I have a 81 Jetta that I am rebuilding and am regreasing the CV Joints
and the last one (Left Inner) wont swivel after I put it back together
(following the Bentley books instructions which worked fine for the
other 3 joints) the cage will move but the inner and outer pieces are
locked solidly together. cant understand it, the joint was fine before
I took it apart almost no play or anything.

any ideas or suggestions??


Thanks

Aaron Z

found the problem (the inner piece wasn't lined up correctly)... only
took me 3 hrs to notice


Aaron Z

aczlan wrote:

aczlan wrote:
Hmmmm, interesting ... I'm rebuilding an 81 Rabbit and noticed
something vaguely similar on the driver's side inner joint. I didn't
disassemble it, I use a homebrew solvent to wash all the grease out of
the joints to avoid that issue. But after cleaning, the driver's side
joint had strong tendency to "catch" or lock as I moved it by hand
through its range of motion, especially if the inner race was
telescoped a little in or out from center. I sharp tap gets it free
again every time, but it feels uneven as it moves, but not gritty. The
passenger side moves smooth as glass. Neither has any detectable play
or looseness.

I noticed that the passenger joint is marked with part numbers and "W.
Germany" on the outside of the outer race. The sticky joint has no
markings at all. Both outer joints have little "VW" logo stamps on
their parts, and move smoothly.

Anyone else experienced this sort of thing? I'm beginning to wonder if
81's had a mix of parts from different suppliers, and these DS inner
joints just aren't made quite as well :-/.

Tony in MO

backwoods wrote:

history of that car....