CV Axle replacement

[MSHardeman]

OK, so I decided to leave the axle housing where it is and just replace the half shafts. Sorry to those who were looking for a complete front axle removal how/to, but the Workshop manual has a pretty good write up on it.

I have broken the SurTrack axles down now and separated the half shaft from the axle. My question now is; is it OK to mix grease? The inner CV joint has grease in it already, but I want to pack my existing green cup with grease to make up for the bit that was lost to the new green cup. Is it OK to just add the synthetic bearing grease that I have to the grease that is already there, or should I clean the new joint out completely and re-pack with one type of grease?

Thanks to all for the help so far. This should be done in the next day, or so, and you won't have to read about it any more.

[JAMAS]

This should be done in the next day, or so, and you won't have to read about it any more.

Its going to help someone else eventually. Keep on talking about it.

[nfpgasmask]

MIxing grease...hmmm. I can't really see a reason why it should matter, but the IsuzuGeek in me would ask the same question.

Bart

[Cobrajet]

My question now is; is it OK to mix grease? The inner CV joint has grease in it already, but I want to pack my existing green cup with grease to make up for the bit that was lost to the new green cup. Is it OK to just add the synthetic bearing grease that I have to the grease that is already there, or should I clean the new joint out completely and re-pack with one type of grease?

Ask anyone who sells grease (like Mobil1) and the answer will ALWAYS be "NO!!". Of course, they want to sell you new grease. Will it work? Probably. Will it hurt anything? Maybe...maybe not. I'm just guessing it depends on what the two greases are. Are they the same weight? Type (Dino vs. Synthetic) Color? (Some people don't like their food to touch, so maybe they don't like their grease to touch either.) I guess you'll have to make up your own mind.

[MSHardeman]

Don't know what grease came in the SurTrack axles, but it's black whereas the grease I bought is red and I can't find anywhere on the tube where it says if it's dino or synthetic.

Hmmm, what to do?

[nfpgasmask]

You could:

1) disassemble the balls and cage
2) remove the boot
3) thoroughly wipe out the boot and then wash with mild hand soap and let dry
4) thoroughly clean the balls and cage, rinse with brake parts cleaner and let dry
5) reassemble and regrease everything with the same lube

Bart

[tom4bren]

In my book, it's OK to mix the grease ... but ... I'd clean the old out of both CVs just in case there is any contaminates (water or abrasives). If there's any grease left on the new components, I wouldn't worry about it.

I didn't even use the grease that came with the MechaTech's. I just got a tub of synthetic axle grease from the parts store & used that:

a. I didn't know what kind of grease came with the boots & I wanted synthetic.

b. the grease that came with the boots didn't look like nearly enough so I was going to have to add to it anyway.

[MSHardeman]

Decided to take the CV joint apart, clean it and re-grease it after talking to a couple of mechanics and the guys at SurTrack. Those SurTrack joints have some extremely tight tolerances. Had to get a screwdriver behind the balls to pop them out of the outer cage, and after about half an hour of trying to get the outer cage off of the inner cage I just gave up and soaked the whole lot in brake cleaner to get the grease off. I'm going to go out and take the old Isuzu CV apart in a bit to see if the inner and outer cages will release from one another. In both Billy and Bart's write ups it looks like the outer cage will slide past the inner cage enough for you to get a gear puller in there to remove the inner cage from the half shaft, but for the life of me I can't figure out how SurTrack is doing it. I mean, the cages had to go together, somehow, initially so why won't they come apart now?

I think this is finally starting to wind down. I'll clean out both new CV's, pack 'em with grease and then start re-assembling everything.

MAN, this turned into a much longer job then I originally intended. I guess that's half the "fun" though. I sure did learn a lot.