How long before my Constant-Velocity completely goes ?

Xantia2.0 · Post by **Xantia2.0** » 20 Aug 2010, 19:40

The Gaiter for the O/S CV Joint has a big split in it. I don't have ANY money at the moment and need to use the car, so how long before it is completely distroyed ? I don't mind it wandering a bit, I just want to know how long technically I could leave it!

HDI Dave · Post by **HDI Dave** » 20 Aug 2010, 20:41

Is the cv joint knackered,does it click on full lock etc?

If not then why not just buy a new gaitor,they're less than a tenner,iirc. Even if you don't want to take the hub apart etc,you can get those split gaitor jobbies, they're not great,(I've tried one),but it'll put you on for a bit.

In my youth I've driven cars with knackered cv joints for months,with no ill effects, although I'm not advising you to do this

Either way,it'll need doing for the mot...

Sid_the_Squid · Post by **Sid_the_Squid** » 20 Aug 2010, 21:00

When your CV joints get really knackered, really really, should not be driving knackered, you get a clacking when driving fowards, and a nice vibration over 40mph. I had a 'courtesy' car from a garage once which really knackered CV joins, how that car had an MOT is anyones guess.

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 20 Aug 2010, 21:40

I would recommend getting it done soon. Water will get in through any split. The water will wash the grease out and cause rusting. Once the grease is gone the driveshaft will usually make such a loud noise that you will feel it, like a rumble, through the body of the car. I doubt you would want to drive a car making that sort of noise.

Paul

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 20 Aug 2010, 21:44

gsfcarparts.com sell gaiters cheap but they're similar quality to the main dealers. Probably less than a tenner from gsf compared to 30 pounds plus from the main dealer. You might have to change the inner gaiter as well depending on the type of driveshaft.

Paul

the_weaver · Post by **the_weaver** » 20 Aug 2010, 22:02

As I said previously, I wouldn't recommend using the car for long with a split gaiter. If I was desperate to run the car for a few days until I could get it into a garage, then I would inject grease into the gaiter every so often, possibly through the split. At least that's better than running it with no grease. Water, rust and dirt will still cause problems however.

Paul

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 21 Aug 2010, 07:57

Just for now, I wonder if you could repair the split using good quality gaffer tape? The boot would, of course, need careful cleaning and degreasing to stand any chance of this working.

spider · Post by **spider** » 21 Aug 2010, 15:56

I changed mine as they would make noise (the near side one at least to start with) in a straight line but only under heavy acceleration.

They were cheap from a motor factor, although one of them is starting to make noise again (this time the outer joint I think), although they have been in place for about 5 years now.

I have had a few snap but on Vauxhalls (MK2 Astra's they seemed to just break without any warning that you normally get) and one on a Fiesta. To be fair they broke on setoff from rest, and I did not try to set off quick.

I did hear a tale ( ? ) of one breaking on a 405 at speed, it broke at the inner end and the rest of the shaft was free to whizz around and break off other things (track rod maybe?) , resulted in an accident. No idea how true this is but in theory it does make some sense, N/S one I would guess as the O/S is kind of held in the inner bearing / mount, again not sure how true this was but I do remember hearing it...

Chris570 · Post by **Chris570** » 21 Aug 2010, 16:16

my advice is get that sealed up and some grease in there as soon as you can really.

i had an ax once that had a split in the gator and got water into the outer joint, within 30 miles i was having problems, admittedly the ax/saxo/106 range are fitted with chocolate shafts and joints but once water gets in and grease out its not nice, for the sake of a bit of grease and glue (maybe an inner tube patch kit would work??) i'd try and prolong the joint for as long as possible:)

red_dwarfers · Post by **red_dwarfers** » 21 Aug 2010, 18:11

Didn't falling out with my car have a similar gaitor problem with the steering rack? I remember him using some sort of strong glue.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 21 Aug 2010, 18:52

yes its called Evo Stick Serious glue, only available in B+Q I patched a cv joint with it to, until I could afford to replace it. the steering rack boot lasted another year.

