Finally got to the inner CV of the same shaft and it has two ball races with
pitting.  One on one and two on another.  Both joints are also very "loose"
in the sense that the inner race and cage will slide axially just by
slightly tilting the outer race to the left or right.

So this is my threshold, since both joints have pitting, both joints show
some wear, both joints are "loose" and I don't want to open up this
half-shaft again for a while, I'm buying new joints.

Thanks for all the insight and input.

-Dick Wong-
78 Scirocco
Original Owner
87 Vanagon Syncro 2.5 (Blaze)
Third Owner
12 Golf TDI
Original Co-Owner

>
>
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 3:44 AM, Dick Wong <sailingfc@dslextreme.com>
wrote:
>
>> Hello Vanapeeps,
>>
>> Took off one of the rear axles on my '87 Syncro to replace the inner
>> CV boot.  Inspected the outer CV joint and found that it has one pit
>> mark on one of the races.  No other pits.  There is no rotational
>> play that I can detect, but the ball cage moves freely.  I did not
>> detect any noise when it was in the vehicle.  All the balls look
>> fine.  I have no idea how many miles are on the joint.  It is an OEM
>> Lobro joint (VW Audi markings).
>> Serviceable
>> joint or should I replace it?
>>
>> Here are some pics.  The "pit" pictures are of the same "pit", just
>> from both sides. http://tinyurl.com/ndsz9xr  The other pictures are
>> just to show the wear marks.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> -Dick Wong-
>> 78 Scirocco
>> Original Owner
>> 87 Vanagon Syncro 2.5 (Blaze)
>> Third Owner
>> 12 Golf TDI
>> Original Co-Owner
>>
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