Front Prop Shaft Rear CV Recommendations?

[Shane001]

Received my Dorman CV joint on Monday I think it was. Usual quick turnaround from Rockauto, 8 days including the weekend.
Definitely a different manufacture to the Ultra Power joint I ordered last year, so hopefully this one is better quality.
Also it came with 2x rubber gaskets, vs only 1 thin paper one with the Ultra Power.

Changed them over today. Took the old one off, was almost dry very little grease left in it. It had been spitting out small amounts of grease from when I first installed it last year but I wasn't expecting to find it dry. So no doubt this contributed to the bearing centre starting to fail.

The grease was leaking out from the front cover, either out through the bolts or possibly through the little breather hole (though I wouldn't think it would spit out all the grease through the breather hole, so I suspect was coming out through the bolt threads).

The front cover is where I put the only gasket that came with it, but I think what may have happened, I remember the front and rear caps went on very tight, so I'm thinking it didn't clamp together fully and therefore the gasket didn't actually seal between the cover and the bearing housing, and therefore it leaked. So just a poor quality unit all round.

With the new Dorman, I smeared a thin amount of RTV on one side of the gasket and then pre positioned them in the end cap and the boot cap. Once the bearing housing was packed with grease, I then pre fitted the boot cap to the bearing housing with the bolts in to line it all up, again smearing the gasket with a thin amount of RTV. Then I fitted the boot cap and bearing housing to the shaft together with the bolts keeping them both lined up to each other. The idea was I didn't want the gasket to move if I had to realign them afterward.

Strangely it was a really tight fit on the shaft spline, I had to work it on by lightly tapping around it with a hammer and round punch for about 20mins to get it the last 5-10mm onto the shaft. I did lightly grease the shaft too! So it's gonna be a bitch to get back off.

Again I smeared some RTV on the gasket before putting the end cap on. Plenty of grease in there as a little came out the breather hole once I pushed it all together. I didn't put any extra in the boot end so it should work its way through.

Finally before installing it back in the car, I got the bolts and some nuts and pre tensioned the assembly together to try and make sure the end caps had fully clamped the gasket to the bearing housing.
So now hopefully I won't get any grease leakage and this one will last!

All up about 5 hours spent on this today but I took my time especially looking at how to prevent having to do it again!

[5oclock]

Shane001,sounds like you have done a top job on the CV, should be trouble free from now on. Did you notice if the bolts were loose on the old CV? I think the bolts working loose on mine also helped the grease escape...Which is why I put RTV on the gasket surfaces.

[Gojeep]

Let us know how you get on with this one.

[Shane001]

Originally Posted by 5oclock

Shane001,sounds like you have done a top job on the CV, should be trouble free from now on. Did you notice if the bolts were loose on the old CV? I think the bolts working loose on mine also helped the grease escape...Which is why I put RTV on the gasket surfaces.

No bolts were tight. I also pre clamped the old one before installing it but I remember the caps just didn't seem to go on well, felt too tight. I reckon it just hasn't sealed between the end cap and the bearing housing so the grease was free to spin it's way out through the bolt threads.

[Shane001]

Ran the Jeep up on ramps today to have a look.

Thankfully no grease! And joint feels nice and tight.

I think pre clamping it before mounting it back in the car was a good idea.
Best option to make sure the end caps are going to seal to the bearing housing properly.

One problem hopefully solved lol!