Axle CV joints

[Raider89]

The manual says inspect/rebuild every 500 miles. I have not done it yet (currently at ~1200 miles), but really curious if this is overly conservative. For those that abide by the schedule, how has grease and bearings looked upon inspection? My boots are fine and secure and have not driven in the rain yet either. I have watched the videos and have the Sebeco service kit. I just remember similar axle joints on my Radical that recommended inspection/rebuild every 10 run hrs, but they could easily have lasted 20hrs according to some folks upon inspection. Any experiences anyone can share?

 

[Sebeco Motorsport]

This interval is based on the demands of endurance racing - where a single CV failure would result in loss of position in the race. For sprint racers and track day drivers, you could conceivably run the axle until it fails and needs to be replaced.

For preventative maintenance, the CV's should be regreased after about 8 hours of running - Stratus will undo the boot clamp and pump grease in with a syringe before re-clamping. This maintenance wouldn't necessarily require a rebuild unless there are parts of the axle boot showing excess wear.

It should be also noted that the CV cooling ducts will extend the life of the grease in the boot substantially over cars that do not have these ducts.

 

[Raider89]

Thanks. I am not a fan of going until failure as that introduces all kinds of issues. I will try the Stratus method initially, after inspection. Simple repacking of bearings within the boot is straightforward. I was just curious what others have observed and the timeframes.

 

[Raider89]

Its my understanding from some previous threads the preferred grease is some combination of NEO HPCC1 and Swepco 101. Can someone advise the ratios of each assuming that is still the recommendations? On my previous Radical with similar axles, we used the GKN Tripod Joint Grease in a caulking tube.

 

[StratusChaz]

Its my understanding from some previous threads the preferred grease is some combination of NEO HPCC1 and Swepco 101. Can someone advise the ratios of each assuming that is still the recommendations? On my previous Radical with similar axles, we used the GKN Tripod Joint Grease in a caulking tube.

I believe it should be 30% NEO grease and 70% SWEPCO.

 

[CarlFlorida]

I’m just had an axle fail at 2100 miles…woke me up when it did…was just at a track day too.

A couple of the guys way past my mileage without any issues but given this I’ll definitely be moving my service intervals up to prescribed amounts and not chancing it. Also going to add cooling - if it saves one failure it’s basically paid for itself is how Im looking at it.

 

[CarlFlorida]

This interval is based on the demands of endurance racing - where a single CV failure would result in loss of position in the race. For sprint racers and track day drivers, you could conceivably run the axle until it fails and needs to be replaced.

For preventative maintenance, the CV's should be regreased after about 8 hours of running - Stratus will undo the boot clamp and pump grease in with a syringe before re-clamping. This maintenance wouldn't necessarily require a rebuild unless there are parts of the axle boot showing excess wear.

It should be also noted that the CV cooling ducts will extend the life of the grease in the boot substantially over cars that do not have these ducts.

Thanks for posting I’m going to start doing this with the syringe