Torn inner CV boot - repair procedure

carnut222

Just doing an oil change on the C30 (M66) today and noticed a bit of grease around the axle, and closer look revealed a tear in the RH side inner CV joint boot. Anyone had personal experience replacing the boot on an M66 C30? Saw a few threads on other forums. Looks fairly straightforward but any hints would be appreciated.

Ex850R

@Rob Will be yet man,maybe on fbook

timbo

The drivers side driveshaft is easy to remove but the passenger side can be tricky. There's not much access to get a prybar in to pop the driveshaft out of the gearbox.
You will also need to file down the burrs before you can seperate the inner c.v from its housing.

carnut222

timbo;c-161998 wroteThe drivers side driveshaft is easy to remove but the passenger side can be tricky. There's not much access to get a prybar in to pop the driveshaft out of the gearbox.
You will also need to file down the burrs before you can seperate the inner c.v from its housing.

So the driver’s side has the long axle extension...in the parts book pics it looked like it has a snap ring on the inner end at transmission? Am I correct in stating that the whole axle extension and support bearing has to be removed? There’s no way you can just pull the stub axle out of the CV joint housing after releasing the boot clamp, then reinstall the same way? I’ll have to see if I can get my VADIS to work on the PC again.

timbo

The inner c.v race is burred over once driveshaft is assembled, you can either try and yank it/bash it out and then clean up the burrs with a file or try to file them down on the car.
Once your at that point though it's only 2x10mm bolts on the support bearing to remove the whole driveshaft and clean it up and reassemble off the car.

carnut222

Looking at parts pricing online, the whole RH side axle genuine 36000555 is over $500USD including core charge, and a genuine boot kit 31256018 including boots, clamps, grease, circlips and axle bolt is around $100USD. The car has 134000 km and has been fairly gently driven with no axle noises, so I’m tempted to go for the boot kit. However, aftermarket axles such as a GKN one from FCP are around $300USD or less. Haven’t checked local prices yet. I may hit up @iceton1975 for USA pricing locally as promised! ;)

timbo

Do not waste your time with aftermarket axles heaps of people have had vibration issues.
Sandwood keep the c.v boot kits in stock cheaper than USA . I guarantee you just replace the boots and you wont have any issues.

carnut222

timbo;c-162040 wroteDo not waste your time with aftermarket axles heaps of people have had vibration issues.
Sandwood keep the c.v boot kits in stock cheaper than USA . I guarantee you just replace the boots and you wont have any issues.

Thanks for the feedback @timbo

With respect to the boot kits at Sandwood Trading - are they decent quality? Also, I see the Volvo kit comes with the snap ring, spring ring and axle end bolt.

When you were talking about the inner race being burred over, were you referring to the splined end of the shaft where the trilobular bearing spider is pushed onto the end of the shaft? I saw a video somewhere of a guy using a puller to get that bit off the shaft so I’m guessing that’s what you’re referring to?

Now while I’m at it I probably ought to put in new lower control arm bushes, strut inserts, etc., etc. ;)

timbo

Sand wood ones are excellent quality have the bolts clips grease and everything included oem kit.
Bearing spider is held on with a circlip and only needs a decent tap with hammer/punch to remove.
The outer ends of the race that those tripod bearings run on, is burred over, unlike other cars eg:subaru that are held in with a large clip ring or are simply removable like 850s/p80.

carnut222

timbo;c-162044 wroteSand wood ones are excellent quality have the bolts clips grease and everything included oem kit.
Bearing spider is held on with a circlip and only needs a decent tap with hammer/punch to remove.
The outer ends of the race that those tripod bearings run on, is burred over, unlike other cars eg:subaru that are held in with a large clip ring or are simply removable like 850s/p80.

OK, I got you now. I wasn’t sure I’d be pulling the rollers off the tripods as the needle bearings go everywhere, but it depends on what it looks like once I open it up. I don’t think it’s been torn for long and not much grease has come out, so maybe not dirty inside. I guess pulling it apart fully is the only way to guarantee no contamination. Thanks for feedback! :)

timbo

You dont have to worry about loosing the needle rollers or the rzeppa falling apart they are a very simple design with roller bearings just fragile in high power applications.

carnut222

Had to do an FCP order for some 240 bits so just ordered the inner boot kit (genuine) as it saves me a trip to Melbourne.

carnut222

Got the RH axle shaft out after watching a few helpful YouTube videos. Not too hard but my ball joint separator didn’t have quite enough span to fit the lower ball joint. Only way around that (other than buying a new tool) was to remove the front lower control arm bush to allow the LCA to move a bit to get the axle out of the hub. Now just going to clean things up, pop the new boot and grease and reinstall in the reverse order...famous last words! The inner boot tear isn’t too bad so I’m assuming the joint will look OK. No time to pop it apart right now. Job for later today or tomorrow. Coffee takes precedence! :)

carnut222

Got the old boot and clamps off, de-burred the housing and pulled the joint out. Had a bit of difficulty getting the tripod off the shaft as my puller kept slipping off due to minimal flat surface on the casting of the tripod. Cleaned up, installed clamps and boot and tripod back on (used a socket and hammer to tap it on gently)...greased up and installed large clamp, but need the special pliers to crimp the small clamp ($12.50 on evilbay)...probably could save the $$ and rig something up but nice to have the right thing...just means car off the road until pliers arrive. Not a terribly difficult job but a bit messy with all the old grease. I decided to play it safe and mark everything with yellow paint as I wasn’t sure whether the unit is balanced and/or whether the tripod would go onto the spline only one way.

carnut222

Oh, and now assuming since a bit of (M66 - manual) trans oil dripped out, I probably ought to check the level and just drain and re-fill it, but what oil to use? Haven’t checked the manual yet as it’s out in the shed, but I think it’s 75W-80 synthetic MTF. Probably not something I can get at SuperCrap auto LOL! You’d think the Ford Focus with same trans would be same, but it looks like it might be 75W-90? More pondering!

Philia_Bear

GL4 full syn 75w80-90

carnut222

Philia_Bear
GL4 full syn 75w80-90

Is GL5 OK? Such as Castrol Manual Syntrax 75W-90?

Philia_Bear

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/penrite-penrite-pro-gear-oil---75w-90-2.5-litre/342314.html

Philia_Bear

Some GL5 spec oils will eat the yellow metal in the M66, there are some that are safe

Easier to just use a super high quality GL4 oil and not have to worry about it

carnut222

OK, looks like the Castrol one would be Syntrans 75W-85 GL4...not the Syntrax. Just looking on the SuperCrap website to see if they have anything available.