CV Axle replacement

[nfpgasmask]

MIxing grease...hmmm. I can't really see a reason why it should matter, but the IsuzuGeek in me would ask the same question.

Bart

[Cobrajet]

My question now is; is it OK to mix grease? The inner CV joint has grease in it already, but I want to pack my existing green cup with grease to make up for the bit that was lost to the new green cup. Is it OK to just add the synthetic bearing grease that I have to the grease that is already there, or should I clean the new joint out completely and re-pack with one type of grease?

Ask anyone who sells grease (like Mobil1) and the answer will ALWAYS be "NO!!". Of course, they want to sell you new grease. Will it work? Probably. Will it hurt anything? Maybe...maybe not. I'm just guessing it depends on what the two greases are. Are they the same weight? Type (Dino vs. Synthetic) Color? (Some people don't like their food to touch, so maybe they don't like their grease to touch either.) I guess you'll have to make up your own mind.

[MSHardeman]

Don't know what grease came in the SurTrack axles, but it's black whereas the grease I bought is red and I can't find anywhere on the tube where it says if it's dino or synthetic.

Hmmm, what to do?

[nfpgasmask]

You could:

1) disassemble the balls and cage
2) remove the boot
3) thoroughly wipe out the boot and then wash with mild hand soap and let dry
4) thoroughly clean the balls and cage, rinse with brake parts cleaner and let dry
5) reassemble and regrease everything with the same lube

Bart

[tom4bren]

In my book, it's OK to mix the grease ... but ... I'd clean the old out of both CVs just in case there is any contaminates (water or abrasives). If there's any grease left on the new components, I wouldn't worry about it.

I didn't even use the grease that came with the MechaTech's. I just got a tub of synthetic axle grease from the parts store & used that:

a. I didn't know what kind of grease came with the boots & I wanted synthetic.

b. the grease that came with the boots didn't look like nearly enough so I was going to have to add to it anyway.

[MSHardeman]

Decided to take the CV joint apart, clean it and re-grease it after talking to a couple of mechanics and the guys at SurTrack. Those SurTrack joints have some extremely tight tolerances. Had to get a screwdriver behind the balls to pop them out of the outer cage, and after about half an hour of trying to get the outer cage off of the inner cage I just gave up and soaked the whole lot in brake cleaner to get the grease off. I'm going to go out and take the old Isuzu CV apart in a bit to see if the inner and outer cages will release from one another. In both Billy and Bart's write ups it looks like the outer cage will slide past the inner cage enough for you to get a gear puller in there to remove the inner cage from the half shaft, but for the life of me I can't figure out how SurTrack is doing it. I mean, the cages had to go together, somehow, initially so why won't they come apart now?

I think this is finally starting to wind down. I'll clean out both new CV's, pack 'em with grease and then start re-assembling everything.

MAN, this turned into a much longer job then I originally intended. I guess that's half the "fun" though. I sure did learn a lot.

[evillecutter]

i took my axles out to change the cv boots and it was a much smaller job than i anticipated - i used the writeup with pics form a member on here and it made it much clearer - did one side myself but the other side was much easier with a helper

[MSHardeman]

I am finally at the assembly stage. YAY!! This has gone on much longer than I ever anticipated, but that is mostly due to my neuroses about making sure that everything is JUST right.

My current goofy question is: how much grease do I need to pack into the green cup and the CV joint? I've filled the back of the green cup and smeared grease all over the sides of the cup. I have also smeared grease all over the inner and outer cages of the CV joint itself, as well as put some grease in the CV boot. I am guessing that it is probably more than enough, but I REALLY don't want the joint to run dry.

Thanks y'all.

[tom4bren]

I'm guessing that there's really not a right answer to your question.

The Enginerd in me decided that the grease really wouldn't expand during use so I just did like you did: put some in the back of the cup, schlepped some on the bearings & inner race, then pressed it in place. You can hear the air popping out past the grease when you press the guts into place so after I put the retainging spring back in place, I packed some more in there just for good measure. The boot will keep any extra in place & hopefully allow it to flow back into the working area if needed.

No, I did not have any excess grease push out past the boot clamps & no, I can't feel the boot full of grease either. I actually tried to knead some from the boot back into the CV a few months later & couldn't tell that there was any pooled in the boot.

[VehiTONY]

So all that work yesterday.... 7hrs, and all I got where some new universal CV boots and 2 brand new CV axles in the box THAT ARE TO DAM SHORT!!!! I will never be going to Advance again!!!

[rowhard]

My current goofy question is: how much grease do I need to pack into the green cup and the CV joint?

found it. page 4C-14 of the shop manual, 'use 150g in both ends' divide by 28.5 for oz,... my youth coming out again

[MSHardeman]

Thanks Rowhard. I knew that I had seen that somewhere in the workshop manual. I just couldn't find it again.

[rowhard]

Thanks Rowhard. I knew that I had seen that somewhere in the workshop manual. I just couldn't find it again.

yea, just went through the CV boot madness, only reason I remembered it

[tom4bren]

So all that work yesterday.... 7hrs, and all I got where some new universal CV boots and 2 brand new CV axles in the box THAT ARE TO DAM SHORT!!!! I will never be going to Advance again!!!

I seem to remember that someone indicated in the past that the ones from Advanced are different in other regards too (different number of bearings & different size).

[evillecutter]

So all that work yesterday.... 7hrs, and all I got where some new universal CV boots and 2 brand new CV axles in the box THAT ARE TO DAM SHORT!!!! I will never be going to Advance again!!!

part #'s part #'s part #'s - if you dont have the exact part # you need then auto parts stores are completely worthless when searching for "vehicross" parts in their computers - in over two years nothing i have found was listed for this vehicle correctly

the axles should be simple however since i think it was the member on here that found replacements that fit correctly for both sides