This job can be fairly costly at some garages, its a common MOT Fail [or advice note to replace] but is perfectly do-able for any competant diy-er who has access to the tools required.
Items needed
CV Boot Kit [circa £4.50 off ebay]
New driveshaft nut
jack and axle stands
socket for driveshaft nut 32mm
19mm spanner / sockets
17mm spanner / sockets
breaker bar / long bar
Torque Wrench
Hammer
Pliers/Mole grips
Circlip pliers if available
cv boot clip for inner shaft [if done the same way as this]
Bench vice if available
plenty of rags
Time: allow 3 hours, but depending on your level of ability, perhaps half that time or less.
I had my front wheels off to fit new tyres, and noticed some grease splattered up the inner arch and on the back of the wheel, the cv boot had split just due to age I suppose, so thought I had better sort it soonish as the joint can incur lots of damage if dirt is allowed to get in, not to mention a possible MOT Fail when that time comes around.
Here I am going to be working on the drivers side drive shaft, looking from underneath its the long one.
The failed boot
NOW, A QUICK NOTE, AS THINGS DIDNT GO TO PLAN
I had a guide all written a few days before doing the job, however on the day I could not get the hub nut undone, no amount of leverage with a strong arm and a piece of scaffold tube would shift it, the job needed doing however and I found a fairly easy workaround which means the outer cv joint can stay attached to the hub
My original guide will follow at the end of this article, just in written form for reference if you manage to undo the hub nut.
Non removal of hub nut method
1. Jack up and remove the road wheel
2. undo the nut securing the steering rack [track rod end] to the hub carrier
3. Undo the two bolts holding the suspension strut, I undid the strut at the top and took it off the car for better access
4. undo the brake caliper, either at its mountings or via the pin that would be removed for pad change
5. Undo bottom ball joint nut, the hub carrier and shaft will now be loose
6. Go under the car and undo/cut the clip off the inner cv boot large end
7. Pull entire hub carrier with shaft off car and take to bench
8. undo the clips and cut away the old parts of the split boot
9. Clean away some of the grease to reveal a small circlip at the end of the splined shaft
10. pop the circlip and the shaft will come free of the outer joint
11. clean up as much of the old grease now and make sure no dirt gets in, you can check the smoothness of the bearings by inserting a small bar into where the splined shaft came from, and wiggle it around a bit
12. Put some of the new grease supplied with boot over the outer cv joint bearings
13. slide the small end of the boot over the splined shaft, push it on quite far so you have room to work / and see the end of the shaft
14. Put the rest of the grease into the cv boot
15. slide the shaft into the outer joint, it will click in place - it may need a tap
16. pull the boot back and slide the large end over the large part of the cv joint
17. Attach the clips, wrap round and pull one end with some pliers, you will see how they work they are quite simple, there is part on the clip that needs squeezing with some pliers [I used small mole grips] to allow the clip to tighten
18. Now fit back to the car in the same way that it was removed
19. Put a new clip on the inner cv joint boot
20. All done
Traditional Way if hub nut comes off
1, Possibly the toughest job here is to undo the hub/drivehaft nut located directly in the centre of the hub face, you will need to initially remove the wheel to access it as it has to have the "staking" knocked out to allow the nut to turn, once you have knocked this out refit the wheel, two bolts will suffice and lower back to the ground for safety.
2, Handbrake on, car in first gear / or somebody to press the brake hard, use the correct sized socket on the nut - 30mm, with a breaker bar or other long bar to gain maximum leverage, undo the nut so that its loose, but leave in place for now.
3, Jack up the car and place on axle stands and remove the wheel again, be sure to see that there is enough clearance underneath to access the INNER CV Boot, snip off its clip that holds the boot to the larger gearbox end of the cv joint, perhaps pull the boot backwards off the joint.
4, Remove the nut that you just slackened from the end of the driveshaft in the hub.
5, Undo both bolts that attach the suspension strut to the hub carrier, 19mm heads, the hub will now come away loose
6, Tap the end of the driveshaft to ease it backwards through the hub
7, Recover the shaft and pull it from the inner CV joint, please note that the gearbox end of the shaft will be full of grease, perhaps wrap a plastic bag round that end for now to stop dirt ingress.
8, Take to a bench vice and hold the shaft in it tightly
9, Remove the old CV boot clips, remove the old boot parts then clean as much grease away from the joint as you can.
10, Remove the circlip from the end of the small shaft, and pull the outer CV joint away from the inner shaft
11, Slide the small end of the new boot over the small shaft, then use the grease included in the kit to cover the CV joint bearings etc
12, Push the small shaft back into the cv joint, and refit the circlip, make sure the grease is evenly distributed then pull the large part of the boot over the joint
13, Fit the new boot clips tightly
14, Take back to the car, remove plastic bag from gearbox end and push it back into the inner cv joint, push the outer shaft into the hub, careful if you have to tap it home that you dont split the new boot, refit the washer and large nut [new one required, but I reused my old one here]
15, Assemble the hub carrier back onto the strut and refit the bolts and tighten
16, Refit wheel and lower back to the ground, tighten the hub nut to 240nm using a torque wrench
17, Jack up again and remove wheel, tap in the staking on the hub nut to ensure it stays put
18, Make sure that everything you have touched is correct, refit the wheel, lower the jack and go for a short drive to make sure everything is right.
19, At this point its more or less job done, but the guide would probably look better if it was rounded up to 20 steps, so have a cup of tea now, and give everything a wipe.
