How easy is it to take off the rear drive shaft? I need to change the boot (the rubber has fallen off and is now taped up) on the gear box side. but also one of the 6 bolts has sheared inside the wheel side, so this leads to the other bolts slowly coming loose and I need to keep tightening them. So I want to try wiggling the sheared bit out... it’s a 2L type 2..... I’m hoping I just undo the bolts each six bolts each end and it comes away. But that sounds too easy.
New bolts and washers and check that you still have the metal spreader plates, 3 each side ( I think. )
re greasing CVs and replacing the boots is probably the messiest dirtiest job you will ever do on your kombi, but its very simple go ahead and give it a go,no matter how many clothes and rags you have you will still end up with grease from head to toe!
Thats bleedin brilliant y’all. Good news. Was putting it off as i saw (wrongly) from one of the manuals that you have to start taking apart the rear wheel hubs etc etc. .. always have to weigh things up against wrecking it and making bigger problems. Got plenty of rags...all my clothes now i dont bother having any smart work clothes WFH innit.
I did mine in the first lockdown, sat and cleaned and regreased CV 's in sun on patio table. Even that part is easy if you are logical and to be fair it wasn't as dirty a job as people on here say....or perhaps I just love being greasy.
Its worth trying to keep the dirt out of the actual CV joints themselves, avoid getting grit in the grease . Clean around externallly before uncovering the CV joints themselves - you dont want to dip the end in a patch of mud or grit as you go. If you do it is worth washing it all off and re-greasing. GSF sell tins of the molybdenum disulphide grease at sensible prices. Loads of grease packed into the joint when you do it up again ... Put down a poly tarp then if ball bearings decide to run away (happens if you flex the end too far, no damage done just more mess.. ), they dont necessarily end up covered in grit. Use plastic bags to cover the ends until you have them mostly in place. There is a right and a wrong way to reassemble a CV joint - one way it wont articulate but tend to fail quickly. The other way it will flex OK. In one direction as it bends the balls move towards and away from each other as it flexes, the other way they cannot. Basically big gaps on outside ring face small gaps on inside ring, so the two ball bearing grooves cross each other rather than line up.
There are several photos on here that make the CV orientation clear. When you pop the balls back in, you immediately know if it's correct as you panic that the balls are going to fall back out as you regrease.
Worth mentioning the serrated lock washers you should use to lock all the bolts in place...I think they are called Nord washers. Search online or sell a kidney and buy from the usual VW suppliers.
M8 Schnorr washers and high tensile 50mm M8 hex head bolts are much cheaper on eBay (about £10-15 for a set of 24 bolts and lock washers buying a pack of 10 and a pack of 20 , even cheaper each to buy 50 off of each then you have another set .. ) than through the usual suppliers .
Don't get cheap cv boots they won't last. Mine already need changing. I beleive the GKN lobro ones are of decent quality.
I have had many low-cost CV boots. Eventually I coughed up the £140 for a set of genuine VW in packs with grease and a shelf-life limit on the box.. Just checked . out of stock at Heritage. Listed now there at £152 the set and people bought them all. Says how desperate people have been getting for apparent quality parts. So far they have managed at least one year. My best was a set out of GSF, I cant remember the exact brand but they cracked in 3 months. Contact with certain solvents will do this quickly - just looked on my bus roof at some rubber seals I fitted under my solar panel fixings, and one of them has cracked after 3 months. The rest are perfect.
My J and R CV joints at £14.99 still look good after 4 years, I was under there today unfortunately wondering why the handbrake failed the MOT ! I am still wondering ! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-TRANS...816810&hash=item20d3987be5:g:-QcAAOSwIJlaPP4k
Just done all 4 on mine - @snotty would be crying in the corner , a disgusting , messy , yet immensely satisfying job ... for the simple reason it`s done Two boots were split and i guess they were original on the same shaft , the other two were ok but as i was filthy decided to change the boots and degrease / regrease the joints anyway . I kept the two good used boots as they were in great condition considering they`d been on the van maybe 15 years and as i cleaned them up they were Lobros - same as the new ones i replaced them with , pure luck - just hoping they`re as good as the older ones as i don`t fancy tackling that again for a good while ....
Main problem then is approaching the greasy stuff, keeping me ball bearings out the gutter, and the sheared thread. Think its about 10-15mm in there. Hopefully its well loose as all the other bolts keep coming out to say hi from time to time
You might need to drill out the sheared bolt. I had to drill out 6 out of the 24 on mine. Try and file a flat on the top of the stub so you can punch a dent in the middle. Start with a 3mm drill bit and gradually increase in size. I found that as I approached the stud size (on the 5mm I think) the stud heated up enough to spin out the back. Just take your time and concentrate on drilling dead centre.
Lots of good advice here. I fitted cheap gaiters and they lasted 6 months. The better quality gaiters on the other driveshaft are still going strong, I got the decent ones from Just Kampers. They come with new bolts, and you need to make sure to use the plates and the serrated washers. I got the washers from eBay as they were way cheaper than the Vw specialists. You may have Allen key bolts or spline drive, so make sure to get the correct bit, and clean out the head of the bolt and hammer in the drive bit, or you will end up using mole grips or an angle grinder. It’s not too hard. When you put the driveshaft back on, unless you got the cv joints exactly back on the same position on the spline you will need to jack up a wheel or roll the bus backwards and forwards to line up the bolts to put it back together.
Top tip for your (good) boots, found on the interweb: get a can of silicone spray (yellow stuff from Halfords is fine), give them a good dowsing and stick them in a sandwich bag for a few days. It'll bring them and other rubber bits back to life. Got four old ones soaking at the moment...
