And a warning for all - the correct CV grease is NOT supposed to touch your skin. This grease is not the same as wheel bearing grease! One of its components is a toxin, and should be avoided. Get a set of rubber gloves to wear while doing this job. Even the cheepo latex gloves from a dollar store are enough. The repacking part of the job is the worst, but a set of gloves that fits tightly will hardly be noticed. I always wear gloves when doing THIS job.

  And the idea with the long stud is the best way to avoid frustration...

  John Brush <vanagonvw@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  > Should I clean up and repack the other while I'm at it? (and replace
> that boot as well). Am I correct in assuming taht doing both isn't much
> harder than doing one?

Absolutely. Especially the "replace the other boot" part. Its not really all
that difficult, having done my first set of axles and joints some time back.
Got lots of help from great folks on the list, asked a lot of questions,
read up on it, got the right tool for the socket heads, and went ahead and
did the deed. When I did mine, I posted the NAPA part number for the socket
head that I used, so the archives will have that info, about a year or so
ago, if you need it.

Its not even as messy as some would lead you to think, but its not pretty
:-) The hardest part that I found was dealing with the end of the axle that
connects inside the cave, at the wheel. When you go to reinstall, get a long
stud and thread it into one of the mount holes, and rotate it to the top.
Then you can just hang the joint on the stud, and run in all the other
bolts, remove the stud, insert the last bolt, and you are home.

Either get the van way up high, in a safe manner, or prepare to bend
yourself into positions you had no idea you could pull off :-)

Lots of good help here.

Regards,

John