Replacing the CV joint on a VAZ 2114 and the outer boot with your own hands

Cost of anthers

The price range is quite wide: from approximately 150 to 1000 rubles.
and higher. It all depends on the make of the car and the manufacturer of the part. Non-original spare parts are cheaper. However, it also happens that the cost is unreasonably high: for example, because of the brand. Thus, the price of covers for a Toyota Land Cruiser reaches 8,000 rubles. The same can be said about other prestigious car brands. But not all car owners are eager to pay that kind of money for essentially an ordinary rubber band, albeit of high quality. Therefore, many simply select covers from other cars that are suitable in size and cost. Causes of boot rupture:

• constant driving through water and mud;
• high torsional load (regular sharp turns);
• careless (unprofessional) repair of suspension parts.

Fault diagnosis

The VAZ 2114 has 2 external and 2 internal CV joints. First you need to determine which one is knocking. The optimal test would be on a suspension diagnostic stand. If this is not possible, diagnosis by ear is possible.

Two signs indicate a grenade malfunction in a VAZ 2114:

• the sound resembles a crunch;
• It usually appears when turning.

The simplest and most accurate way to do a garage check is as follows:

1. Place the car on a flat surface;
2. Turn the wheels to one side (to the middle position or a little further);
3. Drive off with medium speed. It is worth remembering that starting too smoothly may not reveal a crunch due to insufficient load on the CV joint, and starting too abruptly may lead to the drive flying out of the wheel.
4. Repeat the operation by turning the steering wheel in the other direction. The appearance of a crunch indicates a malfunction of the outer CV joint on the side in which the steering wheel is turned.

Visual detection of ruptured anthers will also be a sign of a CV joint failure. If you discover a damaged protection for any grenade, it must be immediately removed, disassembled and cleaned. If there is enough grease and there is no significant wear on the hinges yet, it is enough to replace the boot and fill it with new grease. If the wear of the balls is obvious, it is better to change the grenade.

CV joint boot VAZ 2114 with a defect

It is more difficult to diagnose a malfunction of the internal grenade on a VAZ 2114. If it malfunctions, it crunches when starting off in a straight direction, and not when turning. But the same symptoms, for example, include play in the steering rack or wear on the engine mounts.

Sometimes the problem can be diagnosed from the pit by tugging on the drive from the gearbox side: strong play or the appearance of extraneous sounds indicate that the internal CV joint should be replaced.

conclusions

Both outer and inner CV joints operate under the same conditions. Therefore, if you notice that one of the anthers is torn, it makes sense to replace them all. And one more point: you should not simultaneously remove drives with CV joints on both sides: this can change the position of the gears in the gearbox. It is better to finish repairing one drive first, then work on the second.

The constant velocity joint (CV joint), or, as it is popularly called, a grenade, appeared at the moment when front-wheel drive cars began to be introduced onto the market, and its main task is to transmit command from the gearbox to the drive wheel. If you remember, in rear-wheel drive cars this function is performed by the cardan transmission. For a front-wheel drive car, such a mechanism will lead to an increase in its size, and, accordingly, the price will increase along with this.

As for the VAZ-2109, this model has two CV joints: external and internal.

And today we will talk about how to replace the outer boot for a given car with your own hands, since it is this that most often becomes deformed and torn.

Disassembling the drive and replacing the boot

Sequence of work.

The car is driven into a pit, chocks are placed under the wheels, and the car itself is left in first gear.

Before completely removing the wheel, loosen all the wheel nuts.

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The protective cap of the nut securing the drive to the hub is also removed.

To prevent the nut from unscrewing from the shaft, it is centered around the circumference, which is why it has bends that fit into a groove made in the shaft.

These bends need to be aligned, this is done with a thin screwdriver or a drift and a hammer.

After aligning the bends, using a socket and a powerful wrench, the nut is unscrewed, and the washer located under it is also removed.

Next, the car is jacked up and wooden stands are placed under its sills.

The wheel nuts are unscrewed and the wheel is removed.

