Driveshaft gaiter replacement tutorial

[<tuffty/>]

As I needed to do the inboard gaiter on my nearside driveshaft and I know the question of how gaiters are changed comes up quite a bit I took a few pics as I changed mine to give you an idea of how to go about it.

While this is based on the S3 driveshaft the principle is relevant give or take a few differences across cars...

The way I went about this is to remove the shaft from the car and sort it on a bench... this can be done with the car on axle stands but I had access to a ramp...

First undo the hub bolt (17mm hex)... this is very tight and I used a long breaker bar to undo it with the weight of the car on the wheels and the wheels chocked as the handbrake doesn't always hold the car... To avoid wheel bearing damage, do not slacken the bolt by more than 90 degrees until you have jacked the car up...


Once you have removed the wheel, undo the bolts holding the inboard joint to the gearbox drive flange (10mm spline)...


Little trick to keep the shaft from moving as you undo it is to use a screwdriver placed tactically in the brake discs vents and it will hold against the caliper...


Undo the ball joint nut (18mm spanner).... on an S3 (or any VAG with forged arms rather than pressed steel ones) the the 3 fixing points for the ball joint are slotted to allow for camber adjustment and undoing these may mean you will need to get the suspension realigned...


...splitting the joint...


...if you have factory Xenons (S3's etc) and are doing the nearside (uk car) shaft, you will need to undo the level sensor rod thats attached to the lower arm as you can break the arm off the sensor when you move the lower arm down to get the ball joint out of the stub axle...


Pull the suspension strut assembly towards the outside of the car to release the outer joint from the hub and remove the shaft...

I bought a genuine Audi gaiter as GSF didn't have it listed... I have bought an aftermarket one before but its a different design to the Audi one. The Audi one is just a boot that clips to a metal flange on the joint, the aftermarket one replaces the whole thing...

Aftermarket one...


Audi kit...


Remove the clip and just cut the old gaiter off to remove it...


Remove the end cap by tapping or prising it off... the Audi kit comes with a replacement but if yours doesn't then take more care than I did


Clean up the grease from the back of the joint taking care not to overextend it on an angle as it can (and will!) fall apart... putting it back together is not the most fun job in the world but can be done...
Remove the circlip on the back... the kit came with a new one...


Carefully knock the joint off the shaft to remove it...


Clean as much of the old grease off as you can, I used brake cleaner but don't worry if you don't get it all unless the gaiter has been split long enough to allow in dirt and grit in which case you may need to replace the joint...


Slip the new boot over the end of the shaft first (use a little grease to help it slide over) and use the supplied grease to pack out the joint...


Push the joint back onto the shaft and clean around the circlip groove if its covered with grease... fit the new circlip...


Fit the boot over the flange of the joint, separate the new clip and slip it over the boot... clip it back together and use gentle pressure with a pair of end pliers (or a proper tool if you have one) to tighten the clip...


With the other face of the joint sat in the workbench, gently tap the new end cap on with a soft face hammer making sure you have lined up the bolt holes... its quite tight...


And there you have it, refitting is more or less the reverse of removal...


Do up the hub bolt according to following recommendations...
‒ Have second mechanic press brake.
‒ Tighten hexagon collared bolt to 240 Nm.
‒ Set vehicle down on its wheels.
‒ Give hexagon collared bolt further 90° turn.
‒ Slacken off hexagon collared bolt again by 90°.
‒ Raise vehicle.
‒ Slacken off hexagon collared bolt by a further 90°.
‒ Have second mechanic press brake.
‒ Tighten hexagon collared bolt to 240 Nm.
‒ Set vehicle down on its wheels.
‒ Give hexagon collared bolt further 90° turn.

When I do my next outboard joint/gaiter I'll update this thread..

<tuffty/>

[Ian W]

I think I will doing this in the next few weeks, can't say i'm looking forward to it.

Nice to see its no more involved than other cars though, must say I find the S3 quite straightforward to work on !

Great guide btw

[Madeley]

I did my wishbone bushes last week for the mot retest and noticed the inner gator had gone, so changed that too 1/2 hour the do the job and 3 hours driving around to find a spline tool. the mot tester said the inner gator was not part of a mot....strange!!

[fingermouse]

The tool for the clips is worth every penny. I had one come off that I did with pincers and it cost me a cv joint

[NHN]

Nice write up mate, really do appreciate the time people like yourself put into these writeups, even if I'm no longer an S3 driver but enjoyed 7 years of pure joy, but this is great for others to get there fingers dirty.

