Repacking the CV axles
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 343
Likes: 3
From: Erie, PA
What a great thread! About to do the rear inner CV cup swap and I wanted to see what kind of grease to use. I remember reading months ago about guys using Redline and Valvoline. Never would of thought to use a grease similar to OEM specs. Thanks for the great info! Search button does wonders sometimes 
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,463
Likes: 25
I finally was able to repack the inbound CV joints late this afternoon. This time I did them with the axles still in the car. Doing the job with the axles still in place is not as neat and clean nor as easy as when I did them on the bench 
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,208
Likes: 1
From: Gurnee, IL
Question: in addition to the cups on the inboard side, can the bearings be switched as well?
Ive got a bad drivers side axle, and have a spare passenger side axle. I was thinking of swapping the inboard parts of the passenger axle onto the driver axle. Will this work?
Ive got a bad drivers side axle, and have a spare passenger side axle. I was thinking of swapping the inboard parts of the passenger axle onto the driver axle. Will this work?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,463
Likes: 25
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,463
Likes: 25
Yes, you want to swap the tripod with the rollers as a set.
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 8,595
Likes: 54
From: Temple City
In case anyone is still interested, with OEM grease on about 80K miles, there was pitting, basically damage, scuffed up pitting.
swapped cv cup from left to right, packed with redline cv grease. at 200K miles (120K miles on the redline grease) there was NO pitting. smooth surface all along. There was indentation however. not visible to the eye, but if you ran your finger along that contact area, you could feel your finger indent where the bearings were.
So, from this experience, Redline CV grease > OEM CV grease. based on the pitting compared to NO pitting, OEM grease is crap.
i repacked with Mobil 1 universal joint grease. THINK as heck.
i attribute the wear results to the thickness difference of the greases, and am comfortable with the mobil 1 grease.
on a side note, the last mechanic to pack this cv joint did NOT put the rollers back to the original bearings. so far, no issues.
swapped cv cup from left to right, packed with redline cv grease. at 200K miles (120K miles on the redline grease) there was NO pitting. smooth surface all along. There was indentation however. not visible to the eye, but if you ran your finger along that contact area, you could feel your finger indent where the bearings were.
So, from this experience, Redline CV grease > OEM CV grease. based on the pitting compared to NO pitting, OEM grease is crap.
i repacked with Mobil 1 universal joint grease. THINK as heck.
i attribute the wear results to the thickness difference of the greases, and am comfortable with the mobil 1 grease.
on a side note, the last mechanic to pack this cv joint did NOT put the rollers back to the original bearings. so far, no issues.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 280
Likes: 0
From: ???
http://www.mann-engineering.com/prod...hpcc-1-1lb-tub
For the budget minded
http://www.neosyntheticoil.com/cv-500-joint-grease/
Marketing is a B*tch ain't it.
For the budget minded
http://www.neosyntheticoil.com/cv-500-joint-grease/
Marketing is a B*tch ain't it.