I'm with Stuart. Except for two things.

I'd have the half axle/cv joints switched side to side if they lasted 100k.
Reverse the wear surfaces. Cost about $60 to have this done on a type 2,
imagine it is about the same on a regular Van-agony. Done this on my past
two vans.

Second, I'd pay someone else to monkey with the wrenches, and spend the
time with Suzanne, who is worth far more than the $60/hour I have to pay
for the luxury of her company.

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
Cary, NC     USA
www.bulley-hewlett.com
(888) 468-4880 toll free

-----Original Message-----
From:   Stuart MacMillan [SMTP:stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM]
Sent:   Thursday, March 18, 1999 4:31 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Re: Grease Needle....an important find!  Sold ONLY in canada

I am basically cheap and lazy, so I try to minimize work and expense,
especially on my Vanagon.

After a total of 350,000 miles on a combination of two VW Type 2s and a
Vanagon, I have come to the conclusion that any maintenance on CV joints
is a waste of time and money as well as the soap you need to clean
yourself up after working on them.

Invariably, whenever I removed the axles to re-pack the joints there was
enough wear to justify replacing them, even though they probably would
have gone another 50,000 miles, since it is such a dirty, miserable job
I don't want to do often.  I doesn't take much to wear through the
surface hardening on the race, so those little polished grooves you
usually find there are the beginning of the end, which will come soon if
the polish is cracking or flaking off. So now I just run 'em until one
gets noisy, and then replace them all, which has typically been after
well over 100,000 miles of service.  I currently have 120,000 miles on
my last set.

If squirting grease in makes you feel better, go ahead, but I think any
hole in the boot is just asking for trouble--moisture alone is enough to
do these things in, and there can be a lot of splash on these boots.

--
Stuart MacMillan
'84 Westy
'65 MGB
'74 MGB GT