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

[John H]

(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)

50 grams of grease.

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

60 grams of grease.....

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

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

 

[DrPyro2k]

John - Where did you get the Lube Press that you use on the joint? That sure make's a clean packing!

 

[John H]

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.

(60 grams shown)

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.

 

[DrPyro2k]

Nice!

 

[Bill Wright]

@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]

@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.

 

[Bill Wright]

That's great info!
What temps should we see if the CV's are A-OK?

 

[Licklobster]

Temps are going to vary based on your local conditions, track, and driving style, to be honest. But once you know what normal temps are for YOU, you'll know what abnormal ones are as well.

 

[John H]

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.

 

[John H]

 

[Licklobster]

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.

 

[John H]

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.

 

[JChapman]

CV videos

A nice solution and thanks for showing the assembly tips.