i'm going to try swapping my rear inner CV joints since a buddy of mine and i did the valve adjustment. just wanted to know if there are any things i schould know about before trying. not swapping with new just changing sides. i know this isn't the under the hood section but i've found that del val has a lot of DIY'ers that alredy know the do's and don't do's (thought it looked better then don't's)
thanks Cliff

 

Hey. I did this earlier this year. It's not too difficult a job. You can do it one of two ways. The "clean" way is to take the entire halfshaft out on both sides to take the buckets off and do the swap. There is a fairly good DIY for this in the under the hood section. Or, you can leave the halfshafts on and swap the buckets that way. I left the halfshafts on only because I didn't have all the tools (primarily a tq wrench big enough to tighten the axle nuts back up to 220 ft/lbs). I'd say it's a bit more difficult this way because there isn't much room to work under the car and can be a pain to get everything back together.

Either way, reuse the stock clamps on the CV boot, they are awesome and well designed. Also, I'd recommend picking up a tube of the Redline CV-2 grease to repack the buckets.

I rented a ball joint separator from Advanced auto for the ball joints.

I can't think of anything else right now. Feel free to ask questions because it will probably jog my memory. When do you plan on doing this?

 

Do you have the "shakes"?

Is this why you are considering the CV bucket swap?

You could effectively accomplish the same thing, moving the wear marks, by adding in some 1/2 shaft spacers. If you were to purchase and install some 2 piece half-shaft spacers you would essentially accomplish the same thing which is moving the contact points just with less work and mess.

Just a thought.

Good luck.

 

This is true and I think it's the advice you gave me when I asked you.

Cliff, If you go the spacer route that Freq suggested, follow what he says and get the 2-piece spacers. The 1 piece spacers are pointless because in order to install them you might as well just do the swap.

It all comes down to how much is your time and effort worth. You can do the swap for <$20 bucks. The 2 piece spacers are $100-$150 I think. The choice is yours

 

i think i'm just going to swap them. because i have a friend that works in a shop that lets him do side jobs so we have a lift and he has all the tools it might be an hour job going slow for the both of us. i did think about the spacer but i think i'm going to just go for the swap. then when the shakes come back i'm going to get new ones. i'm planning on doing it soon because i also need to tap my oil pan because my drain bolt got stripped and i don't feel like spending the money for a new pan. then the next big thing is going to be a new clutch because mine is still not working the way it should and i know it's because of who i had install it and this time i'm going to do it. but i'll keep you guys posted on how smooth things go.