ZX TD Volcane, no thrust cap or spring inside inner CV boot.

[MarcusMcGuinness]

Hi,
Prior to taking the Spanish MOT, our beloved nearly-30-yr-old car needs a few things sorting. One obvious task is to replace a completely broken inner boot and a worn but not broken outer boot on the short drive shaft.
To do that I've drained the gearbox of oil, and because there's also wear on the inner boot of the long drive shaft, I thought it would be the right time to change that as well.

Own copyright [MarcusMcGuinness]

The longer shaft has the "baked-bean can" type of boot, as Citronut used to call it.

Own copyright [MarcusMcGuinness]

I've just taken this apart and have found that the last person to be here and to put it back together again didn't include a thrust cap or a spring.

Own copyright [MarcusMcGuinness]

I can't think when this boot was last replaced, but we do know that the car has been increasingly noisy on bumpy roads over the last 5 years, and we'd put that down to old age, dodgy wishbone bushes, and possibly even bad struts. But recently hitting a big bump at anything over 20 kph results in a metal on metal BANG, and I'm wondering if the lack of spring and thrust cap is partly responsible. The rear wishbone bush on that side has broken over the last 12 months and needs fixing, which is why I say "partly". Any thoughts?
Mac

[CitroJim]

Gosh yes! I think a lack of spring and washer in there would cause all sorts of noises... A good dollop of grease in there may have disguised it for a while...

My AX has the same 'Baked Bean Can' inner joint boots... I noted the rubber is beginning to perish so that's a job I must do soon.

[MarcusMcGuinness]

Thanks for the reply, Jim. It'll take me a while to get it all back together again, but I'll be delighted if the worst of the front suspension noise finally disappears, and will report back here.