I'm glad I caught this thread.
In June I was last-minute prepping *Modesto* (1982 air-cooled westy - 2.2
Kennedy-Subaru conversion)
for a cross-country/round trip (Montreal to Los Angeles then back to
Montreal)

There was a bothersome TOCK TOCK TOCK TOCK noise from driver's side rear...
I couldn't for the life of me figure it out. It was only under load, going
up through the gears. Obviously torque-related, but someone had suggested
it was valve tick. Ugh, that's the worts, when an idea is planted and you
chase it.

Anyhow, literally the day before we left, i bring it to my old german guy
in Laval, Que. On the lift, he says right away it's CV joints. He had some
beautiful rebuilt CV-stub axles (painted black - new boots, new bearings
and all greased up. Those were $550 Canadian, plus install.

Or for $150 Canadian he would reverse my original CVs and ram grease in
them. Just like Don mentioned, what "they" disavow - we did, and the van is
still going strong after this 4800 mile trip.
And we stressed the devil out of them at Wolf Creek pass Colorado -
Beartooth pass in Montana - Medicine Mountain Wyoming. There were some
serious long climbs - 2nd gear and coolant leaking out of the heater hose
connections up front.

 I still want those rebuilt CVs before I undertake another big trip, but I
want to do them myself.
vinnie

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 10:10 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:

> "They" say CV grease is not regular grease and has a base that handles the
> job it's meant for better than other lubes.  "They" say you should not use
> anything else, and mixing it with other base greases is not good.  I had
> more wheel bearing and chassis lube grease at hand (town is an hour, round
> trip from our place) and only a single squeeze tube of CV grease, but that
> seems to have been enough...
>
> On Sep 22, 2016 4:07 AM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Over the years I have performed the life-saving grease injection trick
> > using a "syringe" made for the purpose, available at many auto parts
> store.
> > It is a big needle, but on the back of it there is a a fitting that snaps
> > into a standard grease gun nozzle. I don't carry a grease gun but do
> carry
> > the needle in my toolkit so I could give my CVs a fix at any old lube
> shop.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 8:15 PM Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Last weekend, at short notice, we were able to ramble across Oregon.
> Hood
> >> River on the Columbia River to the Strawberry mountains on the south
> >> eastern edge.. ended up being about 800 miles, lots of hills and a huge
> >> headwind coming home along the Gorge..Rather than actually properly
> >> removing my left axle to do that noisy side, at the 11th hour before we
> >> left (getting wise about taking right off on a remote adventure after
> >> fixing anything critical)..and of course the outer CV was the one making
> >> noises...I rigged a short section of vacuum line to one of my SO's horse
> >> syringes... Inserted that line through the boot with the help of a
> >> screwdriver.  I filled the syringe twice (one whole tube of CV grease)
> >> and
> >> squeezed the grease on two "sides" of the joint... The vacuum line I cut
> >> to
> >> length so it went into one of the spaces in the CV....It must have been
> >> pretty dry, haven't serviced that side ever... I'll do it properly when
> I
> >> do the wheel bearing soon.   Anyway, It's now smooth and quiet, and I
> >> didn't spoil a trip with a stripped or broken bolt at the last minute...
> >>
> >
>