Inner CV Joint

[buck91]

2001 Olds Aurora. The passenger inner CV joint has puked a significant amount of grease, leakage appears to be from between the boot and the inner shaft end with no obvious breaks or tears and the band looks in place and intact. No noises, I do have a side to side shake during acceleration which varies considerably with speed and I have not ruled out tire balance for. Would you repack the existing joint and place a new boot band on it (OEM unit with 150k miles) or replace with a reman half shaft?

 

[bluestream]

Reman, if your going to keep the car

 

[hansj3]

Get a reman or a used unit from a good salvage yard (one around me has a lifetime warranty on used parts) and roll on.

If you even suspect the CV is causing an acceleration shake (as is usually the case) don't waste the time pulling it to repack. Just pull and replace

 

[bbhero]

+1 all the way in my opinion. I paid for a pull and repack.. Less than a month later. Had to pay for a whole new axle anyway. Lesson learned there the expensive way

 

[Joel_MD]

Personally I would repack it myself. I recently tried repacking CV joints myself and found it's pretty easy. It took me a while to figure out how to remove the joints from the axle. There are a few YouTube videos that show how it's done. Also there is a special pliers you can buy to help you crimp the clamps. I can take apart an outer CV joint, clean, repack, and reboot on the axle in about 45 minutes. The inner joints are simpler and faster to do.

 

[Oro_O]

I'm with Joel. I'd re-pack it if it is not clicking on turning, indicating worn splines.

I did this just last month. It's not hard to slip apart a joint, clean it and repack it. Auto parts stores have moly grease in $2 packs. Napa sells the proper clamping devices for $1.xx each. You can crimp them with dikes and no need for a special tool. You can also very effectively seal boots with sturdy zip ties and the proper technique of tightening them (pliers + screwdriver to hold it). Works really well.

The main issue is that many replacement axles simply aren't OE strength, diameter, and steel. Might be, might not. I don't like risking replacing something with inferior materials when I can rebuild/repack it myself for about $5.

This was my Acura SLX axle just last month:

 

[Joel_MD]

Originally Posted By: Or
The main issue is that many replacement axles simply aren't OE strength, diameter, and steel. Might be, might not. I don't like risking replacing something with inferior materials when I can rebuild/repack it myself for about $5.

This is an important point. One of my Saab aficionado buddies put rebuilt axles on his 9-5 and one of them failed after a few k miles. Took a look at the outer joint and it was clearly inferior to the Saab OEM joint that costs $275.