1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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Today's horrible job was replacing the left outer CV boot. I knew of the need for a replacement nearly a month ago when I pulled my wheels to replace the steering rack. The tell-tale line of splattered grease under the wheelwell was the first clue. Sure enough, the boot had torn and grease was all over the brake caliper, ball joints and inside tire rim. Good engineering keeps the flying grease from reaching the brake disc surfaces when the boot ruptures. I already had a new set of replacement boots in storage and decided this weekend was the time. *
What a crappy job though. You have to pull the entire steering hub and outer drive shaft free from the inner shaft. First order of business is to crawl beneath the car and undo the large inner boot clamp. Then the entire brake caliper has to come off. Without a lift I knew it was going to be difficult to loosen the large 19mm (3/4 in.) bolts holding the brake caliper to the spindle. I feared stripping the bolt head surfaces. Luck was in my favor as I was able to loosen them without too much effort by using a large box end 3/4 wrench for one bolt and a long 3/4 socket with 1/2 drive for the other. Once free, the caliper can be held aside by using twine tied to the spring. No bleeding of the brakes afterwards is the idea.
After the suspension spring is unloaded, the tie rod end is free and the upper and lower ball joint bolts are removed, the entire hub and shaft slip free from the inner drive. Then it's a matter of removing the three pronged spider gear, slipping the two rubber boots free, replacing the torn boot, repacking the grease, then reassembling everything in reverse order. The most vexing moment was trying to reattach the spider circlip ring. It just wouldn't snap back in place! Turns out I had the spider gear reversed. What looks to be a gear that can be put back on either way is actually designed with that much less metal on one side to accomodate the thin circlip. Hard to really see any difference when it's covered in black grease.
It was a considerably nasty job that took 4 hours, finishing just as the sun was setting. Having done the job though, I'm that much closer to replacing this entire '82 suspension, hub, shaft and brakes with that from an '88. But first: the R12 to R134A conversion. That should be fun. No crawling beneath the car.
* Timing is everything. While driving back from the scrap yard the day before this job, I began to hear something rattling from somewhere beneath the car. What now!? It turned out that all three of the 10mm bolts that hold the brake disc shield to the caliper had become loose. I would have had to remove the brake calipers to be able to remove the hub to tighten those three bolts!
posted by 64.12.102...
, Mon, 22 Apr 2002 16:32:03
, Mon, 22 Apr 2002 09:36:54
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