A beginner’s guide to replacing the CV boot on a Range Rover P38.

You will need:

A copy of RAVE (see How To section)
Plusgas (lots of it)
Jack and axle stands
32mm 6 point socket
¾” breaker bar and scaffold bar / friendly independent garage
12mm 6 point socket
¾“ 12 point socket
Screwdrivers
15mm spanners
Wire-brushes
Hammer
Centre-punch
Junior hacksaw / wire-clippers (or both)
Soft mallet
Loads of clean old rags.
CV boot kit with grease and clips.
A cable-tie / jubilee clip
Pliers
Sharp knife
Threadlock as specified in RAVE (Loctite grade 648)
A little bit of differential oil as specified in RAVE
Copper grease
Silicone grease for ABS sensor
Cold chisel / centre punch

Optional

Some sort of gas-torch to help free stubborn nuts.
A bench with a vice
Oil seal for half-shaft
Replacement brake carrier bolts and brake disk screw kit.
Brake discs, pads
Brake-calipers


REMOVING THE HUB

In the week leading up to the job spray all nuts and the hub with Plusgas each night. BE REALLY CAREFUL NONE GETS ON THE BRAKE DISK OR PADS! If they get contaminated you will crash!

You need RAVE page 755 of the Workshop Manual (2000) under FRONT SUSPENSION  REPAIR  DRIVESHAFT AND HUB ASSEMBLY.

The first job is to loosen the 32m 6 point hub-nut.

Remove the centre-cap from the wheel using screwdriver. Then loosen the hub-nut. This is not as easy as it sounds. It may have a stake through it in which case move the stake out of the way. It may (like mine) have the rim of the nut bashed into the indentation where the stake would live. I used a centre-punch to straighten mine out but apparently this isn’t necessary.

View attachment 69740

To loosen the nut you’ll need at least a ¾” breaker bar with a scaffold-bar or similar on the end. Personally, I’d save your energy. Take it straight to your local friendly independent garage with an airline and get him to loosen the nut with his airgun. Takes a minute and well worth buying him a drink or two for the hassle saved. When you get back make sure the nut is loose then nip back up a little. I put the car on extended ride height so I had plenty of room to work.

Handbrake on, chock all other wheels and jack up and place on stands, all the usual precautions for when working on a vehicle in the air.

Remove the road wheel.

View attachment 69741

Next, time to get all the brake paraphernalia off the hub and out of the way. You need RAVE page 824 of the Workshop Manual (2000) under BRAKES – ABS  REPAIR  BRAKE DISC AND SHIELD – FRONT.

Undo the two 12mm bolts that hold the brake-caliper on and tie the brake-caliper up out of the way so that no tension is on the flexible brake line. Remove the brake pads and put somewhere safe where the contact surface will not be damaged or get dirt on it.

View attachment 69742

Undo the 2 bolts holding the brake carrier in place. These are ¾” 12 point and probably rusted in place. Mine needed a bit of help from a gas torch the first time I removed them. Obviously if you’re using heat then make sure that no sensor wires, brake lines or anything else with rubber / plastic gets near it. Remove the brake carrier.

Remove the screw holding the brake disc in place. This was absolutely solid on mine and a size bigger than any screwdriver I had. It was, in fact, a total sod. In the end I used a centre-punch and a hammer and managed to get it moving by tapping it round. After that it unscrewed with the biggest Philips I had.

View attachment 69743

Now remove the three 8mm 6 point bolts holding the brake disk shield on. These will be really rusty and polish off rather easily. Rub all rust off with a wire-brush and douse with Plusgas and let it soak for a while. Make sure the socket is hammered on all the way before easing them out to avoid rounding the bolt-heads off.

View attachment 69744

Next remove the ABS sensor and then the sieve-like copper sleeve it sits in. These should just pull out. Unclip the wire to the ABS sensor from its mooring points and place it well out of the way so you have plenty of room to swing a hammer around.

You will now see where the hub sits inside the swivelhub. Clean all rust off the join with a wire-brush, score round with a flat-screwdriver and then rub again with a wire-brush. Spray lots of Plusgas all around the join. Also spray the 15mm 6 point bolts (4 of them) that hold the hub in place. You need to give this time to soak in so go and have a cuppa and a snack.