Next, work is done under the car.

If there is a crankcase protection, it can be unscrewed. Then the oil from the gearbox is drained through the drain plug into the prepared container.

Next, you need to unscrew the two bolts securing the lower ball joint to the hub.

This will make it possible for the latter to move sideways. At the same time, you can check the condition of the support itself.

The steering wheel must be turned all the way to the left so that the drive is completely shifted in the inner CV joint, ensuring its minimum length.

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After this, the hub is removed from the splines of the drive shaft.

The outside of the drive will be removed.

Then you can go in two ways.

The first way.

Knock down the outer “grenade” without removing the inner CV joint.

To do this, you need to remove the boot clamps, and then cut the boot, and then wipe off the existing grease on the hinge.

Then you need to prevent the drive from moving on the internal hinge.

To do this, take a small vice or a butt wrench, clamp the shaft in them and hold it firmly in your hands.

An assistant, using a soft metal spacer and a hammer, knocks down the CV joint, striking the inner race of the hinge.

With this method, there is no need to drain the oil from the box. But there is a possibility that when striking, the inner race will jump out of the outer inner CV joint.

Also, shooting down a “grenade” in this way is not very convenient, since this work will be done in a limited space.

Second way.

Complete removal of the drive from the vehicle. To do this, a pry bar is driven between the gearbox housing and the internal joint and the shaft entering the gearbox is pulled back and forth.

After this, the drive is completely removed.

IMPORTANT: With this method, the oil must be drained.

The advantage of this method is also the ability to assess the condition and replace the gearbox seal, through which oil often leaks.

In the future we will consider work with the drive completely removed.

How to replace the outer CV joint boot without removing it

This is also possible, at least on domestic cars, but you will have to acquire (or borrow) a special device that stretches the boot. The device is a housing with movable arms attached to it and a connected hose for supplying compressed air. A rubber cover is put on them and they stretch it. All that remains is to pull the device through the grenade removed from the hub and release the levers. The process is worth watching in more detail in the video.

Replacing the inner CV joint boot

To do this, you will have to remove the drive shaft completely. But first you need to remove the outer CV joint, as described above, that is, pull it out of the hub without removing the grenade. Next, drain the oil from the box. After this, unscrew the nuts securing the inner joint (usually there are 6 of them) and insert a flat mounting between the gearbox and the CV joint - the part should come out of the socket. Clamp the part in a vice, then:

• remove the retaining ring using a flat screwdriver;
• pull out the inner CV joint housing and carefully pick out the balls located in the separator;
• remove the clip stopper and the clip itself;
• wash all parts in gasoline;
• install a new boot and, having generously treated everything with lubricant, reassemble in the reverse order;
• install the drive, tighten the drain plug and pour oil into the box.

Complete removal of the drive is also recommended if the grenade was not knocked down when trying to replace the outer CV joint boot. In this case, you can use a vice and achieve your goal. If you don’t need to knock down the grenade to replace it, just put on the cover after removing the inner CV joint, remembering to wash it first and apply new grease to the outside (the part cannot be repaired - it is not removable).

Oil groups

For domestic VAZ 2115 cars, different groups of transmission oils are suitable, namely:

• GL-4
• GL-5

The first is suitable for gearboxes of front-wheel drive VAZs, and the second is universal and suitable for almost all domestic cars. Some people believe that GL-5 oils are better than GL-4, but this is not true.

These classes are simply different from each other, and none of them are better or worse than the other. For example, in some gearboxes, API GL-5 oils can have a detrimental effect on synchronizers, while API GL-4 is perfect for them. Oils for the VAZ 2115 GL-5 gearbox can be divided into three groups:

• SAE 85W90 - mineral lubricants such as Rexol TM-5-18, Norsi and Lukoil TM-5-18;
• SAE 80W90 - less thick mineral oils, including Wells TM, Spectrol-Forward, Texaco Geartex EP-C and others;
• SAE 75W-90 - synthetics and semi-synthetics: Motulgear, Teboil EP, BP Energear SGX.

