CV joint 1996 Passat TDI-Need advice

JohnJTDI · Jun 8, 2015

Need to replace the drivers side cv joint; plan to replace the entire axle. Que

stion- where to I find a non-Chinese axle, and do I go new or reman?

smos1 · Jun 8, 2015

I'm sure you'll get a lot of opinions on what to do, or not to do. I tried to reuse, rebuild my CV joint ONCE, and it was a big nasty, greasy mess that took most of an afternoon that I could have been doing something else I actually enjoyed. So...when it was time to do CV number 2, I bought one from NAPA, nice and clean, and ready to install...with a LIFETIME warranty. So if there should ever be a problem, I can just take it back and get a replacement.
I still have the original axle that the NAPA one replaced, just in case.
Good luck

Steve Addy · Jun 8, 2015

I assume you mean you need to replace the outer CV? The inner joints don't typically need to be replaced, at least not for a couple hundred thousand miles.

CV's are not difficult to repack but they can be messy, but that's why I have nitrile gloves too. I try and flip CV's from one side to the other during repacking, both inner and outer if possible, it reverses the wear pattern.

I can appreciate the ease and convenience of a new lifetime replacement though although I've never gone that route, at least not yet anyway.

If you do ever go with a passenger side new axle make sure that it's a hollow axle and be sure and transfer your vibration donut from the old axle. I have heard of replacements that aren't hollow and they don't drive as well as the OE hollow axles.

Steve

nh nam vet · Jun 8, 2015

I replaced my driver's side front axle with a factory remanufactured unit, JZW407449CX, in October 2012. I bought it from Sam Swope VW in Indiana. The cost was $180 with a core charge of $200 and shipping was $35.46. No issues, no worries. I am up to 308k miles today. Jeff

Lug_Nut · Jun 9, 2015

I'm about to replace the axles on my new-to-me '05. I'm doing this time what I've done a few previous: new axles. Not re-manufactured, but new.
I've had more than a few re-mans that were nothing more than re-greased, many that were not re-assembled correctly (retaining clips replaced by thinner snap rings, thrust washers installed upside down) and the new ones are actually lower priced than the re-mans even after the core exchange of my dead ones. They are so low priced (<$80 each) that I can't imagine that they are from anywhere else but Asia, but my past experience is that they aren't cheaply made.
Quality? I've not have problems with any of the new axles, but I have with nearly every one of the re-manufactured ones.
"Lifetime warranty" doesn't cover down time and towing and labor. Your cheap axle broke? Here's another one exactly the same, Good luck getting that to last any longer.

Abacus · Jun 9, 2015

I usually go the NAPA route since they're easily accessible, in stock, and only $46 for the lifetime. I have had bad ones right out of the box and I have had good ones that lasted for many years. All have been rebuilt VW ones, complete with the VW numbers and stampings on them. I understand all they do is swap the parts and reboot them, but that's fine.

But, as I progress in years I am less and less inclined to risk having to do the job twice, so I will probably buy new next time.

Keep in mind that a bad CV joint, if ignored, will cause ancillary damage to connected components (wheel bearings & transmission seals immediately come to mind). And as Lug Nut mentioned, can leave you stranded when/if it grenades.

JohnJTDI · Jun 9, 2015

Asia??

Lug_Nut said:
I'm about to replace the axles on my new-to-me '05. I'm doing this time what I've done a few previous: new axles. Not re-manufactured, but new.
I've had more than a few re-mans that were nothing more than re-greased, many that were not re-assembled correctly (retaining clips replaced by thinner snap rings, thrust washers installed upside down) and the new ones are actually lower priced than the re-mans even after the core exchange of my dead ones. They are so low priced (<$80 each) that I can't imagine that they are from anywhere else but Asia, but my past experience is that they aren't cheaply made.
Quality? I've not have problems with any of the new axles, but I have with nearly every one of the re-manufactured ones.
"Lifetime warranty" doesn't cover down time and towing and labor. Your cheap axle broke? Here's another one exactly the same, Good luck getting that to last any longer.

Asia means China, or not neccesarily so??

Lug_Nut · Jun 10, 2015

Indonesia, Viet Nam, Taiwan, Philippines, ...."Asia" covers a LOT of territory.
That said, PRC is a higher probability of being the source than another country in that geo-political region.

Abacus said:
I have had bad ones right out of the box and I have had good ones that lasted for many years. All have been rebuilt VW ones, complete with the VW numbers and stampings on them. I understand all they do is swap the parts and reboot them, but that's fine.

