Hello,

Today I replaced the outer cv joint on the left side because it was doing 'tak tak tak' while turning. While replacing I saw there was water in the ruber boot because I didn't tighten the hose clamp enough sadly when I replaced the boot earlier. Today I was trugling again, like the last time to remove the cv joint because of that circlip. I think there are only 2 options: hammer the axle out of the cv joint or tighten the hub bolt in the cv joint to push the axle out. I did the last but it was a real pain to tighten that bolt! again! It damages the splines every time. I also wonde why the circlip is not completely round.

Also for installing I couldn't get the axle in with the new circlip, It was just bending. Does anyone has experience in removing the outer cv joint? How do you do it and did you also have a struggle?

I like to hear your stories or tips!

thanks in advance

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photo from google

I've had to replace both of my outer CV boots in the last 12 months as the material was splitting at the smaller end where the smaller of the two clips clamps the boot onto the driveshaft. They were the original boots though and the car has now done over 170k so I can't grumble too much, in my experience the inner CV boots have a much shorter lifespan before they perish and split.

As for the wire circlip you mention, it seems like they're a bit of a lottery. The first boot I renewed was for the nearside driveshaft and in this case, winding the hub bolt in against the shaft pushed the CV joint off no problem. When it came to do the offside shaft outer boot some months later, there was no way that this method was going to work. In the end, I had to put the shaft in a bench press and use a small length of steel bar inserted through the hub bolt hole in the joint to act as a drift. And even then, the thing was a complete asshole to get off. The state of the wire circlip after removal explained why it had been so difficult to remove the joint, but why the nearside one had been so easy in comparison I have no idea.

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