How much grease the CV can hold + Free-ish tool for you.

John H

Rush SR Owner
Jan 1, 2023
115
57
28
De Leon Springs, FL 32130
(Tool details a few posts down)

Unfortunately I had the... lets call it "opportunity" to go ahead and demonstrate the volume of grease our CVs can hold. You need at most 65ml of grease to completely fill the CV joint and stub axle, and you'll already be wasting some.

CV2 is ~1g/ml, Krytox is ~2g/ml no idea what RCV is.

You guys that don't like CV2 and looking at using liquid gold don't have to over order.

Using some .94g/ml grease:
50 grams, not quite fully packed, but already a good chunk of that grease will be in the boot within 5 minutes.
60 grams, totally packed, but the results will just be even more in the boot.
100 grams... 😨 ❌



Assembly including the stub axle zeroed out. (orange tool flows grease back to front to remove all air)
PXL_20230423_220453542.jpg



50 grams of grease.
PXL_20230423_220627945.jpg



Still 50 grams, just packed the grease into the nook of the boot flange just to make sure every bit of air is gone.
PXL_20230423_220732954.jpg



60 grams of grease.....
PXL_20230423_220852923.jpg


100 grams of grease.... even more would be pushed out with the axle pushed in.
PXL_20230423_221012504.jpg


This is the end of the post no one needed or asked for, but science is fun!

jesse-pinkman-science-640x652-copy.jpg
 
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John H

Rush SR Owner
Jan 1, 2023
115
57
28
De Leon Springs, FL 32130
Offering a CV tool at cost. $8 ($5 shipping $1 in plastic, $1 wing nuts, 50 cent zerk fitting).

Also I bought a couple packs of Thermo labels so I have spares I can toss in for 1.25 each (was 40 shipped for 32)
I have 210-280 (good for inside) and 250-320 (for outside)


To use it fully assemble the CV joint to the axle, stick it on the front and pump your grease in.

To know when to stop either
  • Weigh your grease gun so you know when you have pumped the right amount in (60ml is more than plenty AKA 60 grams if using cv2, pretty useful to have that info ;)). Very clean and easy.
  • Leave the boot loose so you can see, but it's cleaner if you have everything together (the grease can go off to the side). Air is pushed out first and fully before grease ever begins flow through the joint. When some starts flowing through you can be sure all the air is out from the tool side/within, there's no reason to pump extra for sake of worries about air.

If you really want, you can spread some grease in the stub hollow before bolting it to the CV, you would have to do this on the differential side anyway if this was your preference.




PXL_20230503_135607144.jpg

(60 grams shown)
PXL_20230503_140035162.jpg


PXL_20230503_140221594.jpg



The silver CV boots don't stay on the CV joint on their own, which is awkward for the inboard joint when moving it to the car, so I added cutouts to ziptie two bolts in place to keep the boot against the joint after you take off the tool. Just start bolting the joint to the flange, once they are snug you can back out the bolts the zipties are on which will release the zipties.


PXL_20230504_131825415.jpg
 
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Bill Wright

Rush SR Owner
Jan 2, 2023
42
12
8
62
32401
@John H .
I'm assuming those are temperature recording "stickers" on the CV?
Are they one-time-use or all-time-maximum?
Where did you get them?
THANKS!
 

John H

Rush SR Owner
Jan 1, 2023
115
57
28
De Leon Springs, FL 32130
@John H .
I'm assuming those are temperature recording "stickers" on the CV?
Are they one-time-use or all-time-maximum?
Where did you get them?
THANKS!
Yes, they switch colors once a temp is reached and stay that way, so they give max temp since you stuck em on there. Great to monitor the health of the cv without being super proactive about it. Just check temps when doing bolt checks.

Those are from McMaster but thermolabel is a bit cheaper if you can use more.
 
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John H

Rush SR Owner
Jan 1, 2023
115
57
28
De Leon Springs, FL 32130
That's great info!
What temps should we see if the CV's are A-OK?
What lick said, you're looking for a change not an absolute value.

To give you an idea, for the outboards mine popped the 250 right after putting it on, then the 260 after a few sessions, then the 270 after several more, and eventually popped the 280 after days and has never gone above that. So that's my baseline peak. Changes could increase it but if I'm just doing my usual at Sebring and it's suddenly maxed out at 320, I know I've got some investigating to do.
 
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Licklobster

New member
Apr 21, 2023
21
9
3
Richmond Hill, GA
Pretty slick setup, I'll be trying that tool out. You might consider adding a tiny weep hole on the face which should let you know when the joint is full. Lot easier in these things to r&r axles then in the Exocet, Ill say that much.
 
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John H

Rush SR Owner
Jan 1, 2023
115
57
28
De Leon Springs, FL 32130
Pretty slick setup, I'll be trying that tool out. You might consider adding a tiny weep hole on the face which should let you know when the joint is full.

It would probably start coming out too quick for how much grease most want in there, the grease is actually really resistant to moving through the joint. Not hard to drill a hole though. I just weight it out, I didn't really show that well.

Lot easier in these things to r&r axles then in the Exocet, Ill say that much.
Most everything is, the idea that pulling the upright to make things easier would be entirely absurd on most other cars. But here it's so simple. If I was doing it again I could have the engine out in under an hour.