[gavin89]

fantastic write up mate!

[sportstractor]

Good work.

yeah pincers can weaken the strap, I bought the tool when i did mine this time round and it was alot better.

I enjoy working on the s3 as its so easy... when you wanted to change the cv on my peugeot I had to dump the gearbox oil everytime.

[Ian W]

Just a bump to see if anyone has the part number for the gaitor kit from Audi?

[superkarl]

give me half an hour and il put it up

got one at home in the garage

[Ian W]

Nice one mate.

[superkarl]

Ok, part number: 1J0 498 201E

[nealb]

will this kit be the same for 1.8t sport fwd? thanks

[bazil]

Just thought I'd add a little info,

First off big thanks for the * how to * it's made it very clear for me, however my drive shaft nut is different, I wonder if the torque figures and procedure is the same?

So with the Audi INNER CV boot kit you get a new boot, back plate, boot clip, cir-clip and drive shaft hub nut and a tube of grease,
With the outer boot kit you get, boot, large boot clip, small boot clip, a wire C shape clip and 2 plastic spacers,

Ill add pictures later once I have renewed all 4 boots on both my shafts,

The parts numbers below are for my 2000 S3 APY

[aragorn]

I took some photos of the internals of the joints.

I figured it was a good idea to strip them down and fully clean and regrease them:

Our New 1.8TQS Avant

[<tuffty/>]

I took some photos of the internals of the joints.

I figured it was a good idea to strip them down and fully clean and regrease them:

Our New 1.8TQS Avant

Not for the feint hearted... have done this a few times (not always by choice!) and they can be a bugger to put back together so only do this if you are confident...

<tuffty/>

[aragorn]

Yeh, though its just being careful and methodical.

First time i did the inner one i put the inner segment back in 60degrees out from where it should be, which locks the joint up nicely after you get about 4 balls back in lol!

If the boot has split, i'd defo suggest stripping it to make sure you've removed all the road grime thats made its way into the old grease.

[bazil]

I don't have much of an option but to strip it, I have no idea how long it's been like this !

[<tuffty/>]

Urrgghhh!!... that looks nasty... thats probably verging on replacement joint territory...

Good luck...

<tuffty/>

[aragorn]

Yeh might as well strip it down though, rebuild with fresh grease and see if theres any play in it.

[bazil]

so due to the state of the gaitor i stripped the CV to give it a good clean, im glad to report its fine with no heavy scoring or grooves, while i was doing it i took some pictures and wanted to add them to this thread to help others,

as said earlier it can be tricky rebuilding the inner CV so i took a few precautions to help me,

so it looked this this when removed



cleaned up it had this


then i used a centre punch and put a mark on the spline drive inner and another mark on the bearing holder, then i removed the tin cap on the side the driveshaft comes through and emptied out the contents from that side of the holder, the ball bearings only come out this side,



here are the marks i made earlier in order to reassemble in the correct order, also note that the spline drive has a smooth side on the side that faces the gearbox and a raised groove on the side that faces the hub, also the bearing holder has a groove on the side closest to the hub aswell,


rebuilding this is fun i eventually settled on this meathod,
get 3 sockets like this


sit the 2 parts on the sockets with the hub facing side upwards,


next get the ball bearing cage and balls ans sit in the general position where they should be


now gently lift the whole thing up ( being on the sockets makes it so easier to lift ) and push ONLY the spline drive in the centre upwards like so


the balls will drop into place then allow the centre to drop back in and you should have this


then put the cap back, use a soft head mallet etc as these caps are easily bent or damaged with a heavy hammer



job done now onto the outer cv

[bazil]

I mentioned earlier that my car had a hub nut rather than a bolt in tuffy's post, as it turns out the bolt and nut torque settings are different and 2WD and 4WD settings are also different, I have borrowed this pic from work, just use the info relevant to your car.

[aragorn]

When i did mine, i put the cages together with no balls, then fed the balls in one at a time, by twisting the centre and middle bit over opening up the hole in the side of the cage.

[bazil]

I used that method on the outer CV when rebuilding it, I dare say other methods may be easier I just done it that way first time round and it seamed easy,

[aragorn]

Yeh your first method wouldn't work on the outer as the joint has no "plunge" action.

I did the outer first, and just used that method on both sides.