Cv joints…

[Gmac]

Afternoon all.

I’ve got a clunking noise when reversing i to my driveway on full lock, so i think its a cv joint problem, not sure if its outer or inner, but i suspect outer. Few questions…

What’s the best way to diagnose if its A the cv joints and B the outer or inner? Id say its only nearside making the noise.

Then where is the best place to purchase said cv joint, not oem, as I’m sure the price will be mad compared to a good afterm item. Having read on here ECP seem best avoided as they’ll more than likely supply the wrong sized part.

Then lastly ive done a search on here, but cant see a how to guide? Fairly straight forward job? Hub bolt, driveshaft bolts, remove shaft etc.. ive got a ramp.
Thanks!

 

[Sloppy_1]

Afternoon all.

I’ve got a clunking noise when reversing i to my driveway on full lock, so i think its a cv joint problem, not sure if its outer or inner, but i suspect outer. Few questions…

What’s the best way to diagnose if its A the cv joints and B the outer or inner? Id say its only nearside making the noise.

Then where is the best place to purchase said cv joint, not oem, as I’m sure the price will be mad compared to a good afterm item. Having read on here ECP seem best avoided as they’ll more than likely supply the wrong sized part.

Then lastly ive done a search on here, but cant see a how to guide? Fairly straight forward job? Hub bolt, driveshaft bolts, remove shaft etc.. ive got a ramp.
Thanks!

mine had a new cv joint when i got it, it looked fairly crap (the cv boot looked super cheap and nasty generic shit3) plus all the boots on the front drive shafts were fairly w3nk with cracks starting,

i got the part numbers off the drive shafts and got a really nice set off ebay off a breaker for £75 and fitted them instead, job done. They were actually off a 1.9 tdi or something but were same part numbers, and even though i believe off an older car than nice the boots were extremely good.

 

[Gmac]

Are you saying you paid £75 for just boots? Or £75 for boots and second hand cv joints?

 

[Charlie Farley]

From a longevity and reliability point of view, new joints are the best plan, if new complete drive shaft assemblies are not viable cost wise then look at just new joint kits.
I bought a pair of complete drive shafts from auto doc and they have been rubbish, so I'm just going to rebuild the joints on my oem shafts and refit them.
The plastic cv boots are rubbish so avoid them, they just dry out and split, go with the rubber-based ones as they do last a lot longer and are way more flexible.
£75 sounds cheap but can you be sure they won't fail quite soon, i'd rather go the other route on my quattro.

Just a heads up, nearside and offside or not the same assembly, so make sure you get the correct parts.

 

[Charlie Farley]

And the hub bolt can be a real pain to loosen off so a decent long breaker bar and piece of steel extension tube will give you the leverage to loosen it.

 

[Sloppy_1]

sorry to be clear i got a set of very good genuine complete drive shafts left and right side for £75 off ebay, they had good boots on them so i just fitted them as they were, (gave em a nice clean up) that was 2 years ago and the still look spot on,

as above spurious parts are often shit3, im quite happy to buy good used original parts (sure they were off a 1.9 td) and fit them instead, same part numbers obviously.

the original plan was to re grease them and fit new boots to them (which the car was still useable) but they were in such decent shape i could not see the point in messing around with them.

 

[Charlie Farley]

That's fair enough chap, if they were low milage and in good condition thats a good find, probably one of the few though, you were lucky indeed.

 

[Gmac]

I know they are different form left and right side, but are they specific to the 3.0tdi, or will they all fit? Got a nice big breaker bar, and extension tube, so I’ll be good. the only thing i dont have is fancy (ish) pliers to redo the clips on the boots. Trying to think what else i could use..

 

[Charlie Farley]

Jubilee clips or a pair of carpet tack pinchers work really well.

 

[Charlie Farley]

If you checkout the parts link and your variant it list all the shafts applicable

 

[Gmac]

Heard good things about Jandrcvjoints.co.uk so will get something from them.

 

[Jamsmoo]

Heard good things about Jandrcvjoints.co.uk so will get something from them.

Can’t find any rears from these guys ,or many other suppliers are wheel side cv joints the same front and rear ?
Just spoke with Tps ,they want (are you sitting down) 393.47 for a rear outer cv joint kit


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[Gmac]

Can’t find any rears from these guys ,or many other suppliers are wheel side cv joints the same front and rear ?
Just spoke with Tps ,they want (are you sitting down) 393.47 for a rear outer cv joint kit


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Not sure if they are the same, sorry. Perhaps give them a call and ask them?

 

[Sp3no82]

Speaking from experience buy the best you can, i had a new drivers side shaft fitted after the outer CV joint on the original shaft split. I kid you not my car went back to the garage 7 times. The outer boot kept coming off, and twisting throwing all the grease out, it was changed under warrantee three times but the outer CV kept on failing, eventually after all this the inner CV failed. I ended up taking it to another garage and paid £411 to have the best after market shaft fitted and its been fine ever since.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I have to agree with the above, quality is no1 with these parts, don't go cheapo.
I bought a pair of so-called quality drive shafts from auto doc , one failed within 6 months so i put the old one back on and its been fine even though it was 15 years old.
Now the offside has failed so I'm going to refit the original one on this side .

 

[Charlie Farley]

Autodoc item ( failed inner joint) and original OEM shaft still very useable next to it.

 

[Jamsmoo]

I have to agree with the above, quality is no1 with these parts, don't go cheapo.
I bought a pair of so-called quality drive shafts from auto doc , one failed within 6 months so i put the old one back on and its been fine even though it was 15 years old.
Now the offside has failed so I'm going to refit the original one on this side .

