Bad cv joints

[kevyrev]

I need to replace both half shaft axles on my 91 festiva. But unfortunately I'm about to have this as an only car now and can't do the repair for a few weeks. I know the joints have been bad for a while. Car belonged to my mother in law and they were bad when she had it. Guess I'm just concerned about it possibly leaving me stranded or something. Would I be okay if I took it easy? Any opinions?

[bravekozak]

Hopefully they still have a little grease left inside. I have seen some very bad ones. You could possibly be stranded if one self destructs. Life on the edge.

[Festy46]

Most grease guns have a hose with 1/8 pipe thread. Take the coupling off the grease gun and get yourself a fitting to screw on to the hose and another fitting to adapt to the little plastic/nylon tubing like that used for a mechanical oil pressure gauge. Use about 6" of the tubing screwed on to your grease gun hose with the adapters. Then cut a tiny slit in your CV boot just big enough to get the tubing pushed into the CV joint. Fill the joint with grease until you see the boot starting to swell a little. This may buy you the time you need to get it fixed.

[kevyrev]

Good idea, thanks!

[skeeters_keeper]

A lot of grease guns come with a needle attachment specifically for situations like that - you can poke it through the boot w/o making a large hole.

But if the CV joints are already dead new grease won't help much - I'd at least carry a spare set with you. They don't take long to change (unless you get one that is really stuck in the transmission).

[WmWatt]

You can just undo the straps and push the rubber boot up the shaft to get at the bearings and stuff fresh grease in there. If you mess up any of the straps then nylon cable ties are an adequate subsitute. I've regreased my CV joints and got a few more miles out of them,and was able to reuse the straps.

P.S. I'd use bearing grease, not chassis grease. Bearing grease doesn't break down under higher temperatures.

[kevyrev]

Thanks for the advise. Just went ahead and bought both axle shafts to be on the safe side. The noise is terrible when you turn, cv cage must be trashed.