Outer cv how-to (This is long)
10-05-2004, 09:36 AM
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Outer cv how-to (This is long)
Replacing the front outer cv boot without taking the axle out.
Generic tools:
Jack and stand.
1/2" and 3/8" Socket wrench set
Sockets (16mm (control arm), 13mm (to remove abs piece), 17mm hex (axle).)
Crescent wrench (1)
Torque wrench (will require 190nm) (I rented it from autozone)
18" breaking bar. (1 - bought it from local car parts store for $12)
¾"-1" 5 ft. pipe from home depot. ($7)
Optional, but very helpful tools:
Snap ring tool kit ($10 at local car parts store)
Clamp tool ($7 at autozone)
VAG tool:
Matra 3207 joint remove tool. (Highly recommended)
Repair kit:
CV boot kit. (I would avoid the GKN brand. Bought 3 models, but the best price/performance was from www.bimmerparts.com)
Step 1: (Removing the axle)
With the car on the ground, attach the 17mm hex bolt (bought a set of 3 from autozone for ~$7), to the breaking bar. Now, take the 5 ft pipe and attach it to give you leverage. Turn only 90 degrees to break the nut loose and stop.
Step 2. (Removing rest of the axle).
Lift the car with the jack, and put the jack stand as a backup.
Remove lug nuts, and remove the wheel. After the rotor is exposed, put the bolts back into the rotors and tighten them snug. (This is according to the Bentley manual)
Take the breaking bar, and turn few times. The bolt should be super easy to remove after 180 degree of turn. Now using the ½ socket wrench, remove the bolt, and put aside, as you will need this bolt later.
Step 3. Remove the ABS break sensor piece.
Looking at the back of the break caliper area, you will see a 13mm bolt holding a piece of metal with abs sensor wiring. Remove this bolt and make sure the wire is free.
Step 4. Removing the control arm
Using a crescent wrench (or closed ended wrench) on the aluminum nut, and 16mm socket wrench on the other end, REMOVE the bolt from the arm completely.
Next, wiggle the wheel assembly back and forth several times. This may require some hard jerks, but the control arms should pop up. NOTE: I have heard from some 2.8ltr engine owners that their bolts are rusted shut. Search the forums on suggestions as to how to remove this bolt.
Step 5. Disconnecting the cv joint from the wheel assembly.
Take the bolt you removed from the axle in step 2, and push it back into the hole where it came from. Now just apply force and just use it to push the cv joint away from the wheel. You may need to push the cv joint in tiny bit to fully dislodge it away from the wheel( Do not screw the axle back into the cv joint! The cv joint should easily come out of the wheel assembly. Swing the wheel assembly to the side and you should be looking at the axle with the external cv joint staring at you.)
Step 6. Removing the cv joint.
Using a wire cutter with combination of needle nose pliers, or screw driver, carefully cut the outside clamp of the cv boot. After this, PUSH the entire axle into the car as far as you can, or you will damage the inside of the axle, as it has some give. (You will probably hear a `woosh' sound ). Now, take the VAG matra 3207 tool, and while applying the press toward the car, push the tool in. The tool should crank in smoothly, and the cv joint should pop up. Take the cv joint off, and carefully put it aside.
NOTE: I actually used the method of using an old axle bolt to remove the axle. I do not recommend this for our operation as I encountered a problem where one side did come off, but I had to use a vice, bought another pipe for the ½ socket wrench and spent tons of time to remove the bolt that got stuck, and the second one wouldn't come off, so I had to buy a long piece of bolt and smack the cv out. I would not recommend this as exterior cv joint will cost more then couple of hundred bucks.
Step 7. Cleaning the cv joint.
Now I took the cv joint apart and put it back together, but this is very dangerous and you need to keep a mental note as to how the whole thing is assembled. I would not recommend this to anyone. I would simply soak the entire piece in a solvent, and use couple of cans of break cleaner to simply spray the old grease off. Make sure that the cv is completely dry.
Step 8. While you wait for the cv joint to dry, clean the axle.