20, JOB DONE
Items needed
CV Boot Kit [circa £4.50 off ebay]
New driveshaft nut
jack and axle stands
socket for driveshaft nut 32mm
19mm spanner / sockets
17mm spanner / sockets
breaker bar / long bar
Torque Wrench
Hammer
Pliers/Mole grips
Circlip pliers if available
cv boot clip for inner shaft [if done the same way as this]
Bench vice if available
plenty of rags
Time: allow 3 hours, but depending on your level of ability, perhaps half that time or less.
I had my front wheels off to fit new tyres, and noticed some grease splattered up the inner arch and on the back of the wheel, the cv boot had split just due to age I suppose, so thought I had better sort it soonish as the joint can incur lots of damage if dirt is allowed to get in, not to mention a possible MOT Fail when that time comes around.
Here I am going to be working on the drivers side drive shaft, looking from underneath its the long one.
The failed boot
NOW, A QUICK NOTE, AS THINGS DIDNT GO TO PLAN
I had a guide all written a few days before doing the job, however on the day I could not get the hub nut undone, no amount of leverage with a strong arm and a piece of scaffold tube would shift it, the job needed doing however and I found a fairly easy workaround which means the outer cv joint can stay attached to the hub
My original guide will follow at the end of this article, just in written form for reference if you manage to undo the hub nut.
Non removal of hub nut method
1. Jack up and remove the road wheel
2. undo the nut securing the steering rack [track rod end] to the hub carrier
3. Undo the two bolts holding the suspension strut, I undid the strut at the top and took it off the car for better access
4. undo the brake caliper, either at its mountings or via the pin that would be removed for pad change
5. Undo bottom ball joint nut, the hub carrier and shaft will now be loose
6. Go under the car and undo/cut the clip off the inner cv boot large end
7. Pull entire hub carrier with shaft off car and take to bench
8. undo the clips and cut away the old parts of the split boot
9. Clean away some of the grease to reveal a small circlip at the end of the splined shaft
10. pop the circlip and the shaft will come free of the outer joint
11. clean up as much of the old grease now and make sure no dirt gets in, you can check the smoothness of the bearings by inserting a small bar into where the splined shaft came from, and wiggle it around a bit
12. Put some of the new grease supplied with boot over the outer cv joint bearings
13. slide the small end of the boot over the splined shaft, push it on quite far so you have room to work / and see the end of the shaft
14. Put the rest of the grease into the cv boot
15. slide the shaft into the outer joint, it will click in place - it may need a tap
16. pull the boot back and slide the large end over the large part of the cv joint
17. Attach the clips, wrap round and pull one end with some pliers, you will see how they work they are quite simple, there is part on the clip that needs squeezing with some pliers [I used small mole grips] to allow the clip to tighten
18. Now fit back to the car in the same way that it was removed
19. Put a new clip on the inner cv joint boot
20. All done
Traditional Way if hub nut comes off
1, Possibly the toughest job here is to undo the hub/drivehaft nut located directly in the centre of the hub face, you will need to initially remove the wheel to access it as it has to have the "staking" knocked out to allow the nut to turn, once you have knocked this out refit the wheel, two bolts will suffice and lower back to the ground for safety.
2, Handbrake on, car in first gear / or somebody to press the brake hard, use the correct sized socket on the nut - 30mm, with a breaker bar or other long bar to gain maximum leverage, undo the nut so that its loose, but leave in place for now.
3, Jack up the car and place on axle stands and remove the wheel again, be sure to see that there is enough clearance underneath to access the INNER CV Boot, snip off its clip that holds the boot to the larger gearbox end of the cv joint, perhaps pull the boot backwards off the joint.
4, Remove the nut that you just slackened from the end of the driveshaft in the hub.
5, Undo both bolts that attach the suspension strut to the hub carrier, 19mm heads, the hub will now come away loose
6, Tap the end of the driveshaft to ease it backwards through the hub
7, Recover the shaft and pull it from the inner CV joint, please note that the gearbox end of the shaft will be full of grease, perhaps wrap a plastic bag round that end for now to stop dirt ingress.
8, Take to a bench vice and hold the shaft in it tightly
9, Remove the old CV boot clips, remove the old boot parts then clean as much grease away from the joint as you can.
10, Remove the circlip from the end of the small shaft, and pull the outer CV joint away from the inner shaft
11, Slide the small end of the new boot over the small shaft, then use the grease included in the kit to cover the CV joint bearings etc
12, Push the small shaft back into the cv joint, and refit the circlip, make sure the grease is evenly distributed then pull the large part of the boot over the joint
13, Fit the new boot clips tightly
14, Take back to the car, remove plastic bag from gearbox end and push it back into the inner cv joint, push the outer shaft into the hub, careful if you have to tap it home that you dont split the new boot, refit the washer and large nut [new one required, but I reused my old one here]
15, Assemble the hub carrier back onto the strut and refit the bolts and tighten
16, Refit wheel and lower back to the ground, tighten the hub nut to 240nm using a torque wrench
17, Jack up again and remove wheel, tap in the staking on the hub nut to ensure it stays put
18, Make sure that everything you have touched is correct, refit the wheel, lower the jack and go for a short drive to make sure everything is right.
19, At this point its more or less job done, but the guide would probably look better if it was rounded up to 20 steps, so have a cup of tea now, and give everything a wipe.
20, JOB DONE