View attachment 69745
View attachment 69746

In order to get the 15mm hub bolts loose I had to use a second ring-spanner on the first ring-spanner in order to get enough leverage to shift it. They were really solid – unsurprising as I later discovered they had Threadlock on.

Now, in Wammers words, the hub removal:

“Apply Plusgas to interface of bearing housing flange and swivel hub, allow to soak. Undo four bolts holding hub bearing housing to swivel hub. Back off about 4 mm. Tap bolt heads in turn to free bearing housing from swivel hub. Apply more Plusgas. Back off a further 4mm and repeat until bearing housing is free of swivel hub. Clean mating surfaces and apply Copraslip to them and bolt threads on reassembly. Simples.”

View attachment 69747
View attachment 69748

Personally I also used a lump hammer to gently tap the rim of the hub from whatever angle I could get in from to try and break the rust seal and persuade it on its way. You must keep it even by banging in a figure-of-eight pattern as you would for head bolts, trying to keep it as straight as possible. The odd knock from side-to-side probably won’t hurt. Anything to break the seal to the swivelhub. For ages it seems like you’re getting nowhere but persevere. Keep working at the join with a wire-brush, Plusgas and hammer. Eventually a little crack appears. Shove more Plusgas in, wait a bit and then try again. Suddenly it’ll come out easily. Do not remove it at this stage! Leave it on the edge and then clean out all the crap from around the oil-seal and anywhere near where you are working. When all is clean withdraw the whole hub assembly and half-shaft as one unit. I wrapped a rag (well, old sock) over the splines at each end to stop dirt getting in and protect the splines. Clean up the oil seal (be gentle) and stuff the hole to stop any dirt getting in (another sock!).

TO BE CONTINUED ...

CONTINUED FROM PART 1. Was going to stick it underneath the original but it isn't visible to me. Maybe the admins can splice it together?

-------------------------------

REPLACING THE CV BOOT - REMOVAL

Remove the 32mm hub-nut from the end of the hub.

View attachment 69997

Remove the hub from the half-shaft.

View attachment 69998

First job is to get the old clips off the CV boot. Mine were a solid rusted lump. Using a mixture of a junior hack-saw and some wire-clippers, I cut them free.

Once the clips are off, pull back the large end of the CV boot and clean up as much of the old grease as you can. You should see a silver collar on the end of the splines. I guess you could just cut the CV boot off at this stage but frankly it is messy enough as it is.

View attachment 69999

Next job is to separate the CV joint. I placed the half-shaft assembly in a vice for this. The following is from IrishRover’s post at:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/p38-cv-boot-replacement-help-109792.html

“The CV joint is held on to the half-shaft by a spring ring-clip that sits in a groove machined almost at the end of the half-shaft. It is biased to open slightly when free. The inner part of the CV joint, called the Spider has a chamfer at both ends of the splined bore which acts as a lead in for the clip and forces it to squeeze in when the shaft is removed. My Dad worked for Hardy Spicer for years and often did prop shaft UJ and CV joint repairs ‘On the Side’ at weekends etc. To remove the CV joint, securely hold the half-shaft with the CV in a straight line with it and give the ‘Bell’ a sharp clout with a soft mallet away from the half-shaft, this will compress the clip and the CV will slide off.”

I had no soft mallet so I placed some leather on the CV joint bell and hit that with a hammer. It really doesn’t take that much of a knock to get it off. The important thing is not to deform or damage that bell housing.

View attachment 70000

Next you need to remove the CV boot. This should just pull off. When I did it I discovered the silver collar had come off and was jammed in the narrow end of the boot so I had to pop the silver collar out, slip it over the ring-clip and back into place on the splines.

Clean all old grease off all parts and clean up the rust as best you can. You don’t want any dirt going in that joint.

CONTINUED FROM PART 2. Was going to stick it underneath the original but it isn't visible to me. Maybe the admins can splice it together?

-------------------------------

REPLACING THE CV BOOT - REFITTING

Now we’re ready to put the new boot on.

Place the new clips on the boot (although they bend so don’t worry if you forget).

Slide the narrow part of the boot over the ring-clip and then onto the half-shaft. I found a chainsaw file handle was perfect for getting it over the shaft. I just slipped it under the boot and pushed on the boot while moving the file handle around like a tyre-lever.

