>times you can't tell unless you scrape all the gunk out with a pick (which
is
>something that I do everytime now and sometimes they still strip even when
>using the proper tool.  Oh well that is what vice grips are for.)

Unfortunately NOT on a vanagons ouboard CV's unlike a bus.  I strongly urge
everyone as always to anally clean all heads of CV bolts but particularly
those in the trailing arms of outboard vanagon CV's because if you f*%$ one
of them up, you will be in for real, real pain.   Scraping with a pick, then
a squirt of brake clean with an extension in each and finally a real socket
driven tool on an extension and 20 taps with a hammer to seat the socketed
tool on each bolt before removal.  I'm not shitting here, I do this with
every CV bolt and every brake bleeder screw.  I've haven't damaged one of
either in 10 years of a lot of rust belt VW's.  The whopping investment of
new bolts for the outers is not a bad thing if you intend to keep the van
any time.

On nomenclature actually "allen" is often used to refer to a number of
generic socketed fasteners, not merely the 6 point.  But I guess 12 pt or
"triple square" would be acceptable, I've seen "12 pt allen key" used in
literature.  As they are I guess an ISO/DIN sort of thing it would be
interesting to know what they are referred to by some of our European
counterparts in the civilized/standardized world.

John
janderson@iolinc.net