chuckster

Recently I somehow got a tiny cut in the outer boot of my passenger CV joint and spewed grease all over..

I first want to say a special thanks to Patches who sent me the procedures and gave me the encouragement to tackle the COMPLETE Job.... I was only planning on pulling the Axle and taking to a place to have it rebuilt.. He convinced me to do it all..

Honorary mention for assistance goes to..
steve@ctcorvette
ericdwong
dpd


Here is the complete Axle Rebuild Pictoral procedure for those interested. I am not going over details of every step..Mostly a pictoral to let you know what you are in for…


First
Loosen the Axle nut.. Trust me.. this requires a lot of force. Leave the car on the ground with the wheel on when you break it loose.
So get some PB Blaster and spray the nut real good. I used a 24” ¾ Breaker bar from Harbor Freight. I needed to get some ¾ to ½ adapters to use my
socket.






Now you can see the havoc created by a torn boot..









I had to clean everything before I could do anything.. I went through a 6” stack of napkins, a dozen q-tips and an old t-shirt. I even took the strain reliefs off the speed sensor wires and cleaned the grease out of them. Washed em in the sink with dawn and a tooth brush..

Here is everything all cleaned up..



Now we are ready to pull the axle.. Here is a shot just before pulling it out of the hub



Finally out..


Now to get the boot off.. My problem was with the OUTER boot..



First cut the clamps off both sides. I used a Dremel with cutoff wheel

Then slide back the boot in order to separate the CV joint from the axle shaft



To separate the 2 pieces you need to put the axle in a vise. Then take a heavy “BLUNT” Chisel and place it right at the point shown in the picture. You will need a give this some very hard whacks with a heavy hammer.. It will eventually slide off. What you are doing is compressing the snap ring on the inside. The next pictures will clearly show this..



If you look inside the bearing race.. you can see where it opens back up and the snap ring expands again on the other side to ensure a solid connection.


Here is where you need to take the bearings out and clean them..



You need to take the ball bearings out in sequence. You must clean your ***** very carefully… After that clean the whole race…



All Cleaned up Ready to be put back together..


Here the Bearing Race is all back together.

I forgot to show the part where you fill the Bearing Race with Grease.. because I was fighting with the C Clip

My Boot Kit came with 2 different clamp types.. So I went to Autozone and they loaned me the 2 types of clamp tools I needed.. I almost destroyed one in the process.

Here I am tightening the smaller Clamp



This is the bigger clamp.. This single clamp gave me the most fits.. The tool did NOTHING! It could not pull the clamp tight enough to latch.. I seriously considered using a dryer hose clamp…

I ended up doing something drastic after driving around town looking for a different type of clamp and failing.. I redesigned my Wire Strippers to act as a Clamp Tool.. While holding everything together I put the handles in my Vise It pulled it together but would not latch.. A small tap of my hammer and Click.. Yes!! Finally..



The rest is just put it all back together….

Patches

Congrats, chuckster! Well done!

Now 'bout that next project - told the SO yet?

pdd000

CONGRATS, I had the same issue last year. i couldnt get the large clamp back on. i brought it down the local garage and they have special big clamping tool for that.

dwarmenzerk

nice.. i have the same home phone as u

chuckster

Needed to warm her up to that one.... I think the big hood would be the tip off...

ericdwong

Ingenious! I just gave up with the large clamp and used a different style clamp instead.

Vetteoholic

Wow thats alot of pictures! Job well done! Looks like you know your stuff and thats a huge advantage~It's like paying yourself when working on your own car

chuckster

Thanks... Yeah the way I figure it.. If I went to someone.. They'd just replace the Axle and Charge me the labor..

Say $250 to $300 for the Axle and a maybe an hour of labor.. I am certain I'd be looking northward of $400 out the door..

Boot kit cost $44 and prolly less than $30 in Misc tools I needed to buy.. That 33mm socket!! I should have kept the receipt and returned it..

LoneStarFRC

Good job Chuck.

dads01dream

Congrats on a DIY job well done!!

RonVette2

Very informative and great job, nice pictures too, and you saved that cash too, wonderful.

4DRUSH

Nice write up.
I had to do that once and did the same drive all over town to find a tool to tighten the clamps. Ended up at local garage and they hooked me up.

craig04c5

Well done Charlie! Maybe you can make the Thursday night show this week?

Scott02Z06

Congrats on the DIY!

Z28TOZO6

me too!

BobbyG

Chuck, great post together with photos and explanation's, this ones a keeper just in case I go through the same thing, thanks..

chuckster

Thanks.. What I should have done was to use the actual GM directions and just substitute my photos in place of their Crappy drawings..

I hope someone saves this.. Just in case my Photobucket goes away..

Mike Mercury

you're a brave man

chuckster

Thanks.. Ed (Patches) talked me into it...

berryj

Very nice work and a great write up Charlie! Kudos to you on the excellent job.