Driveshaft question

Has anyone disassembled the outer CV joint. I had a torn boot and was replacing it when I realized I could not see any easy way to remove the joint. The service manual refers to a retaining ring that has to be removed first in order to separate the outer housing from the ball/cage assembley but I could not see such a ring and ended up removing the inner joint (tri-pot spider) to install the boot. The outer joint looked like it had been pressed in place and I could not see any obvious way to remove it.

if your boot was torn i would suggest you just replace the axle with a rebuilt unit. by time you pull it apart, clean it out, repack it with the special grease and buy a new boot its a lot faster and better to just replace the whole thing. also once your boot has torn the grease comes out and it gets grit inside so chances are its worn out anyway

Boot already replaced and vehicle back on the road. :) From what I could see it had just happened and the there was still a good amount of grease in the joint and no sign of any damage or dirt/grit so I guess it should be OK. I inspected what I could see and the balls and cage look in good condition I was just curious as to whather the joint was designed to be replaced and was unsure why the manual was different to what I could see. Maybe the joints in older metros came apart?

My Haynes manual (85-91 Metro and Sprint) says the outer joint is not removable. So I'm thinking they never were.

I recently replaced the boots on on the passenger side on my '91. I was able to flush out most of the grease from the outer joint with a can of brake cleaner. Then thoroughly repacked it; good as new now. Much more time consuming than just getting a reman'd axle assembly, but I prefer the cheap route of buying a couple boots instead.

Would've been so much easier if they had made the stub axle separable so things could be cleaned and repacked properly. Makes you wonder how the remanufacturers refurbish them.

That's interesting - I guess in that case the outer joint is not removable. I'm not an expert on driveshafts but the subject is covered in some detail in a book I have which covers the general service of automatic transmissions. As I understand it the standard "Rzeppa" joint is pressed in (whixh is what I gues this is) whereas a double offset joint can be taken apart.

And as for the remanufactured driveshafts - there is nothing to say they took all the joints apart. My guess is that they take the old core and inspect the joints for damage - if none is visiable they simply replace the boots, repack with grease and sell with a one year warranty. After all they pretty much get the core back for free. Once the warranty expires then it is not their problem anymore.