keep your balls in order is the bottom line ;-)

Joe

-----Original Message-----
>From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
>Sent: Feb 20, 2008 1:35 AM
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: CV joints
>
>Thanks John,
>That's pretty clever.
>And at least you don't have to lay awake at night worrying about your CV
>joint balls being in their not-original grooves !
>Just think  - if you had a syncro ( or maybe you do ) you'd have 48 balls to
>keep in their correct grooves !
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Rodgers [mailto:inua@charter.net]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 2:40 AM
>To: Scott Daniel - Shazam
>Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: CV joints
>
>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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>

"the possession of anything begins in the mind" - Bruce Lee