Was this joint as it came out or have items already been removed? The thrust washer and retaining clip don't appear to be present or not correct for a VW axle.
It's this type of shoddy re-assembly that caused me to quit using re-man assemblies. The defects in workmanship (probably provided temporary day-laborer in a US location) negates whatever quality might have remained in worn components. The weakest link syndrome...
A moderate level of quality of components and a moderate level of quality control is far superior to better parts and crappy assembly.

oilhammer · Jun 10, 2015

These axles are SO EASY to rebuild yourself, LOL... you guys crack me up.

That is one of the greatest advantages that a Volkswagen has over virtually every other brand. We can buy good, quality, reasonably priced parts brand new for these (joints, boots) and they come apart super easy. I'll take an original GKN-Lobro drive axle with half a million miles on it over a brand new Chaxle any day. Because I can rebuild the original and make it as good as new.

Plus, you can also swap joints on the axle (side to side) so after 1/4 million miles you get to start with a fresh surface inside.

Abacus · Jun 10, 2015

Lug_Nut said:
Was this joint as it came out or have items already been removed? The thrust washer and retaining clip don't appear to be present or not correct for a VW axle.
It's this type of shoddy re-assembly that caused me to quit using re-man assemblies. The defects in workmanship (probably provided temporary day-laborer in a US location) negates whatever quality might have remained in worn components. The weakest link syndrome...

I have no idea to your questions since this was a rescue when the joint blew apart driving down the road. I received a call earlier in the morning about a B4 making noise and upon description I thought it was probably a CV shaft or wheel bearing. The owner thought it was a wheel bearing. 1/4 mile from his house it let go and he needed a tow.

I drove the car less than 500 miles prior on some VCDS runs and the car exhibited no sign the joint was failing. When he called that morning he said it'd been making noise/vibrations for just that week but it was so bad he was afraid of doing unrepairable damage.

I grabbed a spare used axle from my barn and swapped it in his driveway.

Lug_Nut · Jun 10, 2015

Seeing the axle still in the car with the inner spider on the splined shaft right up to the end of the shaft and comparing it to the closer view with the axle out of the car confirms to my satisfaction that this was an incorrectly re-assembled axle.
Again, the quality of the part doesn't make up for defects in workmanship. Someone screwed up the re-assembly when this now-dead axle was last put together.

JohnJTDI · Jun 12, 2015

Part source ?

oilhammer said:
These axles are SO EASY to rebuild yourself, LOL... you guys crack me up.
That is one of the greatest advantages that a Volkswagen has over virtually every other brand. We can buy good, quality, reasonably priced parts brand new for these (joints, boots) and they come apart super easy. I'll take an original GKN-Lobro drive axle with half a million miles on it over a brand new Chaxle any day. Because I can rebuild the original and make it as good as new.
Plus, you can also swap joints on the axle (side to side) so after 1/4 million miles you get to start with a fresh surface inside.

Where do u get the parts to rebuild??

oilhammer · Jun 15, 2015

Worldpac, usually. Or Volkswagen. Lots of other places can get them, too.

16vjohn · Jun 15, 2015

JohnJTDI said:
Need to replace the drivers side cv joint; plan to replace the entire axle. Question- where to I find a non-Chinese axle, and do I go new or reman?

I'm usually with you when it comes to Chinese parts, but I've put 90,000 miles on a $40 axle from Autozone with zero issues. I've actually never had an CV fail (OEM or otherwise) that didn't have a torn boot/contamination.

Steve Addy · Jun 15, 2015

I would be reluctant to return my OE axle as core for a chinese replacement. CV's can be swapped and / or replaced if necessary but I like the OE axle shaft.

Then again since factory B4 tdi axles are the same as a Mk3 2.0 axle there's plenty of them out there.

Steve

JohnJTDI · Jul 8, 2015

CV replacement

Ended up with a reman from O'Reilly. Thanks for the input! Kept the OE shaft for future use.

0die · Jul 8, 2015

Autozone axles...pretty economical and lifetime warranty...rebuilding is messy.

While I agree that rebuilding a good OEM axle is best...assuming you do it right away so that the CV has not been grinding itself up.

that said I have not clue if my old axle was the OEM one or a cheapo replacement...so not gonna waste time rebuilding it...

FordGuy100 · Jul 8, 2015

I'm rocking a new NAPA drivers side axle. The passenger side needs one. And Abacus, thank you for mentioning a bad CV can cause wheel bearing issues. The passenger side axle is about done, and I've gone through 2 wheel bearings in the last 15K miles.

I keep my factory axles just in case. I am totally down for buying rebuild parts but didnt know anyone sold them anymore. I will look into that!

ketchupshirt88 · Jul 8, 2015

i just warranteed my driver side axle from napa. it was only a year old but it wasnt the axle that failed, the bolts walked out or snapped (2 broke,3 loose and 1 holding the thing on by a thread) i probably forgot locktite or neglected to torque them. its such an easy job that i didnt feel too bad about doing it twice...