I cleaned the old boot with meths but pvc window cleaner would do (the stuff that smells like pear drops) and then I cut up an old leather wallet for a patch applied some serious glue to both surfaces and stuck the patch to the cv boot it even stayed on in wet weather even in the folds of the cv boot doing around 80 mph, it didnt cause any wobble either.

if you do this give the leather patch a good coating of the glue afterwards it gives it a ruberry finish nice and waterproof,
once your done you could try what I did and use a scalpel to put a small puncture in an easy to reach area of the boot and fill a printing ink refill syringe with cv grease and insert the blunted needle into the puncture hole and squirt the cv grease into the boot, clean the puncture hole with meths and apply a blob of serious glue to stop the cv grease escaping.
when I replaced the whole drivers side shaft because the inner fixed joint was worn I took the old shaft into thwe auto-factors and they were all interested in how I managed to make a nice tidy patch of the joint, these places are often run by boy racers without a penny to scratch their behinds, I should have put together a kit and patented it because the car passed an MOT with the patch on the cv boot and one on the steering rack.

a bit of a job but money saving and quite effective if you have similar things knocking around in your shed. on the other hand if you dont hang on to every bit of old tatt you ever come across its probably cheaper and better to buy a new boot, how about superglue -on boot kit it probably wont last as long but they can be pretty effective get yourself a can of PVC window Acti-spray which makes the superglue go off quite quickly.

I had the steerring rack boot replaced but the rack is noisey because the teflon has worn of the bearings at one end of the rack, again I punctured the end of the new boot with the tip,of a scalpel bought a tin of teflon spray grease cut the supplied spray nozzel tube in half and joined the two halfs together with some 1.5 mm green and yellow earth sleeving poked the end of the cut tube into the piecered hole and squirted the whole can of teflon grease into the new rack boot.

the steering rack gets warm enough in the engine bay to disperse the teflon based grease around the end of the rack and stop the groanning noise when your steering is on full lock, a blob of thick cyno super glue and a spray of PVC acti-spray sealed the the pin hole up.

heck it beats having to have the rack removed for new seals to be fitted which costs serious money.

hope this helps Regards Nigel.

wotwot · Post by **wotwot** » 22 Aug 2010, 16:15

And what about a cycle inner tube repair kit just degrease and stick a patch on very cheap temp fix.

dnsey · Post by **dnsey** » 22 Aug 2010, 21:15

And what about a cycle inner tube repair kit just degrease and stick a patch on very cheap temp fix.

Maybe, but I'm not sure that CV joint boots are actually rubber, in which case the rubber solution wouldn't stick properly.

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 23 Aug 2010, 01:43

I had a CV joint go on a BX without having had any clicking symptoms.

The first I knew of it was a serious wheel wobble at 70 on the motorway. I pulled over and the steering wheel was moving 45deg side to side just keeping car going straight.

After that I became something of an expert at replacing BX CV joint gaiters. Didn't have as much trouble with the Xantia ones but the same technique should work.

IMO the split gaiters are worse than useless.

It's a fairly easy job and a 3rd party boot is pretty cheap so I'd suggest doing it now rather than later. The only specialised tool you need is a balljoint splitter.

You can get the driveshaft out of the hub by raising the front end at both sides, undoing the lower balljoint and track rod end nuts and using the splitter to free them, then putting the suspension on low and lift the hub by hand to pop the lower balljoint nut out of the wishbone then swing it outwards.

Since it's the offside you don't even have the gearbox oil spillage to worry about.

Get a circlip in advance, odds on it will break when you tap the CV joint off the driveshaft.

When you put it all back together put the suspension on high to force the balljoint into the wishbone, that will let you tighten the nut without it spinning, for the track rod end I used the balljoint splitter in reverse.

falling-out-with-my-car · Post by **falling-out-with-my-car** » 23 Aug 2010, 10:34

wotwot wrote:And what about a cycle inner tube repair kit just degrease and stick a patch on very cheap temp fix.

This doesnt work beleive me I tried it before the leather repair patch above .

if your going to pull the shaft and do the job properly remember to buy a new gearbox bearing seal its well worth putting a new one in and they are reasonably cheaper than watching your gear oil exit around the drive shaft over time.