I have used a lot of different greses over the years on my
buses.  Prolly had the best luck with the red Amsoil synthetic, but I
haven't found a souce for it up here in Iowa and have back slid into
using the grease in the Meiserstatz kits.  I grew up raised on MoS2
and had a gallon bottle of moly additive for the engine oil that you
put like a teaspoon in each oil change for the air cooled Vdub motors.

YMMV

DM&FS

At 04:40 AM 2/19/2008, John Rodgers wrote:

>To keep the ball chaos to a minimum, I use an electric vibratory
>engraving tool and mark each groove on the rim of the race.. The inner
>and outer race is given an alignment mark. The ball from each groove is
>put into it's own little plastic baggie and given a number matching it's
>goove mark. When all is clean, everything goes back as marked. This
>process is a PITA for some, but the cherry on the cake for others. Yuh
>makes yer choices.
>
>Regards,
>
>John Rodgers
>88 GL driver
>
>Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
>>All right, then you better get 250,000 miles out of your CV joints.
>>
>>How do you keep the balls straight ? like know which groove a ball came
>>from.
>>They're not marked or color coded or anything.
>>
>>Have you measured any of the balls with a micrometer to try to find any
>>measurable difference.
>>I would think you'd be very, very into 'rotating' your CV's, that is install
>>them so they drive the other way.
>>You'll notice in the groove they get more worn in one area from always
>>pushing on that one spot.
>>They can be fitted to the 'push' or drive the other way, to spread out the
>>wear more evenly over many miles, the same as tire rotation does.
>>
>>Surely you are also into this nuance of long CV joint life., mmm ?
>>Scott
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
>>John Rodgers
>>Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 5:02 PM
>>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>Subject: Re: CV joints
>>
>>Many have commented about NOT putting the balls back into the original
>>grooves. That aspect of the maintenance of the CV's is one of those GOP
>>things. Not a political statement, in this case GOP does not stand for
>>"Grand Old Party" but instead stands for "Good Operating Practice". It
>>is the cherry on the topping on the cake. It is that little extra thing
>>that makes the job better than the next guy's.
>>
>>Consider that the balls and the grooves wear together. They develop a
>>"wear fit". If you swap the balls around, the fit is now disturbed, and
>>the balls and groves have to "wear in" again. At the outset, in the new
>>"ball-in-groove" relationship the wear will be high until the fit has
>>been worn in. All of this is going to produce extra heat of friction,
>>and wear, making the parts more loose than in the original position.
>>Additionally, there will be increased vibration, which in turn will add
>>to the wear. Now, as a practical matter, there won't be much if any
>>initial apparent problem of any sort. The CV will prol'ly run many
>>thousands of miles with no obvious problems, but over time, the life of
>>the CV will be shortened. It all boils down to how much you care about
>>the condition of your balls.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>John Rodgers
>>88 GL Driver who wants his balls to last forever.
>>
>>Rob wrote:
>>
>>>I'm doing CV joints, buying a tube of grease rather than the 4
>>>initial bags of it was my first (and only so far) mistake. I had to
>>>put about 1/4 of the tube into a ziplock sandwich bag, zipped it shut
>>>and cut a corner off to squeeze it into the joints.
>>>My pitman puller worked GREAT to pull the joint off the shaft, I had
>>>to take the joint apart first but it works well with zero stress to
>>>the parts.
>>>Good directions in the Bentley for reassy the joint.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Rob
>>>becida@comcast.net
>>>
>>>
>>
>>