While I was soaking the cv joint in a tiny bucket full of pain thinner, I was off cleaning the axle.
Remove the other side of the cv boot clamp and rest of the piece. Push the boot into the axle, because you will need to remove 4 things from the axle. From the inside of the car to the outside they are.
1. C clip near the smaller end of the boot (I bought a snap ring tool to remove this thing, otherwise be creative)
2. Metal piece tapers toward the inside of the car
3. Plastic piece tapering toward the outside of the car
4. Another c clip with the large opening.
To remove, first remove both the metal and plastic tapered pieces. Now remove the c clip near the end of the boot with the snap ring tool). Then remove the large c clip. NOTE: If you remove the large c clip first, the other c clip will get stuck and would be more difficult to remove.
Soak all the pieces and clean, just in case parts are missing, or broken. You are ready to assemble the whole thing back as the parts are clean and dry.
ASSEMBLY:
Comment:
Assembly is quite easy. The most difficult part is putting the c clip back in. Besides this, the entire process should be smooth.
Step1. Assembling the cv joint back.
1. Put the new boot and the clamp on the axle.
2. Take the clip and work it backwards. First, the take the large clip and put it back on, followed by the c clip that slides all the way back, then the plastic piece, then metal piece. You are ready to go.
3. Take the cv joint, and apply half of the cv joint lubricant to the cv joint. Push the cv joint onto the axle, and flex the joint to work the grease into the joint.
4. Using a mallet, tap the cv joint back onto the axle. It should `pop' back on.
5. Now squeeze the remainder of the lubricant into the boot, and clamp the bigger clamp on the boot to the joint. Squeeze the boot a little to `burp extra air out', and clamp the smaller one.
6. Now swing the wheel assembly back on the cv joint and push (OK, I kicked it in a little bit) and it should pop right back on.
7. Lift the wheel assembly and attach the upper control arms back on, and put the bolt back on. The EBahn states that you should replace the `nut'.
8. Assemble the rest (ABS sensor, and so forth.) You know the drill.
9. Go for a careful test drive...
Generic tools:
Jack and stand.
1/2" and 3/8" Socket wrench set
Sockets (16mm (control arm), 13mm (to remove abs piece), 17mm hex (axle).)
Crescent wrench (1)
Torque wrench (will require 190nm) (I rented it from autozone)
18" breaking bar. (1 - bought it from local car parts store for $12)
¾"-1" 5 ft. pipe from home depot. ($7)
Optional, but very helpful tools:
Snap ring tool kit ($10 at local car parts store)
Clamp tool ($7 at autozone)
VAG tool:
Matra 3207 joint remove tool. (Highly recommended)
Repair kit:
CV boot kit. (I would avoid the GKN brand. Bought 3 models, but the best price/performance was from www.bimmerparts.com)
Step 1: (Removing the axle)
With the car on the ground, attach the 17mm hex bolt (bought a set of 3 from autozone for ~$7), to the breaking bar. Now, take the 5 ft pipe and attach it to give you leverage. Turn only 90 degrees to break the nut loose and stop.
Step 2. (Removing rest of the axle).
Lift the car with the jack, and put the jack stand as a backup.
Remove lug nuts, and remove the wheel. After the rotor is exposed, put the bolts back into the rotors and tighten them snug. (This is according to the Bentley manual)
Take the breaking bar, and turn few times. The bolt should be super easy to remove after 180 degree of turn. Now using the ½ socket wrench, remove the bolt, and put aside, as you will need this bolt later.
Step 3. Remove the ABS break sensor piece.
Looking at the back of the break caliper area, you will see a 13mm bolt holding a piece of metal with abs sensor wiring. Remove this bolt and make sure the wire is free.
Step 4. Removing the control arm
Using a crescent wrench (or closed ended wrench) on the aluminum nut, and 16mm socket wrench on the other end, REMOVE the bolt from the arm completely.
Next, wiggle the wheel assembly back and forth several times. This may require some hard jerks, but the control arms should pop up. NOTE: I have heard from some 2.8ltr engine owners that their bolts are rusted shut. Search the forums on suggestions as to how to remove this bolt.
