Hey Jon,
Be careful with that "calibrated arm"! I thought I could magically feel the
proper torque with just my ratchet when I did my cv joints. Driving to work
one morning - clunk, whir, nothing. The left joint came off the axle flange.
I was lucky, all the bolts backed out, I had extra bolts and tools in my
car. I have heard horror stories of just a few backing out, shearing off the
ones that were left. Buy a torque wrench.
Don
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Joyce" <okartguy@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 10:34 PM
Subject: Inner CV Boot Replacement: Okie Redneck Style...

> Okay, I'm not exactly proud of this, but here goes...
>
> I decided I didn't want to trust the black RTV repair I recently made to
the
> driver's side inner boot on my '81, even though it appeared to be holding.
I
> skipped out of the office for a little while this afternoon, and purchased
a
> new German boot, a triple-square tool and a tube of moly grease at my
> FLIAPS. I could hardly wait to get home and tear into the bus, as it's
going
> camping first thing in the morning, and also because it was Friday
afternoon
> and work sucks.
> Sooooo... I backed the bus into the garage and jacked up the rear wheel,
and
> promptly decided the outer boot/nuts looked way too hard to get to, and
> therefore I would attempt to just drop the inside end and access the CV
> joint from there. Yeah, I know, I made this suggestion earlier on the
list,
> and it was "strongly not recommended." Well, screw you guys... ;) Of
course,
> I immediately let the joint tilt too far, everything came apart and I was
> left with just the inner race attached to the axle. Niiiiiiiiice.
> Actually, it worked out okay, considering I had to use a claw hammer
padded
> with a rag to pound the inner race  off the splines. (Cue banjo music).
The
> joint was packed with some weird pale greenish-colored grease, but
> everything looked clean. I managed to get the race off without scarring it
> too much (I massaged it a little with my Dremel tool), and I cleaned all
the
> components with Berryman and rinsed them in hot, soapy water. I elected to
> assemble the joint dry and grease it once it was back on the axle; I found
> that a 30mm socket on a 1/2" drive extension works perfectly to pound the
> inner race back over the splines (with a claw hammer, of course).  Also, I
> found duct tape to be invaluable in keeping the outer race from moving
> around while I re-seated the retaining clip with a set of needle-nose
> vicegrips, some pliers and a lot of F-bombs.
> So I actually got it all back together, in less than three hours, and I
only
> managed to strip one 12-point bolt head! And even that was at final torque
> (via calibrated arm), so I'm going to forget about it until the next time
> the axle needs to come off. Went out and drove it and it works like it's
> supposed to, so it's off to the scenic hills of southwestern Oklahoma in
the
> morning. So there's the update I promised to you guys who offered advice;
I
> hope you won't think less of me for my Redneck ways...
>
> JJ
> '01 Jetta GLS VR6
> '87 Scirocco 16V
> '81 Vanagon
>
>
>
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