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Information - Joint drive shaft

CV joint: replacement and selection

When and why it is necessary to replace CV joint

Average lifetime limit of the CV joint is about 70 000 – 80 000 kilometers of car mileage. The most common defects of the component are freeplay, corrosion and abrasive wear of the balls, cage and knuckles. As a rule, this is caused by damages of the rubber CV joint dust boot, which results in the fact, that dust, sand and moisture get on interacting joint parts.

The part may prematurely break down because of sharp starts with skidding at the misaligned wheels, at operation of the car on roads with the poor-quality surface, and due to excessive engine forcing.

The main sign of CV Joint defectiveness is appearance of specific crackling sound during cornering, sharp acceleration, getting of a wheel into a pothole or bumps run-over. Also appearance of steering wheel vibration, weak jerks during car acceleration point out the problem.

During replacement of the CV joint, the whole driveshaft is removed from the gearbox. It is quite laborious process, which is better to entrust to professionals. Installation of the part presupposes replacement of all fasteners and applying greasing material.

How to select CV joint

The CV joints of two types are used in automotive transmission: inner ( roll pin of which is mounted in the gearbox housing) and outer (inserted into the wheel hub). Working in pairs, these components provide transmission of torque from the differential to driving wheels at different turn angles.

According to construction, constant velocity joints are divided into four main types: ball, tripod, Tracta and double-cardan. Usually, in passenger cars ball and tripod parts are used. The ball CV joints provide more smooth car movement. In their turn, tripod components are more resistant to loads, thus considered more durable.

The joints from various companies are presented on the market. High-quality CV joints can be found in the assortment of, for example, Mapco, Metzger and Febi Bilstein.

During component selection it is important to consider where it will be installed: outer or inner semi-shaft, front or rear axle. Construction of the CV joint has a whole set of peculiarities, and even slightest deviations from required dimensions may turn the part into unusable for installation and operation. The important parameters for selection: quantity of inner and outer splines, quantity of ABS ring teeth, outer and inner diameter of CV joint, and its seal diameter.

Advices for our customers

How to replace CV joint dust boot on your own?

It is not recommended to replace the CV joint dust boot on your own. In most cases during works performing you will need to demount the drive shaft and disassemble the constant-velocity joint, which requires special skills. In some cars it is forbidden to remove the CV joint as you can damage spline joint. In such cases specialists use special equipment which allows removing the dust boot without removing the CV joint. Sometimes, component replacement is possible without demounting of the drive shaft if a pneumatic remover tool is used. It is advisable to replace the CV joint dust boots by a kit: the inner and outer on the left and right drive shafts.

How to choose suitable dust boot?

In order to select compatible dust boot it is better to search by the car brand. In our online-shop you can find the needed spare part very quickly. All you have to do is to specify your car brand and model, its manufacturing year and the engine type, and then simply select the best part from the list of available ones. Selecting the dust boots this way you can be sure that purchased part will fit your car. But there are multi-purpose dust boots. Mostly they are selected by sizes of the CV joint. Length and diameter of such dust boot can be adjusted by cutting excess winds.

It is possible to drive with torn CV joint dust boot?

Due to their mounting location the components are quite vulnerable, often tear, and as their replacement should be performed at a service station, many car owners wonder, if it is possible to drive with torn CV joint dust boot. As operation lifetime of the CV joint directly depends on operability of these parts, they should be replaced immediately after detection of malfunctions. We will try to shortly describe what continuous driving with torn dust boot is fraught with.

For proper operation of the CV joints its elements need greasing. At damaging of the dust boot greasing material leaks out in course of time. If water ingressed into the unit, washing out of grease occurs even faster. Due to its lack, abrasive wear of the joint increases and its elements are exposed to corrosion. Moreover, dirt and sand, got inside, provide additional abrasive effect to elements of the joint by mixing with residues of greasing material. The result of all this is total destruction of the CV joint. Defects can be suspected by crackling sound, appearing on turns (it points at breakdown of the outer joint) or by vibrations during acceleration, which indicates damaging of the inner CV joint.