Removing CV Joints on 128

Triestino

Triestino

Daily Driver
I removed the passenger side axle shaft from my transmission to replace the split CV boot and can't seem to find how to separate the CV joint (connected to the small axle stub) from the drive axle itself. Is there a circlip or similar holding things together? Any help would be appreciated. Pictures would be great :) Thank you!
 
If you look at page 108 of the X1/9 74-48 manual linked on the Wiki (I know, not an X, but 128 should be very much the same) there is indeed a snap ring labeled "7" in the top picture.
74-78 axle shaft and CV page.jpg
 
The circlip is near the end of the axle. Note that those three sets of needle bearings are very delicate and one wrong move can result in looking for needles to put back in. Until they are installed back in the diff, the outer race and needles are basically held together by the surface tension of the transmission fluid.
 
Thank you Jim and Don for your quick replies. I now have a better understanding and will work on it tomorrow afternoon. Looks like it's going to be messy given the CV grease that's hiding the snap ring :eek:.
 
Yeah! After cleaning the CV grease, I found the snap ring and was able to separate the CV joint from the axle shaft...although it took several tries. Hopefully, my final question on this subject...I want to disassemble the CV joint (steel balls, race ring etc) so that I can thoroughly clean the unit, inspect, and repack with grease...is there a trick to take the unit apart? Thank you in advance for your assistance!
 
You should be able to clean and repack the CV joint without taking them apart. Never done it but from what I have read, it's rather like a Rubics Cube where all the parts have to be oriented just right to get it apart.
 
I was able to take the entire CV apart...simple Rubic cube :). All looks fine. So now it's repack the CV joint, put a new boot on, and all is well. Thank you all for the info you shared!
 
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