Citroën C5 TOURER 2.0 HDi - How to get CV joint off the shaft?

[GiveMeABreak]

As Richard already pointed out there are several types of Driveshaft fitted to the X7, so the OP will need to identify the correct one from the original shaft label before proceeding with either of the methods below.

Note: Both methods included here, but only one will be relevant!

The drive shafts are identified by a label stuck to the shaft (at "a") containing the supplier reference. List of suppliers: GKN PSA NTN

Official Tooling

	Intentionally Blank

Preliminary Operations

N.B.: The ABS crowns are discontinued (the function fulfilled by the crowns is transferred to the front wheel bearings).

• Remove the drive shafts.
• Support the drive shaft in a vice fitted with soft jaws.

N.B.: Before removal : Mark the positions of the driveshaft gaiters.

Replacement: Wheel End Gaiter

CAUTION: Always replace the clips and circlips that have been removed.

PSA and NTN driveshafts

(1) Remove the clips (1) and (2); Using a hacksaw. N.B.: Mark the gaiter position on driveshafts not having position grooves at "a".	(2) Remove the housing (3); Using the tools [0316-A], [4083-T / 0410-A].
(3) Remove: The stop ring (4) The drive shaft gaiter (5) Refit: The drive shaft gaiter (5) (new) The stop ring (4) (new)	(4) Fit a clip (6) on the stop ring to facilitate force-fitting of the housing (3).
	(5) Refit the housing (3) to the shaft; Using the tools [0316-A], [4083-T / 0410-A]. Remove the collar (6). Fill the gaiter with all the grease available in the repair kit. Refit the gaiter (5) on the housing (3). CAUTION: Pay attention to the location of the gaiter on the shaft: gaiter lip in the groove "a" or on the mark made when removing. Refit and tighten the clips (1) and (2).

GKN Driveshaft

N.B.: The driveshaft bowl on the wheel side cannot be removed; The replacing of a wheel-end driveshaft gaiter necessitates the removal of the gearbox-end gaiter.

(1) Remove: The drive shaft gaiter (on the gearbox side) The clips (7), (8) The drive shaft gaiter (9) Refit the driveshaft gaiter (9) on the driveshaft. Fill the gaiter with all the grease available in the repair kit. Refit: The collars (7) and (8) The drive shaft gaiter (on the gearbox side)

Replacement: Gearbox End Gaiter

CAUTION: Always replace the clips and circlips that have been removed.

GKN and NTN Driveshafts

(1) Remove the clips (10), (13). Move aside the driveshaft gaiter (11). Remove vertically the spider ecu(12). Remove as much grease as possible from inside the gaiter.	(2) Remove the excess grease from the gaiter and on the tripod. Remove circlip (14)
	(3) Remove the tripod (15); Using a hammer and a pin punch. Remove the driveshaft gaiter (11). Refit the driveshaft gaiter (11) on the driveshaft (new). Refit: The tripod (15) The circlip (14) Fill the gaiter with all the grease available in the repair kit. Refit: The tripod housing (12) The collars (10) and (13)

PSA Driveshaft

N.B.: At the gearbox end, as the spider cannot be removed, replacement of the gaiter is only possible following removal of the seal at the wheel end.

(1) Remove: The drive shaft gaiter (road wheel side) The clips (10), (13) The tripod housing (12) The drive shaft gaiter (11) Take as much grease as possible off the driveshaft seal; Do not use solvents. Fit the new gaiter (11) on the drive shaft. Spread the grease between the gaiter and the tripod. Refit: The tripod housing (12) The clips (10), (13) The drive shaft gaiter (road wheel side)

Clips

Position the driveshaft gaiter (18) (Observe the marks made during the dismantling operation). Refit the new clips (16) and (17) ; Using the special tool (According to the clips): CLIC clips; Using tool [0409] OETIKER clips; Using tool [0412]	Tighten the wing clips; Using the tools [0413] or [0409].
Tighten the clips : Until there is contact "A" = 0 mm.	After tightening: Check the space "B" = 0,5 to 1 mm. Refit the drive shafts.

[Schavlik]

Thank you for these informative pictures, you've been of tremendous help. We tried joint puller but sadly, it did not work which seems to suggest that it is in fact a GKN shaft. The headache continues as the next step is to buy stretchy gaiters and put them on from the outer shaft side.

I'm not sure how good of an idea that is but I guess we'll see

[sparksie]

I've seen that tip for using a hose clip as a sort of ring compressor, to hold the c-clip in the groove while refitting the joint, but I can never find one that's correctly shaped, as in the pictures. Mine always have a big lump to hold the worm screw and won't be pushed along the shaft squarely, like the nice parallel sided one in the pic. I've always managed to get them in without it, with a bit of coaxing. Brute force is not the answer and will invariably damage, maybe even destroy, the c-clip.
In answer to Homer's question, I can't recall when the one-piece drives were in common use, but I would have been not long out of school and the cars we found them on would have been out of warranty, in the second half of the 1980s, so I suspect they may have been manufactured in the early 1980's, or late 1970s. Pretty sure they were French, though could be wrong.
They were an absolute pig to change boots on, using the plastic cone to stretch the boot and the task was left to me, with my expendable novice hands. Unlike modern, symmetric shafts, the off side one was longer and had a fat, hollow section which precluded fitting the outer boot over the slightly smaller inner joint. This problem no longer exists, as nowadays the cvs are equidistant from the wheels and the shafts are narrow, solid and, mostly parallel sided affairs.
Schavlik, if I were you, I would be dismantling the inner end and sliding the boot along the shaft. Now that I've seen the pictures and know exactly what I'm talking about, I can tell you it really is not difficult. If your existing inner boots are still in GOOD condition, then with care you can reuse them. All that stands in your way is a single, male circlip, which you can easily undo with incorrect tools, if you don't have a circlip pliers.
I'm a little surprised they show a hammer and punch being used to remove the tripod. I cannot recall ever having to do that, but maybe tolerances are tight enough nowadays to make this necessary. In my experience I was always able to slide them off the splines by hand, with the occasional fiddle to get over the circlip groove. I'd definitely much rather do that than try to get a stretchy boot on without the pneumatic stretcher!
having said that, it CAN be done with a cone made from plastic bottles, if you're determined enough

[Gibbo2286]

I think there's a strechy one and the cone to fit it here in my shed, I had a pair delivered and only used one, trouble is I can't remember what car it was for.

[Homer]

In answer to Homer's question, I can't recall when the one-piece drives were in common use, but I would have been not long out of school and the cars we found them on would have been out of warranty, in the second half of the 1980s, so I suspect they may have been manufactured in the early 1980's, or late 1970s. Pretty sure they were French, though could be wrong.

The only other I can recall doing was a Fiat 128 which if I remember had a circlip similar to the one pictured holding the tripode in place and was a pig to find buried in the grease. That will have been a 1977 or 78 model.

Never did them on the GS and the only earlier cars I worked on were RWD with beam axles. Did help replace the driveshaft on my dad's Volvo 144 when the universal joint broke though.

Our X7 spent most of it's time having the steering rack removed and replaced so I didn't do much work on that myself.

[GiveMeABreak]

Our X7 spent most of it's time having the steering rack removed and replaced so I didn't do much work on that myself.

Now where've I heard that before!

[sparksie]

Ah, yes. Fond memories of those!
Low pressure gearbox, with 20/50 oil retained by the inner boot.
Yes, the circlip on those outer joints was very difficult to find in the black molybdenum grease and if memory serves, was not compatible with conventional circlip pliers, once you had found it.
The inner end was a tripod, very similar to the modern ones, but running directly in the diff, immersed in the transmission oil. Any damage to the inner boot meant losing all the oil from the gearbox, but the tripods were easily removed because of the thin lube keeping everything clean.
There was no carrier bearing either, with Fiat using unequal length shafts and not worrying about torque steer, which was easy to provoke with those feisty little 1100cc ohc motors.