CV boot replacment

[BAS]

I need to replace my CV boots. Has anyone done this with the shafts on the car by removing the inner CV joint only or will I need to take the shaft off the car. I can’t see how the outer CV joint comes apart, do you just pull hard! :eek:

Any advice please.

[Chris J]

Brent

I've done the outer one ok without removing the cv from the upright.

If I remember right, you just undo the old boot and pull. You should be releasing a springy 'C' clip (technical term!) from a groove in the shaft/diff. Unless it's been left out. They sometimes are left out.

[Chris J]

You've got the upright free from the bottom suspension arm??

[rutthenut]

If you are removing the inner CV joint, then you can get the outer boot off by sliding it along the complete driveshaft.

J.R.

[Chris J]

If you are removing the inner CV joint, then you can get the outer boot off by sliding it along the complete driveshaft.

J.R.

Doh!

Of course you can?

[BAS]

Thanks for the advice.

The reason I asked was that my Haynes manual suggests that you need to use a vice and a hammer to get the CV joints off the drive shaft, and the cross section drawing of the shaft & cv joints doesn't show the c clip on the outer cv joint.

I will go and give it a pull. :)

[guy mayers]

The outer end of the driveshaft has a groove cut through the splines. There ought to be a C shaped wire circlip that fits in this groove and what looks like a spacer collar between the inboard end of the splines and the CV joint.
Dismantling the shaft from the cv joint requires puttting the joint in a vice and the judicious use of force to remove the shaft. ie beat the hell out of it by hitting the inner joint!
Unusually for the Haynes manual, reassembly isn't the reverse of taking it apart! First off, the C shaped wire circlip has to be placed in the groove and then the collar slipped over it to keep the whole circlip in the groove. (Easier said than done) The shaft can then be gently tapped into the outer CV joint.
I'd be wary of running without the circlip in place. With the Beta engine in place there is the possibility of the shaft moving inboard and fouling the inner surfaces of the intermediate shaft housings. With an Alfa installation and spacers the shaft might pop out of the outer CV with the total loss of drive.
Not that I've ever heard of this happening to anyone, I just assume everyone is running with the circlips in place.
One final word of warning, check the condition of the collars! Any sign of damage and replace them. If they break up they can and will cause damage to the CV joint when the bits find their way into the races!
Guy