07 S60 Right Front Axle advice

Post by **DonnVa** » 12 Apr 2021, 14:00

Hi all,

So I replaced my control arms on both sides. A bit of a pain for a one man crew w/ limited tools but I ended up with a system that worked for me. However, the first side I did was the passenger right side. I guess I man handled the knuckle a bit after unbolting the strut and put the CV joint in a position where it came apart at the mid point. I didn’t even know it until I went to install the new control arm and discovered the axle was about 3-4” too long.

I pressed pause on that side and went to the other. I ordered a used one w/ 135k on it that works great. I’ve got it all together no issues, drives great. Now I’m scratching my head at this CV shaft. It simply doesn’t just slide together, so it’s some weird bearing position combo that will solve it. How I lucked out and took it apart by accident, Murphy only knows.

Anyone out there have any experience with how to put this tripod style CV back together.

Thanks,
Donn

Post by **vtl** » 12 Apr 2021, 14:09

All P2s with exception of XC90 have inner tripods on both axles.

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 12 Apr 2021, 17:46

DonnVa wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 14:00 Hi all,

So I replaced my control arms on both sides. A bit of a pain for a one man crew w/ limited tools but I ended up with a system that worked for me. However, the first side I did was the passenger right side. I guess I man handled the knuckle a bit after unbolting the strut and put the CV joint in a position where it came apart at the mid point. I didn’t even know it until I went to install the new control arm and discovered the axle was about 3-4” too long. I pressed pause on that side and went to the other. I ordered a used one w/ 135k on it that works great. I’ve got it all together no issues, drives great. Now I’m scratching my head at this CV shaft. It simply doesn’t just slide together, so it’s some weird bearing position combo that will solve it. How I lucked out and took it apart by accident, Murphy only knows. Anyone out there have any experience with how to put this tripod style CV back together.

Thanks,
Donn

When I rebooted my axles the inner tri-pod cup was staked, which prevented the tri-pod from pulling out of the cup. I ground down the staked sections and others have just pounded it down to release the tri-pod. I'm wondering if you were able to pull the tri-pod out of the cup pass the staked metal and this is why you're now having a problem inserting them back in. Check the inside of the cup for staked metal, see photo. I think they do this just to keep the axle together during transport and assembly but it's not necessary to retain the tri-pods like this once the axle is installed.

Post by **MoVolvos** » 12 Apr 2021, 18:38

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It's in the geometry.

Part 1 of 2. This guy has the right idea but whatever you do, DO NOT pound, tap or grind to help with replacing the cage and bearings. Need to keep the surfaces from scratching and or debris from getting in.
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This is how it is suppose to smoothly go in.
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Post by **MoVolvos** » 12 Apr 2021, 18:46

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During strut installation the inner joint sometimes pop out. Just have to realign and pop it back in by aligning and shoving or with a dead blow and nut on axle. Some are easier than others.

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Post by **DonnVa** » 12 Apr 2021, 19:12

firstv70volvo wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 17:46
DonnVa wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 14:00 Hi all,

So I replaced my control arms on both sides. A bit of a pain for a one man crew w/ limited tools but I ended up with a system that worked for me. However, the first side I did was the passenger right side. I guess I man handled the knuckle a bit after unbolting the strut and put the CV joint in a position where it came apart at the mid point. I didn’t even know it until I went to install the new control arm and discovered the axle was about 3-4” too long. I pressed pause on that side and went to the other. I ordered a used one w/ 135k on it that works great. I’ve got it all together no issues, drives great. Now I’m scratching my head at this CV shaft. It simply doesn’t just slide together, so it’s some weird bearing position combo that will solve it. How I lucked out and took it apart by accident, Murphy only knows. Anyone out there have any experience with how to put this tripod style CV back together.

Thanks,
Donn
When I rebooted my axles the inner tri-pod cup was staked, which prevented the tri-pod from pulling out of the cup. I ground down the staked sections and others have just pounded it down to release the tri-pod. I'm wondering if you were able to pull the tri-pod out of the cup pass the staked metal and this is why you're now having a problem inserting them back in. Check the inside of the cup for staked metal, see photo. I think they do this just to keep the axle together during transport and assembly but it's not necessary to retain the tri-pods like this once the axle is installed.

