My CV is still spitting grease!

Hi, I was puzzled at finding grease in the area of the RH CV on my CAV GT. I always found a small ball of grease between the speedo sensor and the CV bolts. Bob C. and some others suggested checking the tightness or integrity of the bolts holding the CV halves together. They were pretty secure except I saw one of them did not have a lock washer. So, I put one on and tightened as much as I could. Well, she's still spitt'in the grease. Is there a seal in there? Any suggestions shor of an overhaul?

Thanks
 

Ian Clark

Supporter
Hi Ray,

Those CV bolts should be torqued and safety wired, however if it all appears tight and your still getting grease outside the boots I'd be replacing the band clamps around the boots. There should be clamps on both the inner and outer flanges.

Sometimes they are omitted as the boots are a fairly tight fit on their own. The clamps can be replaced with the car assembled (bet your glad to hear that:))
 
Sounds like your leaking grease between the joint and drive flange. We use silicone (spairingly)on both sides of cv, do your best to keep on any grease off these surfaces. We replace all hardware at service using socket head cap screws and an flat washers not lock washers with blue loctite torqued to 35 ft.lbs. Have not had any further issues using this procedure.
 
Hi Ray,

Sorry to hear you are still having a loose grease problem but it appears you are getting some good suggestions. When I had the same problem, Tom Hughes suggested that I make sure the bolts were uniformly tightened and that did the trick. In addition, Frank Catt said that the CVs might have been packed with too much grease. But I could never find out for sure how much grease is the correct amount. Also, on my ZF trans, the CV and ZF mating surfaces are both just flat metal with no gasket or o-ring. Perhaps you could those surfaces to see if they are really flat and smooth. The attached picture is a close up of the mating side of the CV with a Plexiglas plate temporally bolted on to hold it all together and keep it clean.

Another small detail to check is to make sure your bolts are all the correct length and are all matched. On my car I noticed that 2 of the CV bolts were shorter and lighter which cannot be good for a rotating mass. I replaced all the bolts with high strength units that were matched (equal length, equal weight, drilled, and safety wired).

Bob
 

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Thanks guys!

I think it's due a much closer look. I'll take it apart when I do the lower arm mod install. The boots have a nice, tight clamp on the inside only; but looks really clean. I suspect it's the bolts. Flat washers sound like a good idea so I'll try that too.
Thanks for the pic, Bob.
 

Howard Jones

Supporter
JCoop, When you torque them down, do it in 3 steps. If you were going for 35ft/lb I would go to 15, then 25, and finally 35. Alternate accross the circle much like a head bolt pattern.

Use blue thread locker.
 
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