Napa didnt care why it failed, they just handed me another axle and i was on my way.

i went with napa's reman axles over rebuild because the axle i took out a year ago wasnt a VW one anyway.

gfnetadmin · Oct 24, 2015

Not being the original owner and not knowing the service history,, was the original driver's side axle solid or hollow?

Steve Addy · Oct 24, 2015

gfnetadmin said:
Not being the original owner and not knowing the service history,, was the original driver's side axle solid or hollow?

Driver axle is solid, only the passenger side is hollow.

I'd much prefer to buy new good quality CV's and install them on the OE axle versus some of the remans I see out there. I realize that it may be more expensive to go that route but I don't like having to get under the car every 12 months for the same thing if I can avoid it.

Steve

gfnetadmin · Oct 24, 2015

Thanks once again for your help. I am doing the VR6 5 lug swap as part of a B4 refresh that's been going on for longer than I could have ever imagined.

From what I can tell from looking at the donor car axles, the driver's side is OEM. Outer boots have VW markings and VW part #'s on them, no VW part # stamped on the axle itself. It is solid and relatively small diameter compared to the other side.

The passenger side is larger diameter and hollow, just like my old TDI axle. It appears to have been rebuilt by a company called Interparts. Their name is stamped on the outer CV boot.

Today, I thought that I could speed up things by removing all axle unknowns and start with new. Picked up a set of CarQuest new axles, total cost after 30% online discount was about $100,, and a $20 Speed Perks reward for upcoming NiCopp brake line buy.

Both of these new axles are same diameter, both solid, and little or no paint on the axle shafts. Driver's side inner boot has no clamps, passenger side inner has one clamp on the inner side of the boot, none on the outer side. Outer boots are clamped on both ends.

After firing up the wood stove and staring at new and old, I just can't see myself putting these new replacements on the car.

I know from reading other posts on this topic that the preferred solution is to reboot the outers and swap outer joints side to side. I do have a set of Rein outer boots,, but I now know that one side is already a rebuilt. Is the reboot and flip outer joint still my best option? Can I tell whether or not the passenger side rebuilt axle is still an OEM axle?

The current axle boots have no issues with rips or tears, mileage on the VR6 donor car was ~140K. I suppose that I could put the donor axles in as is,, but would rather do this as few times as possible.

Steve Addy · Oct 25, 2015

gfnetadmin said:
Thanks once again for your help. I am doing the VR6 5 lug swap as part of a B4 refresh that's been going on for longer than I could have ever imagined.

From what I can tell from looking at the donor car axles, the driver's side is OEM. Outer boots have VW markings and VW part #'s on them, no VW part # stamped on the axle itself. It is solid and relatively small diameter compared to the other side.

The passenger side is larger diameter and hollow, just like my old TDI axle. It appears to have been rebuilt by a company called Interparts. Their name is stamped on the outer CV boot.

Today, I thought that I could speed up things by removing all axle unknowns and start with new. Picked up a set of CarQuest new axles, total cost after 30% online discount was about $100,, and a $20 Speed Perks reward for upcoming NiCopp brake line buy.

Both of these new axles are same diameter, both solid, and little or no paint on the axle shafts. Driver's side inner boot has no clamps, passenger side inner has one clamp on the inner side of the boot, none on the outer side. Outer boots are clamped on both ends.

After firing up the wood stove and staring at new and old, I just can't see myself putting these new replacements on the car.

I know from reading other posts on this topic that the preferred solution is to reboot the outers and swap outer joints side to side. I do have a set of Rein outer boots,, but I now know that one side is already a rebuilt. Is the reboot and flip outer joint still my best option? Can I tell whether or not the passenger side rebuilt axle is still an OEM axle?

The current axle boots have no issues with rips or tears, mileage on the VR6 donor car was ~140K. I suppose that I could put the donor axles in as is,, but would rather do this as few times as possible.

If you're not satisfied with the new axles you got the simplest thing to do would be to swap outers, repack and reboot.

The outer cv takes the most abuse, by flipping you're essentially changing the drive direction internally to the other side so it's sort of like a new CV.

140k miles isn't all that much, perhaps the original axle just got a new outer boot?

Steve

cumminsfromthecold · Jul 1, 2018

'97 Passat B4 Passenger Side CV Axle replacement

Just replaced mine with the Rock Auto $40 shipped to your door special. Why not. The old outer joint's grease was spun all over. The car shook and rattled but still rolled, and was fine over 30 mph up to 75mph

The new/reman'd axle came with all of the inner joint's bearings having fallen out. No instructions. Removed the old one and used it as the basis for installing the ball bearings after packing in grease that came with it. The "new" bent axle nut was hilarious. Can't believe they even included it in the box.

