Has anyone ever had a constant Velocity joint fail while driving?

Has anyone ever had a Constant Velocity Joint seize up etc while they have been driving?? I have never heard of it happening!! I know they usually make a noise before that happens ...
I have just dismantled and cleaned 4 CV Joints from My Beetle... 2 had a small bit of pitting which I don't like and won't use... I found another two which were OK. the Four I used , just had the normal wear marks in them...
One CVJ had larger than normal ball bearings in it... are these from a type 3 or type 4??
Anyway I have one axle together with new "LOBRO" german boots .... It must be one of the worst jobs to do with a VW, or front wheel drive car.. especially when You use the Moly Lithium based [extreme pressure] blackish grey sticky grease.... I do wear disposible gloves and use a roll of paper towel & a heap of gloves.. I just hope I never have to touch them again...

For 1st time assemblers... there are a lot of tricks needed to do them, like the new Boots don't fit over the axles... as they are very small in comparison with the axle size... and the CV joints are a trick in themselves... they have to be assembled One Way... but there are two incorrect ways You can do them.... Its probably easier if You can mark them in some way before disassembly & cleaning.. How You can mark them I don't know.. as the Kerosene I use to clean out the old grease, usually will take any marking pen etc marks off. When You are regreasing the clean and assembled CV Joint, if You are not careful, just as You finish jamming it full of the nice lithium grease, it can come apart or the balls can fall out... as I said, one of the worst jobs on a VW or front wheel drive car.... and the grease will not come out of Your clothes... or Your CV joints...🙂🙂

Lee Noonan



[Edited on 3-4-2004 by 68AutoBug]

you get a emty silicon tube ,clean it all up ,fill it with the grease ( what ever you wish to use ) , you can get the nossel under the boot and give it heaps .

We do this on our race car , and dont get dirty !:alien

Hi

Ive had one fail and made a noise for a long time before it broke.

1302Steve

1302Steve wrote:Hi

Ive had one fail and made a noise for a long time before it broke.

1302Steve

yep had them go on my Kombi and also on the bug. messy job at the side of the road. fish

They usually fail just as you leave the start line on thge Drag strip.

I haven't had one fail but I've seen the result of using the wrong grease. I took mine apart soon after getting my kombi and the grease poured out of several of the joints like custard! Fortunately the joints were not damaged. Ah, I remember the day well, 40 degrees in the shade, much more in the garage, covered in grease!

If you want a good guide as to how to get your CVs in and out and everything in between, check out the article in the library on
http://www.type2.com

yep, cv greasing is a nasty one !

That's one of the unpleasant jobs I'd rather pay a mechanic to do.

Its a wonder someone hasn't made a special tool to grease the cv Joints. Although luckily You shouldn't have to do many in Your lifetime..
Actually all You would need is a metal Cap , that bolts to the end of the CV joint once its on the axle, then pump grease thu a nipple on the cap, so that all the grease goes thru the CV joint into the rubber boot... job done... as all the problems I have, happen after everything is covered in black lithium grease... its nearly impossible to tell whether the ciclip is in the axle groove or not... it would be much easier with 3 hands too.... then You would have 3 greasy hands...
plus everything else the grease has attached to... legs..etc

Lee