OK gents,

I am undecided about doing this work myself or sending it to a pro. Can someone go over step by step on how to remove the drive shaft so that I have a fair idea on what needs to be done?

Background: Left inner pot joint boot is loose and has come off. Clunking noise from right outer CV, steering rack boot is busted.

TOOLS: Leyland manual, ball joint separator, torque wrench with 1 1/8 inch hub nut socket, regular socket set, mallet, impact driver for drum brake screws, cold beer waiting in fridge.

STEP1: Jack up both side of front of car with axle stands, chock back wheels, hand brake on etc. Take off wheel. Do I need to take off the brake drums too? or can I take it off as a whole unit including swivel hub and drive flange?
STEP2: Drain engine oil
STEP3: remove Hub nut cover (which right one is missing), take out hub nut split pin, Undo the hub Nut.
STEP4: Support the hub using jack or some other method
STEP5: undo the top and bottom ball joint nuts and steering arm nuts
STEP6: use ball joint separator tool (Can i use a ball joint separator fork instead??) to disconnect the upper and lower ball joints. Disconnect the steering arm joint
STEP7: Take out whole swivel hub, making sure to support the drive shaft and not let it dangle in mid air
STEP8: Yank out the drive shaft, CV, pot joint and all. Will it fit through the hole in the subframe? Looks mighty small…
STEP9: Disconnect outer CV from drive shaft. Cut Pot Joint boot. Disconnect the pot joint from drive shaft by knocking it with a mallet
STEP10: clean up everything! (big job, as the arms currently have 36 years of dirt on them). Clean the pot joint by taking all the balls out of the pot joint. What can I use to clean it with? Petrol? Degreaser or metholated spirits etc?
STEP11: Regrease everything up with half tube of CV grease. Rotate the shaft making sure everything is covered in grease.
STEP12: Check condition of CV joints by cutting the boot open and making sure there is still grease in the CV. If any other condition consult Doc Mini . Grease it back up with half the tube of CV grease.
STEP13: Connect the CV back onto drive shaft, install new CV boot. Grease the CV boot up with remaining grease.
STEP14: Pop on a new boot for the Pot joint, pile in the remaining CV grease from tube. Use the tie thingies make sure everything is tight, drive shafts kept dry for a tight boot fit.
STEP15: reinstall drive shaft onto body, support shaft while swivel hubs are not yet on.
STEP16: Swivel hubs back on, tighten the hub nut to 50pounds (as per book) or all the way tight, undo it one turn. Pop on the split pin and hub cover. grease up the nipples and have a beer!
STEP17: Curse loudly, remove everything and put on the steering rack boot on

Questions:

0) HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING???
1) Do I need to take off the brake drums to remove the swivel hubs?
2) Must I use an expensive Ball joint remover or can I just use one of those 2 prong fork thingies?
3) Do the inner pot joint and outer CV joints use the same grease? Is this the same Lithium Grease that I use to grease up the ball joint nipples??
4) What do I use to degrease everything? Degreaser? Petrol? Metho? Simple cloth wipe?
5) When I take out the swivel hub is there anything that I need to remove before I can do that? Like circlips?
6) When I have everything out, what small cheap items should I be replacing? Like circlips, split pins etc? stuff that wears out often and should be replaced regularly
7) Do I need special tools to remove the wheel bearings and grease them up with HTB grease?
Anything else Doc?

The deal is if I do it myself i get to 1) learn, 2) save a bit of cash (maybe, cuase it will cost $300+ at the mechanics), 3) gloat that I did it myself...

What do you think? I know what Dr Mini's vote will be

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

It's an easy job, should take about 2-3 hours. Give or take a ball joint or two. Best to replace all the boot's too. I did mine when i when i built my car, used normal grease for the cv's and also the pots, although i now have S Joint's now. Make sure you have all the right tools and you will be fine. I suggest you park up and put it on stands, remove the wheels and then hit the ball joints with some wd40 or the like. Do all of this the night before so that it soaks in. Hopefully they will fall apart. You will the a big socket for the hub nut, a breaker bar, or a air compressor to get em off. Best to do this before you take the wheels off. Just lossen them, then up on the stands. Get ya girlfriend/ boyfriend/ mum to stand on the breaks if you are using a breaker bar. The rest of it is easy.... just make sure when you put the hub nuts back on that you torque them up.

