I had just finished disassembling and greasing my CV joints when I sat down
at my computer and read about "clocking."  Never heard of such a thing, and
it was a few hours too late.  Maybe next time.

It's been 60,000 miles and 10 years since they were last serviced and the
grease did not look that bad.  Maybe a little thicker but not crusty at
all.

The discussions I read about the job before I started mention a clamp on
the boot.  There was no clamp on the boot of my 1985 1.9L, and I don't
remember ever having clamps there.  Were they only on later models?  If
they need a clamp, where does it go in relation to the ribs on the axle
shaft?

We're leaving today for a 3 to 4 week trip to California from Atlanta.
 Please light an extra stick of incense at the shrine to the VW gods for
us.

On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 11:04 PM, Gnarlodious <gnarlodious@gmail.com> wrote:

> Anyone who is aware of the principle of the CV joint knows they must
> move in and out freely to the extent of their stroke. If the star
> driver is installed backwards it doesn't do that. In fact you probably
> can't even install the axle if it is assembled wrong because the joint
> won't pivot.
>
> One detail beginners make the mistake of is that the joint must not be
> pivoted to the extremes of its rotation or the balls can pop out
> inside the boot. One reason the boot is tight is to keep the balls in.
> This can happen in case of broken motor mounts or a collision shifted
> engine. Mostly a problem in front wheel drive cars though, not the
> Vanagon.
>
> Also, high slung vans get quite a lot more CV abuse that the Carat or
> other lowrider models. It's all about the angle of the pivot.
>
> The boot can't possibly hold anything in alignment, it doesn't have
> that much strength. I can understand how clamping them too far out can
> put extra flexing stress on the rubber. The axle has a ridged area
> that holds the boot in position. Seems pretty clear that they are
> expected to be tight and look like a closed accordion.
>
> No doubt the poor quality of rubber is the main cause of boot
> breakage, but I am convinced environmental factors are also a factor.
> I suspect that both ozone and UV cause premature deterioration of the
> rubber. We do know that ozone attacks rubber, in fact some rubber is
> made ozone resistant by saturating it with sacrificial molecules that
> offer themselves up in place of the rubber. I don't know if there are
> any CV boots with this feature.
>
> I live at 7,200 feet where there is strong UV. Apparently when you are
> out on a mountaintop and the sun is on the horizon and rays are
> hitting your CV joints directly, that is the worst case scenario. But
> I have a feeling there is plenty of UV just bouncing around that gets
> in under your van. Supposedly you can spray a rubber preserver like
> Black Magic onto your boots and that should lengthen their life
> expectancy. I did a search for such a test but found none. So when I
> put on new boots last fall I started an experiment, Black Magic on the
> one exposed boot twice a year. I'll see in a few years if it has made
> any difference.
>
> Its a damnable problem.
>
> -- Gnarlie
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 3:28 PM, Tom Carchrae <tom@intellecti.ca> wrote:
> > I came across this thread that pointed me at how to clock your CV joints.
> >  It basically involves ensuring that the wide/narrow parts of the CV do
> not
> > match.  The theory all seems very sane to me.
> >
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7038607#7038607http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7038607#7038607
> >
> > Have any of you heard of this before?
> >
> > I read somewhere about people adjusting the small end of CV boots further
> > toward the centre of the axle to stop "clacking" - that sounds like
> perhaps
> > it could be a bad way of fixing an 'unclocked' axle.
> >
> > Perhaps this accounts for a higher CV boot failure as well?  All seems
> > plausible.  Certainly better quality boots will last longer, but asking a
> > CV boot to hold the joint in alignment seems like the wrong part doing
> the
> > work.
> >
> > Tom
> >
> >
> > http://intellecti.ca -  scheduling and optimization technology
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 12:51 PM, Project Pat <psdooley@verizon.net>
> wrote:
> >
> >> My experience with Rockford was many years ago, put 4 new boots on a
> >> Scirocco; 2 of them failed within a couple months.
> >> Of course that was years ago and YMMV.
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> >> Gnarlodious
> >> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 2:15 PM
> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >> Subject: Re: CV Joints
> >>
> >> A company called Rockford allegedly makes a high quality
> >> Elastopolymer...
> >>
>