CV Joint damaged?

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tranentbx
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CV Joint damaged?

Post by tranentbx »

Morning Folks,

I noticed the other day that the offside outer CV boot had perished and thrown out all it's grease. The only reason I noticed it was because of a whine coming from the wheel on that side when coming back from work. When I got home, the offside wheel was very hot. I took the wheel off and that's when I noticed the grease everywhere.

So, amateur time here...... Would the lack of grease cause the CV joint to heat up and cause a whine? The bearings still had a good coating of grease so the joint wasn't dry. Whilst the wheel was off I noticed the pads were rubbing the disc slightly (more than normal but not so I couldn't turn the disc by hand). Could this be the cause of the hot wheel?

I'm going to grease the sliders on the calliper and clear out any crap that's built up to see if that sorts it.

I am also going to change both outer CV boots (just about within my ability!)

Is there anything I need to watch out for? i.e. is it safe to pull the hub assembly away from the drive shaft without damaging the brake pipes and the suspension strut? Is it just the bottom ball joint that needs unbolted?

Thanks for your valuable advice as always.

Pascal
tim
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by tim »

I can't speak authoritatively about the overheat but it seems the two might be connected? If you are going to the trouble of getting in there do check to see that the inner rubber isn't going as well, any rubber splits are an MOT failure. Yes, you can pull the hub away OK with brake hose but you'll need to split off both ball joints.
Something I was going to mention a while back, the White One (19TXD estate) had to go down to Dorset last year - we got 100 yds and then had to do a sharp swing to the right to let a senile through (go and kill yerself somewhere else, idiot...) and bumped the kerb gently. After that there was a strange gentle moan for the next mile. We stopped, I looked, reckoned it was something around the driveshaft inner bearing rubbing, and decided to go home. No more noise... OK, let's try again. We got there. I came home later that day. The noise kicked in three times and I got rid of it by a full right lock swing on an empty road, also doing an emergency stop. Odd. Last week I changed the driveshaft complete as the rubbers had failed and I didn't like that noise anyway; as I withdrew it some brown and cooked balls dropped out. Ooops - the support bearing had completely died and had probably been on the way out before the Dorset trip - the car has only done 100 odd miles since then. Moral - check out weird noises!
tranentbx
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by tranentbx »

Thanks Tim,

Annoyingly the inner boots were done about 4 years ago as part of an MOT failure (before I had the car) I wish they'd just changed the outer ones at the same time!
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ken newbold
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by ken newbold »

You'll need a BIG socket (can't remember size) for the hub nut, and it will be TIGHT! If you get past this point have a bowl or cat litter tray at the ready cos when you try removing the n/s cv joint there's a good chance the driveshaft will come out of the gearbox and you'll lose some of the oil, or drain the oil, remove the shaft and do the job on the bench.
They think it's all over, it is now!
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by tim »

This is true. 35mm socket, though 36 will do fine if you only have even-numbered ones in your set like wot I do. You may need a scaffold pole on the T-bar to crack it off though your friendly local garage will probably do that for you. Also true about the oil - on that one, there is much confusion on this forum between 'drain' and 'level' plugs. On our TXDs the LEVEL plug is in the left-hand side of the engine and is the big hex head towards the back of the oval plate bolted onto the end of the gearbox.It faces outwards towards the tyre and you. The drain plug is at the back of the gearbox much further in at about 45 degrees of angle pointing rearwards. It is right up against the front cross member and I needed an open-ender to get on it properly.
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by rutter123 »

You may find it easier to undo the driveshaft nut with the wheel on the car ( steel rims) and get someone to foot the brake. You'll get a lot more leverage this way unless you have air tools. You will also need to depressurise the suspension to aid getting the bottom ball joint out, disconnect the drop links from the bottom and the 2 11mm nuts that hold the intermediate bearing and you should be able to remove the driveshaft complete, check your wheel bearing is not noisy.
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Tinkley
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by Tinkley »

I found that to remove the hub nuts with 35mm socket and extra lever was to put back in two of the wheel bolts into the hub. Through these a large steel bar (ground peg) was placed, and this allowed the socket + scaffold to get enough leverage. The tyres on the road will just spin, so working against the bar which tries to lift the car gave enough grunt to crack it.

I changed all 4 boots and intermediate bearing, but still have a slight offcentric whine over 40mph (not gear dependent). It's not got any worse so I'll leave it and check as much as possibele.

BTW only use the correct Total BV oil in the gearbox. Although the service manual deleted the 60k replace cg/box oil schedule it is still worth doing at that mileage. Most other oils cause gearbox problems..... :wink:
even if they are the same rating!.
tranentbx
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by tranentbx »

Thanks all,

Some good helpful advice there. Will be tackling this next weekend.

Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) my gearbox shares the engine oil so dead easy to fill. Might drain the whole lot first to save any hassle.

Thanks

Pascal
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by Tinkley »

tranentbx wrote:
Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) my gearbox shares the engine oil so dead easy to fill. Might drain the whole lot first to save any hassle.
That'll be the 150C engined 1.4 then....... :wink:

This if I remember right has a central position for the two drive shafts unlike the other models which are offset to the n/s. Still worth chucking a dowel, try a tape wrapped bit of broom handle into the driveshaft gearbox housing to stop the planetary gears collapsing whilst the shaft is out.
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by kernowtim »

sounds more like wheel bearing failure to me, worn joints usually knock when cornering although the shaft support bearing could whine but wouldnt get the wheel hot. check for play in bearing by rocking wheel,easiest option is to change complete shaft, got mine through local motor factors ( that i work for) from a company called shaftec,may be worth changing the diff oil seal when the shafts out,gasket makers payen list them .loosen hub nut when car is on the ground before removing wheel,you will probably need ball joint splitter to separate bottom joint too, dont use fork type you hammer in as it will wreck joint gaiter.turning steering will give more room to pull joint from hub..
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Re: CV Joint damaged?

Post by Tinkley »

Good thinking, it may well be the bearing rather than CV joint. Those 1.4s' are not particularly brutal on the drive shafts.... Though the 150 does NOT have the support bearing o/s present on most of the rest of the range.
Try starting the car and after running a bit along the road at say 10-15mph, turn off the engine. This usually lets you hear the rumble/whine of a crackered bearing.
Take the hub off to replace it (wheel bearing), way, way easier to do on a bench and also a visit to someone with a press may be needed.
Saves removing the drive shafts from the gearbox end....... :wink:
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