Signs of failure of the outer grenade (CV joint)

There are two options here:

• signs that your grenade has already broken
• signs that the grenade will soon come out and break .

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How to understand that a grenade will break soon

Of course, the first sign of a malfunction of the external grenade is a crackling sound . If you hear a crackling noise while driving with the steering wheel turned, it is definitely a CV joint. The greater the angle of rotation of the wheel and the harder you press on the gas, the louder the clicks. Another sign that does not always appear is vibration on the steering wheel at speeds greater than 80 km/h. The vibration is only slightly similar to the vibration from an unbalanced wheel. It usually manifests itself as a slight twitching of the steering wheel.

How to understand that the outer CV joint is broken

If the CV joint breaks, the car will stop moving. In any gear engaged, press the gas, the speed increases, but the car does not move.

How to understand that it is the outer CV joint that has broken, and not the internal one or the clutch in general (the first signs of failure are similar to the signs of a clutch failure)? First of all, start the car and put it in any gear. Next, open the hood and look in turn at each of the shafts going from the box to the wheels (one short, the other long). If any shaft is spinning, it means that the CV joint has broken on this side.

I recommend not just visually looking at the shaft, but touching it with some long, hard object, such as a stick. The main thing is that there is nothing on it that can wrap around the shaft !!! When you touch the shaft with a stick, if it is spinning, you will feel a slight vibration. This is usually done in the dark, because it is difficult to understand whether a cylindrical object is spinning, especially in the dark.

How to remove a vaz shruz

Having determined that it is the external grenade that is broken, we begin to remove it.

How to unscrew the hub nut on a VAZ?

First of all, unscrew the hub nut. To do this, take a 30mm head and a lever, the larger the better. We put bricks under the wheels to prevent the car from rolling (simply putting it in gear is not an option, the wheel will spin) and begin to unscrew the hub nut.

In this matter, the more you weigh, the better, since I very often lacked my weight and leverage of about one and a half meters. I got out of the situation in the following way: I stood completely on the lever, as close to the edge as possible, thereby giving maximum tension to the nut, and hit the lever with a hammer. Usually this method helped me unscrew even the most soured wheel nuts.

One more nuance: if the outer walls of the head come into contact with the walls of the hub, it is better to lubricate the head with mining or lithol, or, in extreme cases, with silicone grease. Thanks to this trick, the head will not bite in the hub.

How to remove a grenade?

The hub nut is unscrewed, now we remove the wheel, unscrew the two bolts that hold the ball joint, disconnect the suspension arm and the hub, move it to the side of the car while lightly tapping the grenade, remove it from the hub. At this point there are two options:

1. The grenade is already broken.
2. Replacing the grenade due to its crunching sound.

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In the first case, you simply remove the outer part of the CV joint from the shaft, then the retaining ring from the drive shaft and knock off the cage with a hammer.

In the second case, removing the CV joint becomes more difficult. You need to deflect the grenade relative to the shaft at the maximum angle so that the bearing balls and their cage are visible.

Now use a hammer to break the jumpers of the cage between the bearing balls and take out the balls one by one. When you take out the last ball, you can remove the body of the grenade, and then its inner part sitting on the shaft, after first removing the locking ring from the shaft.

Of course, you can simply try to knock the grenade off the shaft, but due to the locking ring this will be problematic.

That's it, the CV joint is completely removed. Now let's start installing the new part.

Shall we get started?

