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cv joint servicing

thanks.. appreciate the words of moral support...keep me focused on getting this thing back on the road for the end of the month.

one thing that might be useful to others, is that I've tackled changing the starter motor, which of course is much easier when the drive shaft is off on the drivers side. mine has been doing the solenoid clunk for a while, so I'd rather not find out if it's going to fail on me one day. I decided to get a new Bosch unit from design911 because it was the same price as a refurb unit and a fifth of the price quoted by opc (also for a refurb unit).

the new unit is the same as fitted to 996 and later I believe. fits great and most significantly it is about 3cm shorter than the old one. for those of you who've done this job you'll know that this is a very significant size discrepancy, and it means you can much more easily get the top fastener on...I even managed to fit the washer and get my torque wrench on there. relatively speaking, it's a breeze with the extra space the shorter unit gives you. definitely a recommended swap if your needing to do it and not overly up-tight about keeping the old Bosch unit (which as far as I can see, does not have any Porsche markings on anyway).

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wilsonny said:
thanks.. appreciate the words of moral support...keep me focused on getting this thing back on the road for the end of the month.

one thing that might be useful to others, is that I've tackled changing the starter motor, which of course is much easier when the drive shaft is off on the drivers side. mine has been doing the solenoid clunk for a while, so I'd rather not find out if it's going to fail on me one day. I decided to get a new Bosch unit from design911 because it was the same price as a refurb unit and a fifth of the price quoted by opc (also for a refurb unit).

the new unit is the same as fitted to 996 and later I believe. fits great and most significantly it is about 3cm shorter than the old one. for those of you who've done this job you'll know that this is a very significant size discrepancy, and it means you can much more easily get the top fastener on...I even managed to fit the washer and get my torque wrench on there. relatively speaking, it's a breeze with the extra space the shorter unit gives you. definitely a recommended swap if your needing to do it and not overly up-tight about keeping the old Bosch unit (which as far as I can see, does not have any Porsche markings on anyway).

Zp2iPtzMmE6gXsVV6


Np3fZFfsbWZR8xwFA
Very useful information :thumbs:
 
So I got the car back on the road a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd give a little update on this thread regarding my experience of changing the cv boots.

Took a few pics of the process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jfebjL78L_5dVBkFceWM6GDIb-dwgbkd/view?usp=sharing

I mainly followed the guide linked earlier in this thread and of course had a few welcome tips from this forum. As a result, I can offer the following suggestions if anyone is thinking of tackling this job themselves:

* Getting the big axle nut off is easy with a 2m 3/4 inch breaker bar. Combine this bar with a digital torque meter (ebay about £70) and it is straight forward to get the torque you need when re-tightening.

* Doing the passenger side, is much easier than the drivers side, due to the absence of the oil return line. I'd recommend starting on that one first. When jacking up the suspension to get the clearance to remove (or re-insert) the drive shaft, you need to really go for it and compress the suspension fully in order to get the clearance to remove the shaft. I found that with my car on the lift, I jacked from the shock absorber lower mount until it was lifting the car and also pressed down on the rear arch to get another bit of compression. It really is critical to getting the clearance needed to drive out the shaft.

* The guide is generally good, but it is incorrect in suggesting the outer cv cap can be removed - it can't. You can only clean up the outside and work on the cv joint in situ. Once you get most of the old grease out, you can help to drive the new grease into the shaft by exploiting the fact that the shaft is hollow which allows you to alternately cover the holes, pull the joint outward and thereby suck the grease deeper into the joint (that was a tip on the 928 forum).

* I got all the bits from OPC, including the grease and cv clips. These clips I probably wouldn't buy again because they are a plain band that is really difficult to tighten - presumably OPC have a special tool.

* A lot of people talk about the difficulty in getting new boots onto the caps. I found a pair of the hooked, plastic bicycle tyre tools are ideal for this job

* When re-aligning the caps on the inner cv joint, you can use the fitting bolts and tighten them evenly to ensure the caps are aligned with the cv holes. When refitting to the gearbox you'll quickly find out if they are not fully aligned. Remember to follow the advice and re-check the torques after the first drive in the car. Mine did need re-tightening.

* When it comes to the drivers side, the guide suggests loosening the bolt holding the oil return tube. I wouldn't do this again because it does not give any more space and without this bolt in place if you knock the tube it is liable to disrupt the fitting on the bottom of the engine. This happened to me.

* While the drivers side shaft is off, you have access to the starter motor, so if you want to change or service it, then now is the time. I mentioned previously, that the best option for me was to get a new bosch unit which I believe is the same fitted to 996 and later. To my way of thinking, it's ideal because it's identical to the original other than being a couple of cm shorter which makes a massive amount of difference to how easy it is to refit.

So another job off the list. I'd also just say that some people seem to do this job easily, but I found it quite tricky. I think I'm reasonably competent and have the benefit of a scissor lift and it certainly took a while to do the full job, including removal, strip down, rebuild and refitting. I do tend to take my time, research and make sure I get it right, but it took me weeks to fit in this work. Something to bear in mind, if your normal garage is offering to do the job at a reasonable rate.

Anyway, back on the road now and running sweet for the summer :)
 
Many thanks for taking the time to write up your experience and pass on the knowledge. Invaluable if this job comes up.
 
Many thanks for taking the time to write up your experience and pass on the knowledge. Invaluable if this job comes up.
 
Thanks to the OP for the link and the write up - it was a great help recently when my C4 failed the MOT recently with a damaged rear CV boot.

Thanks to the input from Wilsonny and the original article, it took just under 2 hours to replace the boots on one driveshaft.
 

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