MINI Cooper Forum banner

CV Joint Replacement

6K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  SeanC 
#1 ·
I'd appreciate some help in the replacement of a CV joint onto an axle. I have the RH short axle and CV joint assembly out of the transmission and on the bench and need to get the CV Joint off the axle so I can fit a new one. There is an internal circlip and I guess there is some trick to getting these two apart. This is on a MC 2002 Manual Transmission.
 
#3 ·
Thanks Sean but well yes I had already tried to hammer the CV joint off the axle but like so many people have reported the Joint was immovable. I tried an ever bigger hammer up to a 5 lb sledge hammer but there was no way it was coming off. There was play in the joint on the axle so it wasn't seized but the circlip was not allowing the joint to come off. What to do. Out with the Dremel and the bearing cage was soon cut off. Once the bearing cage was sliced thru on the 5 webs the cage half slid back up the axle and the balls fell out. Now I could easily remove the outer part of the CV joint forward over the knuckle. So let's pull the knuckle off with the largest bearing puller in my workshop. The circlip continued to grip the knuckle and there was still no way it was going to part company. So again using the Dremel and a standard steel cutting blade I carefully cut down thru the knuckle almost to the axle splines. This was repeated on the other side and then I split the knuckle with a cold chisel. The knuckle still refused to move as the splines prevented the part from separating. With some hammering one half slid forward off the axle leaving the other half still firmly attached to the axle. Now however the circlip was exposed so I was able to grab the end with side cutters and pulled it out of the recess. Finally the remaining part slid off the axle. So the whole job probably took about 4 hours but if I was going to do this again I would grab the Dremel, cut thru the bearing cage (5 minutes) cut thru the knuckle (10 min) and the job would be done. I've posted photos with some shots of the process and a good reason to never drive with the CV joint worn. The wear on the knuckle was really severe and it would have disintegrated if I'd driven another 100 K. That would have then been a very expensive repair.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top