Hey guys, I'm wondering if any of you do any half-shaft maintenance between events. If so, how and what do you do? Disassemble, remove grease, clean, inspect, put in new grease?
I'm interested in what you look for during the inspection, what grease you use, how much, etc.
John, since your car is just getting back on track after hibernating for a while I would recommend checking the condition of the grease on the half shafts. It is worth checking about once every year. It doesn't take too much time to service. With the rear wheels removed take off the top bolt as shown in this picture and roll the upright out of the way and then you can pull the half shaft out. Then clean it up, inspect it and then re lubricate with a high quality synthetic grease. Then reinstall and re torque / safety wire the bolt. You should inspect for excess wear, twisting, and cracks. Don't go crazy with the grease or it will all fling out and make a big mess. Also, when the car is assembled monitor how much free play you have in the shafts as you try and rotate the wheel hub back and fourth. There should be some play, but not much.
Charley, many thanks! I'll be doing exactly that tonight.
A followup question: I know how to pull apart the inner CV joint, but how does the outer CV joint come off? Just remove the bolt and tap it apart? Or remove the outer boot and pull the CV apart that way?
Yuck. As I feared, my outer CV joints are definitely worn. I can see pitting in one spot, and the wear surfaces are cloudy. It would be a good idea to replace them, I think.
Anybody happen to know where Radical source these? I found some leads to SR3 CV joints (Inboard AMK TDL3602R or Shaftec PJ5BN, Outboard AMK TDL4617R or Shaftec CV12N) Both parts are from a Ford Fiesta XR2 1.6 1986-89 or Ford Orion 1.4L.
I would think the SR8 uses beefier parts, but I don't know that.
Price: £30.62. Radical's online parts store lists them for £62.00. So a considerable savings. Still looking for the outer hubs, hopefully I'll be able to get them from Radical East (Wisko Racing).
And there is also this part inside both of the outer joints. It's Delrin, and the left side is a mess. Right side is better, but also shows wear. I need to learn more about this part, which seems as if it's job is keep the driveshaft from contacting the inside of the hub. Mine were both loose, but seem to have been glued in place with silicon adhesive. Anybody know anything more about this part?
I've been able to find out more about these Delrin pucks. Early ones were white like mine, but later ones have a a rubbery coating that allow for a silicon-based adhesive to be more effective at keeping them securely glued into place. I have 4 coming.
I also ordered GKN tripod joints (see link above... GKN is the OEM for these parts to Radical... GKN also manufacture the hubs). Now I'm trying to see if I can procure hubs from race-parts too. The best part is that race-parts.co.uk has a US branch (race-parts.com), so us left-of-the-Atlantic types can order locally. You know you're at the right place when you call the US branch (they're in Georgia) and a fellow with a British accent answers the phone. 🙂
Charley: I know you've some write-ups about different generations of these cars -- are you considering building databases of part numbers and suppliers?
John, since your car is just getting back on track after hibernating for a while I would recommend checking the condition of the grease on the half shafts. It is worth checking about once every year. It doesn't take too much time to service. With the rear wheels removed take off the top bolt as shown in this picture and roll the upright out of the way and then you can pull the half shaft out. Then clean it up, inspect it and then re lubricate with a high quality synthetic grease. Then reinstall and re torque / safety wire the bolt. You should inspect for excess wear, twisting, and cracks. Don't go crazy with the grease or it will all fling out and make a big mess. Also, when the car is assembled monitor how much free play you have in the shafts as you try and rotate the wheel hub back and fourth. There should be some play, but not much.
Charley
Charley, I'll be replacing the CV boots on my SR4 this week. I assume that you removed the axle nut and then rolled the upright down? I quickly removed the top nut last night but couldn't pull the upright down. Didn't spend more than a few minutes on it and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the axle nut has to come off first...
John, since your car is just getting back on track after hibernating for a while I would recommend checking the condition of the grease on the half shafts. It is worth checking about once every year. It doesn't take too much time to service. With the rear wheels removed take off the top bolt as shown in this picture and roll the upright out of the way and then you can pull the half shaft out. Then clean it up, inspect it and then re lubricate with a high quality synthetic grease. Then reinstall and re torque / safety wire the bolt. You should inspect for excess wear, twisting, and cracks. Don't go crazy with the grease or it will all fling out and make a big mess. Also, when the car is assembled monitor how much free play you have in the shafts as you try and rotate the wheel hub back and fourth. There should be some play, but not much.
Charley
Charley, I'll be replacing the CV boots on my SR4 this week. I assume that you removed the axle nut and then rolled the upright down? I quickly removed the top nut last night but couldn't pull the upright down. Didn't spend more than a few minutes on it and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the axle nut has to come off first...
Thanks.
Yes, the axle nut does need to come off. Post pictures of your progress and what you find. There are only a few SR4's on here, so share what you can so others can benefit from what you learn 🙂
Don’t put in too much grease, the excess moves into the boot, the extra weight of the grease centrifuges outward at high speed and blows the boot off. I was told the incorrect amount of grease in each joint (prior to it being included in the mechanics guide) and guess what, the boot came off. Grease on the exhaust, hmm what’s that smell?
Now the excessive grease has been removed and the better clamps installed.
On the SR1, you do have to remove the axle nut. To change the boots, you remove the snap ring that is under the boot, then the joint comes off the splined shaft.
Note, there is a snap ring on the male spline that goes into the diff female splines.
Oh, shoot, interesting. I wonder how much grease is the correct amount. Honestly, I packed the ball races, then put the rest of the grease in the CV boot as you would normally do (for a street car).
I noticed that the small end of the outboard CV boot on the other side was pulled in pretty tight to the joint. I'll do that and force the excess grease out.
BTW I have a good aftermarket source for a CV boot that fits well. I'll post pics and stuff on the SR4 forum when I'm done.
