RE: [T3] cv boots

["Keith Park" <topnotch@nycap.rr.com>]

All the CV joint grease Ive bought over the last 20 years is pea green.

I did all my CV's and rear wheel bearings Spring before the last invasion,
it took me one full weekend day... for all of it, I didn't have to change
any joints this time.  I don't find it a big job at all but having the right
tools, namely a 36mm socket, and good pair of snapring pliers and set of
drifts.  Oh... and LOTS of nitrile gloves!  It's a messy job more than
anything else. Id leave a weekend if you've never done one before.

I had an outer rear fail on me at 180K, and have known of several folks that
have had bearing or spline failure when the axle nuts weren't tightened
enough.  This is what got me to do them in the first place...  They ARE very
durable if assembled properly but failure 3000 miles away from home in
California would have been a problem.. Lower mileage cars are probably fine
but if your pushing up there over 100K.... and its been 40 years....

Keith


Any good grease with moly disulfide additive. These will always be 
black.

This is a fairly involved job, so I've stopped doing it at all unless 
the boots are torn. I generally end up doing it on cars right after I 
buy them, when the boots are torn. I've never had a CV joint actually 
fail on me.

> > Rear wheel bearings need attention every once in a while too, I do  
> > mine every 60K.
> 
> Could you give me some more insight on how to do this. Bentley does  
> not seem (that i can find) to have these procedures in the manual.  
> Being new to this, any help would be appreciated.

This is so much work that I really don't recommend doing it at all, 
unless there is a problem in there. Those bearings are nicely sealed 
and any time I've taken these parts apart they've been fine, and the 
grease has been clean and plentyful. In my opinion, this is one place 
where you can save yourself a lot of pain without any significant 
downside.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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