CV joint replacement

Hi guys,

Need some help with changing a cv joint on a 1998 P38 2.5DSE. I have searched the threads bug can't find any step by step advice on how to do this. Can anyone give me any tips. Can this be done by someone with a midicome of common sense and some spanners?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Undo Nut on half shaft while still on ground by removing wheel centre and with big lever and some one with foot on brake
Jack up
Remove front wheel
remove calipers and disc
Unbolt hub and half shaft with cv joint should slide out.
remove Cv joint cover
hold Half Shaft vertical with CV down and give it a sharp tap which should release it from the shaft.
slide on new joint and cover
replace oil seal in the axle
then reverse the above procedure for refitting

I'm toying with the idea of changing mine on an 04 L322 if you think the procedure is similar then read on...
I have looked through Rave and they mention two special tools, one is to push the driveshaft out of the hub and the same tool is used to pull it back through afterwards, this is the spline of the cv joint you are going to change. The other tool is a clamped ring that attaches to the driveshaft near the diff end so you can lever it out from the diff.
When I have watched a few YouTube clips on various vehicles they tend to tap the spline out through the hub and then rather than remove the complete driveshaft and then tapping the outer cv joint off to release the spring clip and rather than trying to tap off the outer cv joint with the driveshaft still in place, as this may pop it out of the diff anyway, they use a cv joint puller. These are about £20 off eBay but depending on the outer diameter of your cv joint they may not work as they only go up to 80 mm on all the ones I could see and the OD of the L322 is 108 mm I think, over 100 mm anyway so I am going to make one.

Best case would be to loosen the suspension arms and remove the brake caliper and hub nut, the ball joints from the hub, if they are not seized but could be tight, pull the hub off the outer cv joint, tap the outer cv joint off the drive shaft without popping it out at the in board end although not a disaster if you do but may leak diff oil and should really replace the oil seal, tap the new cv joint into place which is held in place by a spring clip that drops into a groove and put it back together torquing the bolts up for the suspension arms with the weight on the vehicle.
I would say at least you would need breaker bar, torque wrench and ball joint splitter and socket for hub nut as well as your usual sockets
Think that's about it but this is what I have researched for the L322 so may differ for the P38

Edit or just read post above as its a lot less long winded !

Thanks guys. Both really useful info.

Ovalandrover, when you say replace the seals on the axle is that on the inboard side? When I remove the axle will any fluid drain as Holiday chicken suggests? Otherwise sounds fairly straightforward (famous last words!) if seals are needed do you know what they are called? Sorry for all the questions.

there is a seal in the axle housing preventing the oil from the diff to leak past the half shaft. when you remove the half shaft there might be a small amount leak out,Front
on the Island 4x4 site the part is
Halfshaft Oil Seal P38 D2 (Britpart) FTC4822

Holiday chicken is doing a L322 so you dont have to do all the extra work for independant suspension

Thanks. That's good to know and really appreciate your help.

Good luck, let us know how you get on

Should be able to change a CV in a couple of hours if you know what you are doing and have good tools. Don't forget to torque the drive shaft nut up to 260 Nm. That maybe a stopper, wrenches that go that high are pretty expensive for Joe public to have unless you can borrow one. But suppose you could always use a big wrenching bar, stand on it jump up a down a few times and pretend it's at the right torque.

wammers said:

if you know what you are doing, stand on it jump up a down a few times and pretend it's right.

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