Mitsubishi 4WD Club Trev's Tip 19. 

Trev’s Tips

CV’s

I have always encouraged everyone to have a go at doing their own repairs for the challenge, cost saving but more importantly to familiarise yourself with your own car so that should something happen whilst off the beaten track that requires you to do some fixing, you’ll have more of a chance of knowing where to start.  However this months repair is one of those jobs that I’d forgive you for taking to a mechanic to get fixed.  I’m referring to the repair of broken constant velocity (cv) joints and the reason I’d say get someone else to do it is because for your first attempt it will take the best part of 3-4 frustrating hours and is possibly one of the filthiest mechanical jobs I have come across.

All cars that have independent suspension will have these cv joints and chances are that at some stage in the cars life you will have to do some repairs on them.  Older cars like mine have 4 cv joints (all on the front suspension) but newer cars now also have another 4 in the rear suspension  The first sign something is wrong will be the rubber boot that protects these joints will be torn or will be leaking grease.  If you catch the problem early enough you can replace this rubber boot and the actual joint should still last for a long time.  The problem is if it is left unattended dirt and sand may get into the joint and before you know it there will be some very strange noises coming from your suspension because this joint will be buggered and you’ll be up for a very costly repair.

I keep a close eye on my cv boots but recently one did tear and before I noticed it I went for a drive along the beach so by the time I noticed the problem the joint was full of sand.  Fortunately I repaired mine before the joint was damaged so all I had to do was replaced the rubber boot.

The boot itself cost me $10 from Super Cheap and came with grease and retaining clips.  A quick phone call to the local mechanic resulted in a quoted $300 repair job to replace the boot.  Not bad considering even for a mechanic that knows what they are doing there would still be a couple of hours labour.  This was a lot better than the Mitsubishi dealer who wanted $300 just to buy the rubber boot.

Anyway, should you wish to have a go at this repair, below is my best effort to describe the step by step process and any tricks to be careful of.

Note:  I am describing a repair to the Inner boot (the one that sits up close to the front diff).  The outer boot can be repaired in a very similar way.

Step 1:   Jack the car up, secure it on axle stands and remove the wheel on the same side as the broken joint.

Step 2:   Unbolt the brake calliper and use a piece of wire to tie it up out of the way.

Step 3:   Use a screw driver to lever off the dust cap from the end of the axle.

Step 4:   Look carefully at the end of the axle.  There is a circular clip recessed into the splines of the axle that will need to be

removed.  I used the screw driver to get this off. (be careful it doesn’t flick off into the atmosphere).

Step 5:   There are 4 bolts that hold the lower ball joint into place (you may be able to see these in the photos).  Remove these

which will allow the wheel hub to come away from the lower wishbone arm.  (This is not quite the way that I did the  repair but I think it will be easier this way)

Step 7:   When the upper ball joint comes apart the hub will fall onto the ground if you do not catch it.  It is heavy so be prepared. If you stop it from falling it should now slide off the axle.

Step 8:   You now need to remove the drive shaft.  To do this release the clips around the ends of the rubber boot (there are 2) and slide it to the end of the shaft so the cv joint becomes exposed.

Step 9:   There is now another clip holding in the shaft into the outer casing of the cv joint.  Put your finger into the grease

around the edge of the casing and you will feel a series of groves.  In the recesses of  these groves you should be able to feel a wire clip.  Get a screw driver under this and lift it out.