Drive shaft gaiters

[Vinnie_Hki]

Hi All,

 

(Car in question is a 1991 HPC VX De dion)

 

I've searched about and the usual has happened - now confused, but at a higher level 😳

 

Reading various threads it seems that one can change the gaiters on the shaft, but the threads suggest this may require specialist help, may need several pairs of hands, may involve cir clips, may not...may be easy...may not...

 

So - I have a drive shaft on my bench, the gaiters are both split and I can't really see how the thing comes apart so that you can remove and replace the gaiters. Can't see any circlips. At each end of the shaft there are the joint "pots" which have disc like plates at the inboard end of each pot making access to the pot fairly impossible it seems. Is there a cir clip lurking in there somewhere?

 

So, what is the answer to this mystery - how do you break split the shaft - is it brute force as some threads seem to imply?

 

 

Vinnie

 

Edited by - vinnie_hki on 24 Mar 2012 12:11:55

[Wrightpayne]

Vinnie

 

 

There is basically a metal can peened over the end of the cv joint which the gaitor fits onto. This can needs to come off to get the joint apart. IIRC you only need to get one end apart to change both gaitors.

 

 

Ian

[MADMALC]

Vinnie have you taken the 'tin can' off? You have to destroy it to get it off, the gaiter kit has a replacement included.

On my 1998 car there were NO circlips and I had to use much brute force and heat to remove the 'spyder'.

 

[Guy Lowe]

Drive shaft boot, can, grease and clip = FORD part Number 1058427

Guy

 

Posting as much as I can because Barry is going to cut me off soon as I am skint !

 

 

[Tony Whitley]

No circlip as such, there is metal clip that goes round the gaiter. It's a medium-tricky job but I don't recall any need for a lot of brute force. Then again, that's my default setting 😬

[Vinnie_Hki]

Cheers all.

 

Now I get it (I think!) So I need to open up the end of the pot which will allow the disc thingies I mentioned to escape and thus open up the joint. Then I can remove the pot / can itself and replace the gaiters etc.

 

So far I've elected to simply bolt the shaft back in to the car while I source the bits - I think seeing the replacement can and gaiter may be a big clue

 

Thanks all - I was (Previously) under the impression that the shaft was not serviceable without specialist equipment.

 

Cheers

 

Vinnie

 

Edited by - Vinnie_HKI on 25 Mar 2012 14:18:06

[Richard Price]

Vinnie,

Drive shaft gaiter kit here.

 

It's possible to replace the inner gaiter with a "duraboot" which will stretch over the CV joint so that you don't need to cut off the tin sleeve.

 

 

[Vinnie_Hki]

Cheers all - we think we can source the bits locally tomorrow as there seems to be a Sierra kit that will do the job - we'll know Monday

 

Vinnie

[Guy Lowe]

Quoting Guy Lowe: 

Drive shaft boot, can, grease and clip = FORD part Number 1058427

Yes it is for the Sierra and that is the part number I gave you

Guy

[Vinnie_Hki]

Yep - I had a go at this job today. I was advised by Rottweiler that I should go the Duraboot way....so I didn't 😬 But kinda wish I had 😳

 

For the record:

 

In this way you can replace both the gaiters on the drive shaft without removing the hub nut or the rear disc etc. You simply have to undo the caliper and the caliper frame, then the four nuts holding the rear hub to the de dion and just withdraw the shaft.

 

So, having got the shaft on the bench (again) and secured the shaft in such a way that the joint from the diff end was fairly rigid I worked my way around the end / edge of the can that surrounds the joint, prising it away from the bright silver steel of the shaft that goes in to the diff. Once it was opened up all the way round I started to drift it off (pushing it down the shaft in other words)

 

After a few clouts the can came loose and cleared the joint. Once it's off then the aforementioned bright silver shaft with the splines that goes in the diff "comes off in yer 'ands guv".

 

Next up you should probably avoid doing what I did - I wondered what sort of bearings the three circular doobreys were on the spider - cue needle rollers all over my bench (35 per bearing I can now inform you 😔) It may be a good idea to remove the three bearings as the next step involves some brute force. I note some references on the topic of fairies on other threads. I pray to the garage gods at this point. Those same gods to whom I have made sacrifices of knuckles and other bits of skin - which I believe they relish. Anyhow, yes, a quick prayer to the garage gods, a suitable drift, a large birmingham screwdriver (hammer) and some sharp clouts sees the spider drift off the end of the shaft.

 

At that point you can remove both gaiters, replace, slide on the new can / joint cover. The drift the spider back on to the end of the shaft. If, like me (fool) you have needle rollers in little philadelphia cheese containers waiting to go back into their journals, now's the time. Using the grease supplied with the kit to hold them in place, then when all 35 of the little buggers are sitting in a neat circle like that fairground ride, where you stand up at the edge of the spinning disc, you can put the bearing race / cover whatever it is back over them.

 

Now you put the splined shaft over the end of the spider and put the new can back over the assembly. You'll need a ball pein hammer (Or at least it's what I used) to then round off the end of the can onto the shoulder of the shaft. It's not so easy to describe but is self evident when you see it.

 

Secure the gaiters with the clips / straps provided, clean up the acres of grease that you've inevitably got all over it and take it back to the car - refit

 

 

 

Edited by - Vinnie_HKI on 27 Mar 2012 19:49:44

[Johnty Lyons]

Yeah Yeah Yeah,

Duraboot would have been 5min job But you always do yer own thing.

Well done anyway.

Rotty.

[Guy Lowe]

Quoting Johnty Lyons: 

Yeah Yeah Yeah,

Duraboot would have been 5min job But you always do yer own thing.

Well done anyway.

Rotty.

You can only replace the inner gaiter with a "duraboot" if you use a "duraboot" for the outer it will only last about 1000 miles. I know, as do many others who have done it

Guy