CV Boot Replacement on a 1999 Rocky/ Fourtrak F78

Forum: 

I need to replace a nearside CV boot due to MOT failure for split. Have bought replacement one from Milners, but am now unsure how best to strip things down to effect repair. The manual doesn’t cover this job and the autolock hubs look complicated.

Can anyone help please.

Booted

Jack the front of the vehicle to allow reasonable access, remove the four bolts from the drive shaft inner drive flange and disconnect it; remove the outer cv boot and slide it up the shaft, inside the outer joint is a large round clip; clean the grease out to find it. Remove the large clip, and simply slide the shaft out.
There is no need to dismantle the hub, or remove any of the suspension, dismantle the yolk assembly and remove from the shaft, slide both boots off and replace.
Assembly is a reverse; but would suggest you replace both cv boots while the shaft is dismantled.

Booted

Thanks for the help. Can you please explain 1)where to find the drive shaft inner drive flange, 2) how do I disconnect it once the 4 bolts are removed, 3)Do I need to undo the lower ball joint, or its 4 retaining bolts in order to remove the shaft. Sorry to have to ask you to spell it out, but my CD doesn't help at all in this area, and I am worried that I might damage something by unscrewing the wrong bit.

Flanged

Look along the front axle, at the end where it meets the driveshaft is the drive flange, the front axle is only very short, unlike the rear axle which is the width of the vehicle. Once the bolts are disconnected the flange simply prises apart, you DO NOT disconnect any of the steering or suspension components.
Once this is disconnected it will literally fall apart, usually on your head if you are not aware.
Once the outer boot is disconnected and slid along the shaft, look inside the grooves in which the yolk ends sit, in the female part of the joint is the spring clip, simply prise out of its groove with a screwdriver and pull out, this clip only retains the shaft joint together. The whole shaft will pull out of the female portion of the joint, this can be taken away for dismantling.
The rest of the joint stays in the wheel hub, this means no dismantling is necessary.

Flanged

Thanks for the help so far. Starting with the outer CV joint, moving along the nearside driveshaft, there is the inner CV joint which is secured by 6 bolts to the rotating axle end (am I right in thinking this is the flange you talk about?). The axle outer case is held up by 3 bolts, next to this. At the other end there are 5 bolts holding the axle onto the front diff housing. Given this layout which are the bits I need to unbolt.

Yes yours may be held on by

Yes yours may be held on by six bolts, it is on the axle side of the inner cv joint, connected to the rotating axle joint. Several variants are fitted.
Undo these bolts and pull the joint apart, move to the outer cv joint, remove the cv boot retaining clips and slide the boot along the shaft,
Inside the outer joint, in the female portion is a spring clip, remove this from its groove with a screwdriver and this will allow the inner part of the cv joint to simply slide out. the outer part will remain in the wheel assembly.

On the end which comes out is the yolk, remove this from the driveshaft, this is held on with another spring clip, simply slide the boots off and replace them.

You do not remove any axle mounting bolts, suspension or steering stsyem components.

Almost there ?

Have stripped the unit down as suggested, and cut away the old boot to see the joint, but am unable to locate the spring clip inside the joint, and hence am currently unable to remove the shaft from the centre race. Can you please tell me exactly where the clip should be and how big it is. Cheers.

Boot Replacement

Finally sorted thanks to assassins help. Easy when you know how. The clip is not easy to spot due to the molly grease. The groove is in the cup outer rim, and the clip is like a length of wire, bent in a circle, and slotted in. If you look for the point where the two ends meet as there is a small gap where you can put your small screw driver in to leaver the end out. The whole joint with cage and ball bearings then pulls out. A small circlip holds the inner race to the shaft.

The clip's in the INNER cv joint on my F78!!!

Having spent over an hour trying to spot a clip that wasn't there in the outer CV joint on my 1995 F78 one call to Milner's sorted it. The circular clip is in the INNER cv joint. It's a piece of copper coloured wire about 1mm thick which runs just below the rim of the container/cup that the balls sit in (the bit that bolts to the axle, it's green on the outside of mine).

Give the joint a good clean with petrol and a paintbrush and you can't miss it. It also helps to turn the steering towards the nearside and then remove the nearside wheel. once you've removed the clip the joint comes apart and you'll see the C clip on the end of the shaft.

One other thing, Blueprint do an inner boot for around £50 and an outer boot for around £10, but they are identical, as per the Milner website (where it costs £6). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you buy from Milner as their products are first class and their technical advice is absolutely excellent. My order arrived in less than 24 hours from payment. I can't recommend them enough, and I certainly won't be buying any other spare parts for my F78 unless they're Milner!

Cheers,

Lube

CV Boots

I have just repaced my nearside CV boots and as Lube describes, my '97 F78 has the mystical clip on the inner end. I can only think that other models had the clip on the outer end as also described in other posts. The additional problem this presents is that the shaft remains in situ. as the outer end remains anchored in the hub, so you cannot remove the shaft completely and the boots have to be replaced after removing the inner CV joint. Probably easy with a lift, not quite so easy on your back using axle stands!

I thought the easy bit would be the straps holding the boots in place. The Milners kit includes stainless items but I found it really difficult to get them tight. Unlike one I removed, they have no overcentre action, and gripping and pulling only rotates the entire strap, and once you have put a set in the steel band it is then very hard to tighten further. I appreciate that there are rebates for the straps to centre on but even so I was unconvinced I had them tight enough. I have seen cable ties used and wonder if this is a better bet. Any advice anyone?

David T

Cv boots

Can anyone give me the rundown on how to change the cv boots on a 1997 fieldman f73 please