Okay, I see it now. So where yours has a pretty defined lip, mine are flatter. Probably gave mine that little extra room when positioned at an angle to let one release and the others then had the room to follow.

Thanks everyone for the information. I’ll play with it some more now I know what was supposed to hold it together.

One more question. While researching this I read that I should use GKN Tripod grease on this joint and CV grease on the outside CV joint. When I look at the FCP boot kit, it shows three packages of grease that appear to have the same part number on the bags. It doesn’t look like two different kinds of grease. Picture error on their part or no need to use two different kinds of grease?

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 12 Apr 2021, 20:13

DonnVa wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 19:12 Okay, I see it now. So where yours has a pretty defined lip, mine are flatter. Probably gave mine that little extra room when positioned at an angle to let one release and the others then had the room to follow.

Thanks everyone for the information. I’ll play with it some more now I know what was supposed to hold it together.

One more question. While researching this I read that I should use GKN Tripod grease on this joint and CV grease on the outside CV joint. When I look at the FCP boot kit, it shows three packages of grease that appear to have the same part number on the bags. It doesn’t look like two different kinds of grease. Picture error on their part or no need to use two different kinds of grease?

You'll need to grind or pound down whatever lip you have remaining and you should be able to insert the tri-pod no problem. No need to re-stake.

For the grease on an inner tri-pod,which contains needle bearings, I've read that too much solid type extreme pressure additives like those with moly or grease that's thicker like nlgi grade 2 grease isn't the best grease for inner tri-pod joint, nlgi grade 1 is better, but the only failures I've seen with inner tri-pod joints is pitting in the cups so in my opinion you still need good extreme pressure qualities in a grease. I used Redline CV2 and I confirmed with them if their grease is good for both the outer and inner joints and they claim it is, I haven't had any problems with a couple of cars I've used it on. They said the type of moly (red) they use in their grease is not a problem with needle bearings.

Post by **vtl** » 12 Apr 2021, 20:25

Red Line CV2 destroyed both tripods in my V70 in matter of weeks, if not days (I did a lot of highway driving back then).

One of the replacement axles developed a grease leak through the weakened clamp after a few years of real abuse. I haven't payed attention to the problem for long enough to ensure a good portion of the grease escaping the joint. So couple of years later the joint got fully repacked, new Oetiker clamp installed. I used VW G052186A3 tripod grease. It is a bit thicker than the one used in Volvo/GKN axles, but year later the axle is still alive. And it turned out to be a relative PIA to find the right tripod grease for GKN.

The next time the axle fails, it would be replaced with XC90 axle.

Post by **firstv70volvo** » 12 Apr 2021, 21:16

vtl wrote: ↑12 Apr 2021, 20:25 Red Line CV2 destroyed both tripods in my V70 in matter of weeks, if not days (I did a lot of highway driving back then).

One of the replacement axles developed a grease leak through the weakened clamp after a few years of real abuse. I haven't payed attention to the problem for long enough to ensure a good portion of the grease escaping the joint. So couple of years later the joint got fully repacked, new Oetiker clamp installed. I used VW G052186A3 tripod grease. It is a bit thicker than the one used in Volvo/GKN axles, but year later the axle is still alive. And it turned out to be a relative PIA to find the right tripod grease for GKN.

The next time the axle fails, it would be replaced with XC90 axle.

I have a 150K combined miles using CV-2 grease in both inner and outer joints with no problems and this grease consistently gets the highest possible ratings from hundreds of other users. Hard to believe this grease or any decent quality grease could destroy both tripod joints in a matter or weeks. How did they fail?

Post by **vtl** » 12 Apr 2021, 21:36

Dry friction wear, axles started to shake hard upon acceleration.

Maybe CV-2 melts at your typical weather and becomes real thin, like a special tripod grease. Otherwise I have no explanation of why your tripod joints didn't fail quickly. Here in Boston it is clay thick in winter, not fluidity at all.