Cheers

Aaron

Righto Aaron, talked me into it, i ordered the parts...

Now can I borrow a breaker bar?

While your at it, do you have a torque wrench I can borrow?

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

just wondering, while we're on the subject of CV's, mine need doing too, RH one badly - sounds terrible when turning. Is there any risk of damaging anything if i don't rix it right away? I just got my S back on the road and used up all my spare cash getting the engine done and it will be a few weeks before i can get a new CV. I've been just driving it and ignoring the clattering CV but i don't want to create a problem... is it likely to be ok?
Thanks
Geoff

Hey Geoff,

I read that if it is the outer CV (makes noise when turning full lock) then it gets most stress when reversing at full lock. It is said that the usual point where they fail is when reversing hard... someone want to confirm/correct me?

In any case, I've stopped driving my car because of this... even though the inner CV (Pot joint) is more rugged than the outer CV which is used in turning the car as well. I'd be careful!

I held off all other fixes until this one is done!

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

I would fix it ASAP. If it is a daily, i thik it best to fix it before it makes you fix it, which always happens at the most inconvienient time.

68 i have the socket and the tourque wrench but no breaker bar. I have an air compressor and a rattle gun. You can borrow them if you like. Normal rules apply you break it you own it.

Cheers

Aaron

LOL Aaron you're so sweet! I'll go buy a torque wrench, 1 1/8socket and breaker bar for myself. Easier that way, then I can always use them

I will seriously need to borrow your skills later on though if i run into trouble

Ta for advice,
Chong

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

haha, me, skill, you saw my mini and all the paint scratchs....

pffft paint,at least it was mechanically A1.

Well i totally forgot that my cousin has all the tools (after all the guys a mechanic!) so I am going over there tommorrow night and stealing all his snap-on stools hehehe

"Hey dude let me borrow your breaker bar"
"Dude i got 2, one Taiwan one and one Snap on one, you can borrow the taiwan one"
"cmon man, how long have I known you?"
"dude long enough to not lend you my snap on one!"

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

LMFAO, hmmmmmmm. Why people like Snap-on, I have absolutely bloody no idea. I'll admit that in quite a few cases their specialist tools have saved me a lot of heartache. But for the price, I dont believe they are really worth it.

Anyways, Hope it all works out for ya, it's really not that hard. but it IS messy. I'd use degreader or petrol to wash all the grease from the cv's and make sure they are spotless and dry, before getting the new grease out.

As to your CV's, the ONLY grease you should use is the grease supplied with the boot kits, or Molybdenum Disulphide Grease. iF ya have any drama's talk to the guys at a Repco or something. They should be able to help ya out.

_________________
"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

PM sent.
As Phil said, it's important to use the proper grease in CVs particularly, and pot joints- if there's none in the boot kits, go buy some Castrol LMM molygrease. Ordinary grease works for a while, but it can't handle the extreme load pressures in a CV.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I used Valvoline Valplex LM. Suitable for Disc AND drum wheel bearings, and CV' joints. So I was happy as a pig in poo when I had to do my wheel bearings and CV's LOL.

Havent had any drama with it yet, and still got 3/4 of the cartridge.

Doc, did you have any drama's with the Castrol being a bit runny/saggy? I seem to remember you said that about one of the greases. This Valplex is damnnn viscous, great stuff.

Have PLENTY of rags with ya when yer messing with the stuff though, it's a special form of jumping grease which will find any part of your anatomy which comes within six feet of the crap.

_________________
"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

Valplex is OK.
Valvoline lithium grease (the blue stuff) gets runny in the gun- drips out the back on me pants.. apparently lithium greases all do this when put under pressure.

Had no probs with the Castrol LMM in the past, but I've not done any CVs lately.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I got the LM(moly fortified) dark grey stuff. Considering the 30 different grades of moly grease we have at work, I couldnt decide which one to use, and decided to buy an automotive one.

_________________
"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."

I used normal grease and drive the car everyday, if you want to use fancy stuff, go right ahead but normal grease works. Been driving around with em like that for 4 years.