My only major problem was getting the control arm and ball joint to reconnect. I've had this problem before. It was a hell of a fight, but I got it back together. The strut drops down upon removal of the ball joint. A jack doesn't work too well as the strut just swings one way or the other.

Anyone else wrestle with that move? Spring clamps were on my list of possible solutions if I couldn't get it back together, which I nearly could not. How do y'all do it?

Turned out great anyway. Smooth at all speeds without replacing the oil and grease covered brick dampener.

ToddA1 · Jul 1, 2018

Bent axle nut? Sure it just wasn’t ovaloid, like locking exhaust manifold nuts?

I usually just disconnect the sway bar from the control arm and the ball joint.

-Todd

quartersaw · Jul 1, 2018

Abacus said:
I usually go the NAPA route since they're easily accessible, in stock, and only $46 for the lifetime. I have had bad ones right out of the box and I have had good ones that lasted for many years. All have been rebuilt VW ones, complete with the VW numbers and stampings on them. I understand all they do is swap the parts and reboot them, but that's fine.

But, as I progress in years I am less and less inclined to risk having to do the job twice, so I will probably buy new next time.

Keep in mind that a bad CV joint, if ignored, will cause ancillary damage to connected components (wheel bearings & transmission seals immediately come to mind). And as Lug Nut mentioned, can leave you stranded when/if it grenades.

The drivers side CV on my '96 B4V let go,and it damaged the transmission housing.

Steve Addy · Jul 5, 2018

quartersaw said:
The drivers side CV on my '96 B4V let go,and it damaged the transmission housing.

What exactly did it damage and can we get a picture?

Are you sure it damaged the housing? I wouldn't have expected it to reach in far enough to do that. Did the trans axle flange come off with it?

A pic would be appreciated

Steve

0die · Jul 11, 2018

I've bought several el cheapo ebay axles for various makes of cars...not had any problems that I can recall...

If autozone is close on price I just go that route...lifetime warranty ain't bad...and they are pretty good at keeping your records since the receipts tend to get lost...

0die · Jul 16, 2018

0die said:
I've bought several el cheapo ebay axles for various makes of cars...not had any problems that I can recall...

If autozone is close on price I just go that route...lifetime warranty ain't bad...and they are pretty good at keeping your records since the receipts tend to get lost...

well well well...

been working on a new wheel bearing and hub pax side...bought a pair of each so decided to inspect the other "non-failed" driver side...

found a torn outter CV boot on the driver side...so decided to replace both CV axles...bought a pair at Autozone for like $40ish each, brought the cores back and they found my old AZ CV axles on file...so total refund/free swap out for both sides...

looks like I only got 60K from the axles from my records...well only one CV boot had failed and the joint was still tight...

now to figure out the cv bolt torque...My Haynes refers to 2 different type inner mounts and different torque values and they are quite different???

Steve Addy · Jul 16, 2018

0die said:
well well well...

been working on a new wheel bearing and hub pax side...bought a pair of each so decided to inspect the other "non-failed" driver side...

found a torn outter CV boot on the driver side...so decided to replace both CV axles...bought a pair at Autozone for like $40ish each, brought the cores back and they found my old AZ CV axles on file...so total refund/free swap out for both sides...

looks like I only got 60K from the axles from my records...well only one CV boot had failed and the joint was still tight...

now to figure out the cv bolt torque...My Haynes refers to 2 different type inner mounts and different torque values and they are quite different???

There's another thread somewhere recently that talks about this.

There are two procedures listed for the outer axle nut in that thread. I would probably follow the second of the two, the one without the sealant on the axle splines.

As for inner, there are two types of CV joints for the inner depending on whether you had AT or not, which we didn't get in the US.

I would probably not put a lot of faith in what Haynes has to say on the subject but that's your call. Especially since we have liberal access to the digital B4 Bentley manual and there are scads of Mk3 Bentleys around that detail the process pretty clearly.

In cases where there's no readily available factory manual I'm all for a Haynes but I have found errors in them as well and I think they're thin on information.

As much as your replacement axles were provided free that's a lot of labor to replace those after just 60k. That's like planning on replacing your axles right along with your timing belt, which is not something I would want to do.

This is my discontent with the aftermarket axles that are out there, they don't last. Also, the replacements aren't quite the same as the OE installs either in some cases, like with the right side hollow axle.

Steve

CV joint 1996 Passat TDI-Need advice

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