L Series CV noob questions

[GOD]

Possibly a dumb question, but I'm new to front wheel drive, so bear with me please: what's the trick to getting a front CV through the wheel bearings? I found a scanned page of a workshop manual on the forum, which says to put the nut on the end of the CV and do that up to pull the shaft through, but that's proving quite difficult. I don't want to lean on the spanner too hard, because the big nut is just against the outside bearing (because there isn't enough shaft through to get the hub on and do up the nut against that).

I have both ball joints undone, the base of the strut is out, and the gearbox end of the CV is in. What's the best way to go about it?

[AndrewT]

Yeah alot of the time it just won't go through far enough to grab it with the bolt.
Try cleaning the outer stub up, it might have some surface rust, hit it with some fine sand paper.
Otherwise here's how I tackle it for both sides...

1 - separate the hub from the base of the strut (looks like you already have)
2 - separate the hub from the balljoint
3 - separate the hub from the steering rack tie-rod end
4 - remove the hub from the car
5 - stand the driveshaft up on the inner CV, so the outer CV is pointing up to the sky
6 - ensure the metal locator ring in the hub (located between the inner and outer bearing races) is centered.
7 - put the hub over the outer CV
8 - tap the hub with a hammer in different positions each time, work your way around. This will get the stub to come through a little at a time with gravity helping too.
9 - when it is through enough to grab it with the castellated nut, put the conical washer and other washer on then put the castellated nut on a few turns, grab a decent amount of thread. Note regarding the "other" washer - it is shaped in a certain way, a little difficult to spot. Make sure you put the Convex part against the conical washer, this spreads the load properly.
10 - put the hub back into the car (with the driveshaft attached obviously)
11 - connect the inner CV to the gearbox, line it up and put the roll pin in
12 - reassemble the rest (balljoint, tierod end, strut - don't forget the split pins)
13 - do the castellated nut up the rest of the way, nice and tight, put the split pin in.

[GOD]

Otherwise here's how I tackle it for both sides...

Thanks. Your way made it much easier.

[fredsub]

its even easier than that....

1 - loosen castellated nut
2 - jack up car
3.- separate the hub from the steering rack tie-rod end
(use a second jack)
4 - separate the hub from the balljoint
5 - remove inner CV pin
6 - separate inner CV
7 - remove castellated nut, and put it back on in REVERSE
8 - the nut should be level with the CV thread
9 - tap on the nut, not too hard with a hammer

reinstalling the CV is a bit harder getting it properly aligned up to get through the bearings but is doable

[AndrewT]

yep except his whole problem was reinstalling the CV not removing it.
I've buggered the thread on a castellated nut doing it that way too, I find best way now is to use a lump of wood against it and tap the lump of wood instead.

[kiwisuby]

make sure that when you took out the old cv that the spacer at the back of the hub is not still in there i just replaced mine and i had that exact problem.the best way to check is to sit your old cv against the new one and make sure the rear of each is the same diameter,if not you will need to remove spacer from inside stub which should just flick out

[Subafury]

ive got it down to a fine art now. done it too many times.
my way is easier than all the above said steps.

ill write a quick version
remove wheel and put car on stands- cracking castle nut.
punch out cv pin.

disconnect one of the two sway bar links- this is really help ful for busting the strut out of the hub.

take out strut bolts then insert flathead screwdriver in the gap and tap it in to split gap then kick down carefully on the hub to pop out strut.

cv comes out pretty easy after that. to get it back in try and centre the bearings inside the hub and keep jabbing the end of the shaft in and out till it aligns the splines and goes in further- use you eyes to see if its coming thru straight.

then as said before pull it all the way thru with the nut.- take handbrake off to rotate shaft till it aligns with the cv pin hole.

then the rest goes back in the way it came out. to get the sway bar links back in use a second jack under the whole hub.

[El_Freddo]

disconnect one of the two sway bar links- this is really help ful for busting the strut out of the hub.

Ah, this is what I forgot to do last time...

I put the inner CV back on after I've got the shaft sitting in the Hub - that way you can push on the hub with the CV shaft pushing from the other side - just make sure you've got the car set on jack stands really well

There are many ways to skin a cat so to speak.

Cheers

Bennie

[trezize]

Hey guys..

I had a shot at changing one of the CV's on my 93' L Series and encountered a few issues. I have had a look at the above guides but still have a few points to clarify..

I removed wheel and main castellated nut, brake disk and caliper leaving only the hub (I think the Gregory's manual calls it the steering knuckle). I managed to separate the two ball joints but stopped at the steering rack tie-rod.

How should I disconnect this from the hub?. It is under tension?? Should I use a trolley jack to hold the tension in the rod while i disconnect it from the hub?? Is it damaging to let the rod release??

Is it then necessary to totally remove the hub from the car and slide out most of the drive shaft after disconnecting it from the inner CV??

Thanks

[GOD]

The hub is the round thing with four wheel studs pressed into it and a hole in the middle for the driveshaft. The steering knuckle is the big cast thing with a strut in the top and a ball joint in the bottom.

To get the tie rod end out of the steering knuckle, you can use a gear puller (not ideal), a ball joint separator, or you can bash on the stud of the tie rod end with your favourite big hammer (leave the nut on the stud at first to avoid buggering the thread), or you can unscrew the tie rod end from the rack end (take note of how many turns to unscrew it, and do it up by the same number when replacing).

It is easiest to remove the steering knuckle from the vehicle entirely, especially when trying to put the new driveshaft through it.

Dane.

[GOD]

Oh and to remove the steering knuckle from the car, leave the lower ball joint in place in the control arm, and just lift the steering knuckle off it. Easier that way than trying to get the ball joint stud out of the control arm.

Dane.