Any idea of the part number of the outer rear for Quattro ,Tps wouldn’t give out part numbers


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[Charlie Farley]

Here James.

https://audi.7zap.com/en/rdw/audi+a4+s4+avant+quattro/a4q/2006-454/5/501-501010/

 

[Charlie Farley]

just crossref your chassis number to get the correct one.

 

[Jamsmoo]

just crossref your chassis number to get the correct one.

View attachment 263778

Thanks [mention]Charlie Farley [/mention] what would do without you


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[Charlie Farley]

Your welcome James.

 

[Gmac]

Had a quick go at removing the nearside driveshaft later this afternoon. I thought it would be possible to get the shaft out without removing suspension arms etc. not enough room though. I’d say the plated guard which sits above the inner joint isn’t helping. So i think tomorrow I’ll remove the top two arms, I’ve already removed the tie rod hoping that would be enough, but that wasn’t. So yeh, some of the YouTube videos speaks about getting them off without suspenion parts removal first, but perhaps with this being the 3.0tdi there‘s a difference…

if anyone can shed light on this before tomorow morning that would be great.

Thanks

 

[Jamsmoo]

Had a quick go at removing the nearside driveshaft later this afternoon. I thought it would be possible to get the shaft out without removing suspension arms etc. not enough room though. I’d say the plated guard which sits above the inner joint isn’t helping. So i think tomorrow I’ll remove the top two arms, I’ve already removed the tie rod hoping that would be enough, but that wasn’t. So yeh, some of the YouTube videos speaks about getting them off without suspenion parts removal first, but perhaps with this being the 3.0tdi there‘s a difference…

if anyone can shed light on this before tomorow morning that would be great.

Thanks

Haven’t yet attempted a front on my 3.0 but I’ve done a rear inner cv ,I had to remove the guard plate first which was a bit fiddly and required a couple of long socket extension bars ,managed to remove that and the drive shaft while sat at the wheel arch ,I try to avoid getting under the car when ever possible
Maybe revisit the guard plate if thats what’s stopping you ,be a lot less hassle than removing suspension arms.Best of luck


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[Charlie Farley]

Had a quick go at removing the nearside driveshaft later this afternoon. I thought it would be possible to get the shaft out without removing suspension arms etc. not enough room though. I’d say the plated guard which sits above the inner joint isn’t helping. So i think tomorrow I’ll remove the top two arms, I’ve already removed the tie rod hoping that would be enough, but that wasn’t. So yeh, some of the YouTube videos speaks about getting them off without suspenion parts removal first, but perhaps with this being the 3.0tdi there‘s a difference…

if anyone can shed light on this before tomorow morning that would be great.

Thanks

You can them wiggle them out, just a case of maneuvering them .
the heat shields above can be a pain but it is doable, my old bus being a 4 cyl only has the heatshield on the offside but the shaft can be extracted without touching the suspension.

 

[Gmac]

Took the guard plate off, held in by three 6mm hex bolts. I also then took out one of the top arms, the rear one, and that gave me enough room/movement to get the old drive shaft out. New one in, and got everything back together. Getting the top 6mm hex bolt back in was a right fiddle. anyway all good. Took it for a test drive and all fine from front end, power steering working fine too. No apparent leaks either, touch wood. I did however hear a rattle coming from the rear of the car, argh! SO back on the ramp and found the culprit, loose bit of heat shield near the offside back box. So secured that, and out for another wee drive. Could still hear a blooming rattle! SO back on the ramp and another poke around, and the dust shield behind the offside disc Was rattling too. So removed the caliper, removed the pads, unscrewed the wee retaining screw (T30) on the disc, and thankfully the disc comes past the carrier. The could see the very rusty t30 screw, which wasn't doing anything. Cleaned it up and added heat before attempting to undo it. Worked a treat, as although very stiff, it came off without rounding off. Sourced a washer and reattached the screw so the shield was now secure and not rattling! Result. Third road test, an no more rattles. I did however discover that the key fob was no longer locking and unlocking the car remotely. I guess as the battery was off for a period it would need pairing with the car again. It was working manually in the lock. So a quick YouTube and process of holding the unlock button for three seconds and having the key in the first position in the ignition barrel and all sorted. Car just needs a wash now!

 

[Gmac]

You can them wiggle them out, just a case of maneuvering them .
the heat shields above can be a pain but it is doable, my old bus being a 4 cyl only has the heatshield on the offside but the shaft can be extracted without touching the suspension.

There was no way that shaft was coming out without the heat shield removed And suspension parts removed. Tbh, it only takes a few minutes to get arms and tie rods off.

 

[Sp3no82]

How are you guys tightening the driveshaft to hub nut? I had the shaft off mine in the past myself and had to get a special socket and then borrow an extra long torque wrench to do the 200NM and then the 180 degree angle tighten. This was the reason i have always left it to a garage when it comes to the drive shaft nuts

 

[Charlie Farley]

There was no way that shaft was coming out without the heat shield removed And suspension parts removed. Tbh, it only takes a few minutes to get arms and tie rods off.

I suspect the 3.0 lump is a more snug fit so may account for the lack of room compared to the 4 cyl power plant.

 

[Sloppy_1]

i got mine out no problem just removed the heat shield, its very snug but possible was a pleasure to be able to do this as most cars you cant

 

[Gmac]

How are you guys tightening the driveshaft to hub nut? I had the shaft off mine in the past myself and had to get a special socket and then borrow an extra long torque wrench to do the 200NM and then the 180 degree angle tighten. This was the reason i have always left it to a garage when it comes to the drive shaft nuts

Pretty much like you said, think it was something like a 17mm hex socket, attached to small 1/2” extension and then I've got a large torque wrench, goes to 300nm or so, so yeh 200nm on it is no problem.