as 6 hours between regreasing. Also constantly inspect the boots for tears or poor seal from the clamps. If debris starts getting into the CV, it can cause damage pretty quickly. The original spec for these CV joints didn't account for anywhere near the heat load they are subject to in our application and this can cause degredation to the point of metal fatigue and even metal slag in extreme heat cases (I had one virtually disintegrate). At the very least, this should be done every season.

Remove the rear brake rotor, un-do whatever nut is holding the outer CV to the upright, remove the top bolt from the upright and tilt it outward and you can pull the CV out of the upright.

Some cars had a split-pin securing the outer CV nut...this is a huge pain to remove. It's easier to have a beefey cotter-pin in the end of these and they should be torqued to 200 ft lbs (which is an exercise in finding a way to stop the hub turning while you unscrew it). The inner joint is only held in with a circlip which will "pop" out if you use sufficient "pull" on the axle.

The CV joints themselves are secured to the halfshafts by circlips which are FAIRLY easily accessed.

Use something like Redline Synthetic CV grease and FULLY clean the old grease out before regreasing...brake-kleen will remove grease as well as powder coating so remove the axles if you want to preserve the powdercoating before cleaning the CVs.

This is a picture of a failed Prosport CV joint. The formatting codes don't work right, you might have to copy and paste to see it.

craig7l

Original Poster:

1,135 posts

272 months

Wednesday 29th November 2006
quotequote all
cheers pete,

great website pics mate...like the chain oil system and the polish on the bodywork..looking good.
craig

NASA racer

89 posts

231 months

Thursday 30th November 2006
quotequote all
Thanks!

I also have a Radical forum if you're interested.

[url]http://p097.ezboard.com/bsocalpeeps[/url]