850 T5 CV gaiter replacement

[alex1985blue]

Hey Chaps,

Im after some advice.

I am in the process of trying to replace the Cv gaiters on both side on my 855.

I have got to the point of getting the driveshadt not of from the wheel side of the hub but now I am trying to decide how to free up the driveshaft so I can get the gaiters on.

How do people do it?

Do you drop the wishbone down from the ball joint end or do you undo the two bolts holding the wishbone to the chassis?

I have heard that you jack up the wishbone to take the strain and then undo the bolts. is that correct? Is that the correct way of doing it?

Where do you place the jack? close to the chassis or close to the balljoint?

Cheers

Alex

[Niles]

Place the jack up front on the rear of the subframe bolts.
Dont jack it until you have used a 36mm socket on the hub nut. Leave the car on the ground with all its wheels on, pop the centre cap out of the wheel, get someone to stand on the brakes then get the hub nut off. should be tight as hell, you have been warned. Jack the car up & remo0ve the road wheel.
Slacken the hub nut but don't take it right off.
undo both the shox bolts. disjoint the shock absorber from the hub carrier mounting. ease the now floppy components/arm towards the rear of the car & after you removed the hub nut fully there's just enough clearance to slip the shaft out of the hub. With a gentle tap of a MALLET push the shaft out of the hub. If its jammed and wont move put the hub nut on and leave it so theres no shaft appearing through the nut then whack the nut while its on the shaft. Remember to leave 'slack' so the shaft can move 'some'. Then remove the whacked nut and pull the shaft out.
remove dead cv boot.
Remove as much old grease as possible. In the joint is a small circlip, this will need to be opened out to allow the cv joint to slide off the shaft.
Replace boot, pack out with (should be included in the kit) grease.

Heres were Im going to get told I'm wrong.

Putting the cv joint back on can be a sod due to aligning the splines on the shaft with the joint when the circlip is in the joint.
I spoke to Volvo ages ago & the chief mechanic said they generally don't put the circlip in if they replace them as its not 100% required. when the shafts in and the hub nut is on the shaft will NEVER slide out for the lack of said clip. Ive done this twice on my own car/cars and NEVER had a problem with not putting that pesky clip back in.

[Niles]

no charge for that. :Handshake lol

[orse]

I generally pop the balljoint out using a long bar across the top of the arm and use the car chassis rail as a point to lever against.Be careful of the balljoint gaiters,not to split them.When knocking the driveshaft out the hub i put the nut back on so it flush with the end of driveshaft so you dont flare the driveshaft end(last thing you want).Copper hammer here is a good tool to use.Hope yours aint seized in hubs like mine are.I had to take hub off and driveshaft out the gearbox so i could split the driveshaft down on the floor to change the boot.Nightmare.Ones on the way out again so will be doing it again soon.lol

[orse]

I used todo that on my oval circuit race cars niles never had any problems.Also used to take the clip off the gearbox end so the shaft would go in and out gearbox quicker and easier.Only for speed really on meetings if repairs were needed.However never done on my road cars

[alex1985blue]

Brilliant. Cheers guys. I will have a go tomorrow and report back on my success or lack of

:)

[nobananas]

I would also seperate the balljoint from the hub, undoing the two strut to hub carrier bolts is easier BUT you will loose the camber setting unless you mark it very carefully and get it in exactly the same place on reassembly. If you can't get the cv joint to slide out of the hub (they are thread locked in in some cases !) heat the threaded end (where the hub nut was) very carefully with a blowtorch to soften the thread lock then tap out with a mallet. If it really won't budge (or you can't get the hub nut undone) , undo the track rod end from the hub carrier (as well as the bottom balljoint) then cut away the old cv gaiter, open the circlip holding the shaft to the cv joint (this is fiddly) then swing the whole leg complete with the cv joint away from the driveshaft (it may help to slacken the strut top mount bolts a little), this is the way I have done mine in the past when the cv joint wouldn't seperate from the hub.