John,
The transmission drives the outer part of the joint, which transmits
torque to the balls, which then drives the inner part of the joint thus
turning the shaft. At the wheel end, the torque goes from the inner part
to the balls to the outer part thus turning the wheel. This places the
wear on the opposite side of the ball grooves. Turning the axle shaft
180 degrees on the same side will not rotate the wear to the other side
of the ball grooves.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of John Rodgers
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 11:41 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Knocking noise

You need to be careful in this swapping sides business.

I hope I can explain this clearly enough that it can be understood.

The simplest way is to swap the axle position on the same side.  In
other words, put the outboard end of the shaft - the on in the box -
next to the tranny, and the tranny end to the out board position in the
box.  Do one axle at a time, and avoid any confusion. What this swap
will do is reverse the direction of rotation of the axle and bearing so
the wear points are a bit different. Do one axle at a time, and avoid
any confusion.

It's not necessary to swap to opposite sides of the vehicle. That easily
induces confusion.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Al and Sue Brase wrote:

> AND, if you've not done this before, and other cv's need service, do
all
> four and put the right axle on the left and the left axle on the
> right.(only with manuals, the automatic axles are different lengths.)
> This puts the wear areas on a different place and could give your cv's
> several more years of life
> Al Brase
>
> jimt wrote:
>
>>>
>>>
>> With it only at the slower speeds, I would drop that cv and see if
>> maybe it
>> is dry and just needs a repack.  Wipe down the balls and see if there
>> is any
>> major pitting and also check the carriers for damage as well.  If
>> there is
>> replace joint/axel.
>>
>> http://www.westydriver.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>