hey
what grease does everyone use for there CV's?
cheers
rhys

hi rhys
reading my old kombi manual it says to use Lithium grease with molybdenum disulphide? not sure what they use these days
marcel

Rhys use Molybond, get a 500 gram tin and use about a 1/4 in each joint

Castrol LMM is a lithium/moly grease which is suitable for the CV bearings. Comes in 500gm and larger packs. A 500gm pack is just a little more than you need for 4 CVs (about 90gm needed for each CV). It's the messiest job on a VW, but well worth the effort - new CV joints are about $120-150 each!

Not to be confused with Castrol LM grease - this is straight Lithium wheel bearing grease (just fine for front wheel bearings, front torsion bars, and also the right stuff for the rear wheel bearings on CV equiped VWs.

Just a point of interest re the large flanges which hold the inner CVs to the gearbox. Not having had an IRS beetle before this one - I was very puzzled to find gear oil contaminating the inner left CV joint, but examining the flange did not reveal the leak, until I delved further and found that a PO had dug out the plastic seal in the centre of the flange (you have to damage it to remove it), then replaced the damaged seal and smothered it in grey mastic, which made it virtually invisible until I poked it with a screw driver, at which point the mastic fell out! Hence the oil leak from the gearbox. So check the oil grease in the CVs...if the grease in the inner CVs looks oily then replace the flange seal!

Don't forget to use the correct 12point 8mm Spline Drive to remove/replace the CV bolts.

DON'T try to use a 6mm allen key unless you have the rare bolts with allen key heads! The 6mm allen key will fit into the 8mm spline-heads, but you risk burring the points and you can NOT torque them up to spec (25ftlbs) with an allen key. Most VW shops will have the spline drive - it usually comes attached to a 1/2 socket so you can use your torque wrench on it.

Specialty tool shops (and maybe big hardware stores) will have it - I got mine from "The Toolman" in Adelaide.

Always interesting reading, Rob.

Whenever I see "aussiebug" I know I'm guna learn something, without fail.

beetle cv bolts are the 12 spline kombi cv's just use 6 mm? allen key
I got my 12 spline from repco a few years ago and most tool shops ought to have them or be able to get them if the bolts are really cruddy give the a clean first and tap in the the tool
marcel

I saw an article in a magazine for a tool to graese up your cv's they used a beetle oil pump cover and used 3 bolts to bolt the cover to the cv then ity had a graese nipple in the middle then just pump in the grease not as messy maybe
marcel

Marcel

I think Rhys really needs to get his hands dirty... theres nuthing like that black grease under your fingernails.

thats a good idea... i will have to get a special grease gun and fill it with molybond

still like my fingers in the black stuff.:puke

Marcel said:
>I saw an article in a magazine for a tool to graese up your cv's they used a beetle oil pump cover and used 3 bolts to bolt the cover to the cv then ity had a graese nipple in the middle then just pump in the grease.

Very interesting - it sure would save a lot of greasy hands and rags.

But then it's a job you do only once in maybe 4-5 years (unless you have a high mileage bug), and it's a great feeling after you've cleaned up and the CVs are full of fresh grease - "I did that" just can't be beat when it comes to keeping your VW alive.

Still, for those who like making tools, it would be easy to do - like the "use once in 5 years" tool I made to remove the gearbox plugs - just a 12inch piece of flat steel with a 17mm bolt head welded to one end - the bolt head forms a large allen key to fit the plugs. It fits up between the gearbox and yoke to reach the filler plug - VERY easy to use.

Marcel, are you saying the Kombi's have the allen key CV bolts???

That would make sense - I've only "heard" about the allen key variety and I did see an article about CVs in the http://www.type2.com  web site which talked about the allen key bolts - which was about a type2 of course. I haven't owned a type2 so no experience there.

Aussiebug's advice lines up with that of experienced VW mechanics, there are other brands of similar grease, but they're hard to find and there's no reason to believe they're any better - and you'll find the Castrol LMM at K-mart and most hardware stores.

We have a tube of the Valvoline equivalent on the shelf at work and it has leaked an oily depoisit + I've recently noticed some examples of it drying out - the bearings in this case run at around 200-250C. Just thought I'd add this note - has anyone else tried this brand?

[Edited on 23-11-2002 by 70AutoStik]