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Do any of you cv guru’s out there know if and/or how you could check the condition of a front cv joint before it goes into the car?

I do not really want to put new boots/grease on an unknown shaft and then put them in the car only to discover that they are not good.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks Fellaz.

arent they shagged when they are hell loose and floppy? a nice tight joint usually means they are still ok..i think it would be pretty hard to tell without pulling it apart though..

alex

If I ‘bump’ this do you think that I will still get nil response?

If you have a spare hub lying around you could slip the CV shaft into that and rotate it by hand. Whilst rotating change the angle further and further out. It should be smooth to rotate (if the hub bearings are good!) and continue to be while changing the angle. If you feel any sort of grinding or clicking then it indicates the CV is worn. It should be easy to tell if the shaft is in your hands. I havn't done this myself, just an idea.

Also remove the boot and clean the CV up and inspect it for free play, chunks missing etc.

With the condition of CV's I usually get a trained eye to decide for me. What I would do is strip the boots off, clean them up with degreaser etc, take a trip to Alan's CV Joint in Osborne Park and get them to take a quick look at them and give you an opinion.
They'd probably do this for free if you buy a couple of new boots from them while you are there!

Yer, I was thinking I would clean the cv’s and take em to someone for inspection/professional opinion (if i had no luck on here) but other then Subaru I did not know of a good cv place – I may give them a call.
Thanks Andrew.

Yer those guys get my recommendation every time - I've always been very happy. They know their stuff, CV's are all they do!

how do your balls buff up ? are they nicely chromed still or worn out to copper plating underneath ? I ripped about four shafts apart to make one good test shaft for diagnosing and just made sure all had no nicks and the cups were nice clean undamaged too. Time consuming and friggin messy.