1. Before replacing the mechanism, you need to drain all the oil from the gearbox. Let's not touch the jack yet! You need to place a brick under the rear wheel of the car, after this procedure we take the 30 socket and, accordingly, loosen the nut. Don't be alarmed, you may need about a half meter long piece of pipe half a meter long as a lever. Remember, we only need to loosen the nut, not remove it yet!
2. Everything worked out? Go ahead! We lift the car with a jack, and only now completely remove the hub nut along with the washer. Now you can safely remove the wheel from the hub.
3. Take the 13mm head and remove the two bolts that secure the ball to the hub. After this, we move the hub and remove the outer grenade from it. Then we attach a pry bar to the internal grenade and, using hammer blows, knock it out of the gearbox. By the way, if you still don’t have a pry bar at hand, a piece of pipe can replace it.
4. When the grenade is removed, we clamp its shaft in a vice.
5. We remove the clamps from the unusable boot. After that, we shoot down the outer grenade. Attention! In order not to damage it, you need to hit it along the edge. When this operation is completed, remove all old grease from the mechanism, wash it in gasoline or kerosene and wipe it well again, this way you can better remove traces of grease.
6. Now we put a new boot on the drive shaft, and using a hammer we hammer the outer CV joint back, after thoroughly lubricating all the parts of the product. After that, we put it on and tighten it with a collar.
7. Then we insert the grenade into the gearbox, driving it there. We place it in the hub and return the ball to its place. We put on the hub nut.

How to install a new CV joint on a VAZ

Be sure to follow this sequence for installing new parts:

1. Small clamp.
2. Grenade boot.
3. Large clamp.
4. Retaining ring.
5. The CV joint itself.

First, we clean the drive shaft from dust, dirt and old grease. Most CV joints come with lubricant, a boot, two clamps and sometimes a new hub nut. If suddenly there is no lubricant in the kit, it is better to use graphite lubricant, and if it is not available, then simple lithol. First of all, we put on a small collar. Then the boot (it should go behind the limiting washer) and a large clamp. Then we put a retaining ring on the drive shaft. Now open the tube of lubricant and completely squeeze it into the grenade. Now it's time to put the CV joint on the drive. Because of the locking ring, it will be difficult to insert the drive into the grenade, so we take a hammer and lightly, trying not to damage the thread, press the grenade into place. Now you need to put the boot on the CV joint and tighten the clamps. Assembly occurs in reverse disassembly sequence, but there is one nuance! Do not overtighten the hub nut! This may cause the bearing to hum. The hub nut must be tightened with a force of 225.0–250.0 N*m. Of course, few people have a torque wrench. So, tighten the nut tightly, but not with all your might. In theory, a force of a maximum of 25 kg will need to be applied to a meter-long knob. But, the extension pipe will spring back under such force, so how can you describe it exactly? But obviously there is no need to jump with weight.

What to do if the boot breaks on the road

The situation is not uncommon: you had to change a tire while on the road and you noticed that the boot was torn. It is highly not recommended to leave “everything as it is” and go to the nearest car service: CV joint is not a cheap part at all, especially if it is on an expensive foreign car. Options:

1. Place the car on a jack (if it is not already on it), pull out the old contaminated grease through the hole and fill the boot with grease until it stops, and to prevent it from falling out when driving, wrap the problem area with a plastic bag and tighten it along the corrugation with a rope.
2. Wrap the torn case with opaque tape or electrical tape. This “alternative” will last for 500 kilometers until the boot is changed.

On the road, check whether your “winding” is in place: getting dirt under it will sharply reduce the life of the CV joint.

Emergency repairs

Every motorist who cares about his own vehicle is simply obliged to know how wheel alignment is carried out. This largely prevents a number of problems during operation.

If they did not keep track, or the breakdown occurred unexpectedly, the driver felt the steering wheel creaking when rotating, or other characteristic signs of a violation of the integrity of the boot appeared, repairs need to be carried out.

An emergency repair method is relevant if trouble catches you on the road. But it is only suitable as a temporary measure.

The idea is to wrap the boot with film and secure it with electrical tape or a clamp. The film can be seen with a bag or rubber glove. This is no longer fundamentally important.

There are drivers who have traveled thousands of kilometers using a similar life hack.

If the boot ruptures, water, dirt, dust and sand probably managed to get inside.

Therefore, in the very near future the CV joint will begin to suffer greatly. The best solution in this situation would be to remove, wash, add lubricant, and install a new boot.