Step 5. Disconnecting the cv joint from the wheel assembly.
Take the bolt you removed from the axle in step 2, and push it back into the hole where it came from. Now just apply force and just use it to push the cv joint away from the wheel. You may need to push the cv joint in tiny bit to fully dislodge it away from the wheel( Do not screw the axle back into the cv joint! The cv joint should easily come out of the wheel assembly. Swing the wheel assembly to the side and you should be looking at the axle with the external cv joint staring at you.)
Step 6. Removing the cv joint.
Using a wire cutter with combination of needle nose pliers, or screw driver, carefully cut the outside clamp of the cv boot. After this, PUSH the entire axle into the car as far as you can, or you will damage the inside of the axle, as it has some give. (You will probably hear a `woosh' sound ). Now, take the VAG matra 3207 tool, and while applying the press toward the car, push the tool in. The tool should crank in smoothly, and the cv joint should pop up. Take the cv joint off, and carefully put it aside.
NOTE: I actually used the method of using an old axle bolt to remove the axle. I do not recommend this for our operation as I encountered a problem where one side did come off, but I had to use a vice, bought another pipe for the ½ socket wrench and spent tons of time to remove the bolt that got stuck, and the second one wouldn't come off, so I had to buy a long piece of bolt and smack the cv out. I would not recommend this as exterior cv joint will cost more then couple of hundred bucks.
Step 7. Cleaning the cv joint.
Now I took the cv joint apart and put it back together, but this is very dangerous and you need to keep a mental note as to how the whole thing is assembled. I would not recommend this to anyone. I would simply soak the entire piece in a solvent, and use couple of cans of break cleaner to simply spray the old grease off. Make sure that the cv is completely dry.
Step 8. While you wait for the cv joint to dry, clean the axle.
While I was soaking the cv joint in a tiny bucket full of pain thinner, I was off cleaning the axle.
Remove the other side of the cv boot clamp and rest of the piece. Push the boot into the axle, because you will need to remove 4 things from the axle. From the inside of the car to the outside they are.
1. C clip near the smaller end of the boot (I bought a snap ring tool to remove this thing, otherwise be creative)
2. Metal piece tapers toward the inside of the car
3. Plastic piece tapering toward the outside of the car
4. Another c clip with the large opening.
To remove, first remove both the metal and plastic tapered pieces. Now remove the c clip near the end of the boot with the snap ring tool). Then remove the large c clip. NOTE: If you remove the large c clip first, the other c clip will get stuck and would be more difficult to remove.
Soak all the pieces and clean, just in case parts are missing, or broken. You are ready to assemble the whole thing back as the parts are clean and dry.
ASSEMBLY:
Comment:
Assembly is quite easy. The most difficult part is putting the c clip back in. Besides this, the entire process should be smooth.
Step1. Assembling the cv joint back.
1. Put the new boot and the clamp on the axle.
2. Take the clip and work it backwards. First, the take the large clip and put it back on, followed by the c clip that slides all the way back, then the plastic piece, then metal piece. You are ready to go.
3. Take the cv joint, and apply half of the cv joint lubricant to the cv joint. Push the cv joint onto the axle, and flex the joint to work the grease into the joint.
4. Using a mallet, tap the cv joint back onto the axle. It should `pop' back on.
5. Now squeeze the remainder of the lubricant into the boot, and clamp the bigger clamp on the boot to the joint. Squeeze the boot a little to `burp extra air out', and clamp the smaller one.
6. Now swing the wheel assembly back on the cv joint and push (OK, I kicked it in a little bit) and it should pop right back on.
7. Lift the wheel assembly and attach the upper control arms back on, and put the bolt back on. The EBahn states that you should replace the `nut'.
8. Assemble the rest (ABS sensor, and so forth.) You know the drill.
9. Go for a careful test drive...
10-05-2004, 03:31 PM
#6
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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Yes, there is a tech article for the A4, but...
This is different because he does not take off the drive axle, since it's the outer cv boot that usually goes. Much less effort/work.
)
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