Paper gaskets in 100 mm cv joints

[Dakotakid]

Perhaps a stupid question:
Why did VW employ paper gaskets in 100 mm. inside cv joints???

[Rabbit on Roids]

to keep the grease in there. and to keep the grease/oil mix in there when those stupid rubber/metal dust caps from the center of the flange starts to leak.

if you leave them out, you will figure out why VW put them there in very short order. lol

[burn_your_money]

Then why don't the 90mm ones have them?

[Powered by Spearco]

Yeah, huh.  What he said, ^

[truckinwagen]

you will only have issues with leakage if the rubber input drive seal fails inside the drive flange, and I would argue that it is a good thing for them to leak when that happens, so you notice it before the CV is trashed.

I have never used a paper gasket when re-assembling, and never had any issues...

[rabbitman]

and I would argue that it is a good thing for them to leak when that happens, so you notice it before the CV is trashed.

So gear lube in the cv joint will trash it?

I had one of the little caps leak when, for some reason the axle shaft and tranny output shafted were too close and rubbed a hole right in the middle of the cap. And it did fill the cv with gear lube.....

[rallydiesel]

I'm pretty sure my 90mm replacement axles had the sticker-type paper ones.

[GEE-BEE]

another product I need to make out .020 reinforced silicone...

GB

[Rabbit on Roids]

Then why don't the 90mm ones have them?

my axles in my rabbit had them the first time i disassembled it, they were 90mm. and it had a 4 speed gear mixer in it. about half of them that i see have the paper gasket.

and owen, how will 90wt leaking into the CV destroy it? its got grease in there already, whats the difference if the grease gets thinned down a little bit? ive had about 4 different CVs fill up with 90wt, and all i ever do is clean the gunk out, and re-pack the joint.

[truckinwagen]

the stresses a cv joint sees are very extreme, the cv grease is specially formulated for those stresses, regular grease wont do.

when the cv grease is diluted by gear oil, it is not as effective at lubricating and protecting the cv from the immense stress it sees. if allowed to sit with gear oil in it the CV will fail prematurely.

[burn_your_money]

Weird. All the 90mm ones I have seen except the new (chinese :shudder:) one I bought didn't have gaskets. None of them leak either.

Of the cars I've pulled apart the inner CV has always been shot when it was mixed with gear oil.

[Rabbit on Roids]

normal grease works just fine for my CV joints. i have not had an inner CV go bad on me yet.

and i take my sutff apart and put it back together so much that the gear oil/grease in my CVs was never there for long.

[truckinwagen]

Of the cars I've pulled apart the inner CV has always been shot when it was mixed with gear oil.

I will bet that they had either failed recently, or the CV's were on their way out.

normal grease works just fine for my CV joints. i have not had an inner CV go bad on me yet.

and i take my sutff apart and put it back together so much that the gear oil/grease in my CVs was never there for long.

regular grease will not protect the CV from wear very well, if regular grease is used the joint wont last nearly as long as it should

[Rabbit on Roids]

oh, i will take your word on it being different. but its not like im going to go out and get CV joint grease and re pack all my joints. that would be like a 2 day project with as many cars  as i have around here. lol.

[truckinwagen]

yep, CV grease is very different, it is moly based and VERY sticky/thick.

regular grease may work for a while, but CV's(and their grease) were designed to last 200,000 miles before they start clicking. you may get 10,000 with regular grease/bathed in gear lube, but that is still a drastically reduced lifespan.