View attachment 70002

Fill the CV joint (not the boot) with the new grease. It should be absolutely full! The kit probably comes with a new ring-clip. I didn’t fit mine but now is the time to do it if you are going to. Clean all splines on the half-shaft.

View attachment 70003

Now we have to reassemble the CV joint. I followed IrishRover’s instructions from above but found the cable-tie method described by NickFFC was much easier for me. IrishRover says:

“To reassemble, fit a Jubilee type clip over the spring-clip to compress it. Do not overtighten the Jubilee clip. Using the soft mallet on the screw end (fit the nut on first, to protect the threads), tap the CV on until the spring clip has entered the Spider, remove the Jubilee clip and push/tap the joint home-it will find its own position when the half-shaft is fitted to the car and the hub tightened. Be sure to check the condition and amount of grease in the joint before fitting the gaiter.”

NickFFC used a variation of this which I used with great success:
“Following on from IrishRover’s excellent description for boot replacement ... just one thing I did a little different was to use a cable-tie instead of the jubilee-clip as I found the clip got in the way.”

When the CV join is tapped back together it pushes the cable-tie along the shaft to the silver collar. Then back off the joint a bit (it should stop against the ring-clip) and cut the cable-tie carefully with a knife.

View attachment 70004

Check all is good and then push the large end of the boot into place. Tighten the clips. There are various types of clips out there and various means of tightening. Mine were rather nasty ones with just 2 hooks. I found a bradawl was perfect to push through a hole and then lever the holes round like a ratchet. Once the clips were tight I crimped the square raised section of the clip together to tighten the clip that last amount. Make sure all really is tight!

View attachment 70005

If you’re going to change the oil seal then now is the time to do so. Personally mine looked fine so I left it!

Then, as Wammers said, make sure all mating surfaces are cleaned and polished as well as you can and smeared with copper grease.

I’m a little uncertain on this one, purely because I haven’t the experience of trying different methods personally. Will it prevent corrosion and ease the release next time or will the surface tension make separation a nightmare and the grease attract dust and muck and make it even worse in 5 years time? I have no idea! So, I went with the voice of experience and slapped the stuff on!

View attachment 70006

Refitting is, as they say, the reversal of removal with Threadlock / silicone grease smeared on as specified in RAVE and all bolts torqued up as described in RAVE, remembering to lubricate the oil seal and the silver part on the half-shaft that engages with the oil seal with the required differential oil (75W 90R for mine) and fit the new brake-disk screw and new 12 point bolts to the brake-caliper. Seeing as everything is apart, you might wish to renew the brake-disc, brake-caliper and pads while you are about it, depending on how worn they are. If you are fitting new brake-discs then remember to clean them with a suitable solvent before fitting. I replaced the lot.

View attachment 70007
View attachment 70008

Make sure all excess grease / copper grease / differential oil is wiped away. You cannot risk anything slippery contaminating the friction surfaces of the brakes.

If your torque wrench doessn’t go up to 260Nm (mine didn’t!) then head back to your friendly local independent garage and get them to hammer it up with their airgun or torque it up as required.

Finally, bang the stake back in or using a cold chisel / centre punch, knock the rim of the hub-nut back into the indentation where the stake should go.

Test drive taking it easy, using the steering as much as possible and listening for anything untoward. It is probably worth getting back under there after a few days and check no oil or brake fluid leaks and the bolts are still tight.

Hope this helps.

J

@blue beasty / @ratty : any idea what happened to the photos? Seem to have vanished when the site changed.

Grrrrrr said:

@blue beasty / @ratty : any idea what happened to the photos? Seem to have vanished when the site changed.

Click to expand...

I can't see a way to reappear them

I'll see if Roy can take a look

Or just fit one of those two piece glue together boots packed with grease and then the two jubily clips. Simples

Tony e said:

Or just fit one of those two piece glue together boots packed with grease and then the two jubily clips. Simples

Click to expand...

Sounds like cheating to me!

No. Just saves on the knuckle rash and the swearing

Know reviving an old thread, but as usual a font of all knowledge. My cv has passed away on me this evening. -1 and still awaiting recovery. But going to call a local specialist breaker in morning about a complete replacement shaft, or will be attempting not to loose my knuckles at weekend