On 2 Apr 2006 at 0:05, AAG - Larry Word <word_aag@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> Here's the current offer on Ebay.....Andres Enterprises Inc. d/b/a Andres
> Imported Parts......
>
> This ($82 + S&H )V.W. Bus & Vanagon Constant Velocity Joint Kit OE #
> 211.501.331B are all  New , "not rebuilt". Made in Asia. We have been selling
> these locally since 1987 and under normal driving conditions are of equal
> quality at under half the cost of factory Loebro/GKN.  "Not to be used for
> replacement of high speed racing C.V.  joints".
>
> Mine is a 1985 VW Vanagon, 1.9l, manual transmission.....
>
> What would you spend your $ on for new CV or would you rebuild your present ones
> (I've heard "rebuild" doesn't really apply to CV ball bearing and that "new" is
> the answer?....).

My understanding of rebuilt is that they use oversize balls, and regrind the cages, etc to
match. The question is whether they can do it to the same tolerance as new, and whether the
surfaces will last as long. I figure if they're cheap enough, as in less than half what new
Lobro's are, it might be worth a shot. Any more, and I'd buy new. I picked up two Vanagon
axles with rebuilt joints, boots, grease, and bolts for $25 each on Ebay a while back, but I
haven't installed them yet, so I can't say how they will last. I also don't drive enough to really
know - only 10K per year. But the van has 390k kms on it, and the receipts since new show
that these are only the 2nd set of CVs on it. So you can figure that original CVs could last
200k kms (120k miles) or more.

Shawn Wright
http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels
'88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed
'82 Diesel Westy 1.6NA
'85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA