Would bad CV ball joint means replace axle?

[dasapir]

That what I was planning on doing if I could not come up with anything else.

Thank you CN for your quick reply.

[eEuroparts]

Hello Dasapir,

We carry EMPI axles and they are actually new, not rebuilds. We were skeptical a few years back with the price point being relatively low but after going through every rebuilder on the east coast with silly defect percentages we figured we would give them a try. Can't tell you how glad I am that we did. They are made in China. They are not rebuildable with original parts but they are great quality and so reasonably priced I can't imagine wasting time rebuilding them anyway. You should check your front wheel bearings and all the strut components while you are there as well. We can offer you OE components to rebuild the original shafts if you wish but I can recommend the EMPI units without hesitation. Please feel free to contact our customer service dept if you need help. 800-467-9769. My extension is 303.

Dean Bergeron
Customer Service
eEuroparts.com

[cn90]

...Dean Bergeron
Customer Service
eEuroparts.com

Hi Dean,

I buy stuff from eeuroparts all the time.

Question for you:
- I see different vendors selling GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for VW, Audi, SAAB etc. but not Volvo.
If I want to get GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for Volvo, I have to get from Europe.
- Is it possible for you to carry GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for Volvo by importing them from Europe?
This will help the USA Volvo community alot!

Their catalogue is below:
http://www.gkn.com/landsystems/brands/g ... LOEBRO.pdf

My 1998 V70 Automatic OUTER CV would be GKN Lobro PN 302148.

[xHeart]

...Dean Bergeron
Customer Service
eEuroparts.com

Hi Dean,

I buy stuff from eeuroparts all the time.

Question for you:
- I see different vendors selling GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for VW, Audi, SAAB etc. but not Volvo.
If I want to get GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for Volvo, I have to get from Europe.
- Is it possible for you to carry GKN Lobro CV Joint Kit for Volvo by importing them from Europe?
This will help the USA Volvo community alot!

Their catalogue is below:
http://www.gkn.com/landsystems/brands/g ... LOEBRO.pdf

My 1998 V70 Automatic OUTER CV would be GKN Lobro PN 302148.

Do we call customer service and place our order for GKN? I need same GKN PN 302148 one for each axle.

[xHeart]

* To check for bearing noise:
- Chock rear wheels (Apply Parking Brake).
- Put car in neutral.
- Jack Left Front tire up (do not remove it)

- Now spin the wheel: does it make any noise?

----------
- Also, you can check the CV Joint with the axle still installed.
- Now lower the car and drive it up some ramps. The front wheel is on the ground, so the OUTER part of the CV Joint is fixed with the splines in the wheel bearing hub (not moving).
- Wear gloves and rotate the Axle's SHAFT itself. Rotate it back and forth. There should be no movement at all.
If there is, then the CV Joint is bad.

For CV Joint test, I left the car in neutral, the axle did not rotate. However, it slides a tiny bit side to side - inner to outer.
I will try the bearing again in the morning.

[xHeart]

* To check for bearing noise:
- Chock rear wheels (Apply Parking Brake).
- Put car in neutral.
- Jack Left Front tire up (do not remove it)

- Now spin the wheel: does it make any noise?

----------
- Also, you can check the CV Joint with the axle still installed.
- Now lower the car and drive it up some ramps. The front wheel is on the ground, so the OUTER part of the CV Joint is fixed with the splines in the wheel bearing hub (not moving).
- Wear gloves and rotate the Axle's SHAFT itself. Rotate it back and forth. There should be no movement at all.
If there is, then the CV Joint is bad.

For CV Joint test, I left the car in neutral, the axle did not rotate. However, it slides a tiny bit side to side - inner to outer.
I will try the bearing again in the morning.

I took Saturday afternoon to go over the two test as instructed in cn90's post above with bit more attention.

For bearing, there is a chirping on driver's side during forward and reverse rotations, a sound more like when back paddling a bicycle. Discern and audible when comparing it with passenger side. Both sides require a bit of force to rotate, not a free rotation.

For CV Joint, there was no movement at all on either side.

However...

[xHeart]

... the passenger side INNER cv boot was patched mid-August with bicycle tube repair kit to prevent loss of grease. I refilled it yesterday with 90grams of grease and re-patched, some overflowed. There is also crack appearing on driver's side OUTER cv boot at the folds, it would tear-open without warning.

Wait, there is a photo...

cracking of driver's side OUTER cv boot...

MVS_0344.jpg (465.55 KiB) Viewed 1639 times

This assessment would eliminate CV Joint, but keeps Timken/SKF/FAG bearing, and GKN/Lobro CV boot Kit on my to-do list.
Any comment?

SIDEBAR:
Ozark Lee points to CarQuest for GKN/Lobro for the kit, Part #? I would look at cn90's write-up for pertinent info.
CarQuest also sells Reman axle Part #s 410937 and 410933 for $74 each with core exchange. Out of curiosity and attractive price, what is Reman (OEM, or short for re-manufactured)? Are Joints and Boots in Reman axle GKN/Lobro? A shorter way to Raxles' quality?

[cn90]

Your Outer CV Joint with minor crack may still be OK. You have to check to be sure.

- Virtually all reman Axles in the US were re-manufactured using "no-name" CV Joints from China.
These include axles from NAPA, O'Reilly, Autozone, Advance Autoparts,EMPI etc.
Some people have no problems with these, some report cracked axles, some repaort vibration.
This is because making CV Joint correctly is very difficult: proper machinery, calibration, precision, balacning to avoid vibration.
This is why GKN-Lobro is the world leader when it comes to CV Joint.

- Raxles likely imported the CV Joints made by GKN-Lobro and installed it in the axles that people send in to be rebuilt.

xHeart, the "GKN Lobro Kit" you find on the web includes ONLY the Rubber Boot + Grease + Clamp. The CV Joint itself is not in that kit.

As I mentioned above, the COMPLETE Kit (Rubber Boot + Grease + Clamp + CV Joint itself) is only available in Europe.
This is what you want to get, again very difficult to find in the US:

VolvoCV.JPG (76.85 KiB) Viewed 1636 times

[xHeart]

What would you suggest for INNER CV Boot replacement. Your write up shows EMPI, with a note recommending GKN OUTER would fit fine over the INNER.

There are few friends in Europe who can help get these, I will find out more.

[cn90]

xHeart,

On the topic of "lifespan of a CV Joint". If the rubber boot is regularly checked and replaced as soon as you see minor cracks (major cracks will open any time and dirt/sand gets in very quickly), the CV Joint made by GKN Lobro easily lasts the life of the car 350K miles.

See this VW thread:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=338826


[quote=n1das]With "only" 361k miles on my 02 Golf TDI[/b when I sold it last year the CV joints and their original boots were still perfectly fine and it was still too early to tell how long they would last.[/quote].