slimmn

OK, here's my report on the CV boot replacement that Mike and I did over the weekend. He has a 2000 A6 2.7t. We only managed to replace the passenger side. Driver side will be tackled next week. Story below.

I've always done this (5 times) by removing the upper control arm pinch bolt, and have not had any problems with my `98 Passat and `01 A6 4.2.

However, since there were other ways to replace the CV boot, I thought I'd try out the different methods suggested by KrisHansen and Hellsditch. Kris suggested removing the ball joint side of the lower rear control arm. There was also a suggestion by someone (sorry, forgot who it was) to remove the other end of the same arm. Hellsditch suggested turning the steering wheel to the opposite direction, and removing the axle completely by removing the six triple square at the inner boot.

Well, we tried the upper pinch bolt first, since I'm very familiar with this. No luck. Bolt was stuck big time. We then tried Hellsditch's method. We can't seem to get the axle out no matter which angle we tried. I'm not sure what we did wrong.

We then tried KrisHansen's method. Worked pretty well. However, when we tried to bolt the ball joint side of the control arm back, the nut would not go back in. The bolt was so rusted that we had a hard time getting the nut back in. It was tight getting the nut out, and I thought getting it back in wouldn't be a problem. Wrong!! We ended up using a hex bit to hold the bolt, but room was so tight in the area. We managed to get the nut in most of the way before the hex stripped. We then used a vice grip and wrench to complete the job.

We then started on the driver side, but the bolts holding the brake calipers were so tight I broke a Craftsman 18mm, 6 point deep socket first, and then the 3/8" extender (also Craftsman). The dealer that replaced Mike's rotors must have really tightened those bolts. So, I asked Mike to bring the car in to a local mechanic to loosen those 2 bolts, and we'll try again next week.

And one more thing that came as a surprised to us....the bolt holding the CV joint to the axle is now different. It's no longer a 17mm hex, but a regular bolt. We wasting an hour driving to Menards, Checkers, and finally to Sears to buy a socket that fits. We ended up getting a 1 1/16", 6 point deep socket ($8.50). The same socket from Checkers just did not fit very nicely. What a pain it was. Vendors like ECS and Worldimpex, etc. may want to consider telling people buying these kits about this change to prevent any problems.

I hope Mike isn't too pissed about the time it took - 4 hours total, I think. I normally get one side done in 1.5 hours, by myself. While I was frustrated, I certainly learned a few things, and that's all that matters. Live and learn, I guess.

Sorry for the long rambling. Thanks for all your advice.

See you again next week Mike. Just keep thinking about the $600 savings, and what you can buy with that ;-). And thanks for your tips about the window guide and fog lights.

ebony andras

Did you not try to replace by the method that requires neither the upper or the lowers to be removed? I remember reading about it a few weeks ago, in which you let the suspension drop enough to get it out through the wheel well, from "behind" the rotors.

I did mine by removing the uppers a few months ago, and that worked quite well, but since a very recent 4-wheel alignment, I'm not usre that I want to remove anything again, and have to pay for another alignment.

4Driver4

I've never removed a caliper to do a CV bolt.

Sounds like a struggle. Sears sells impact sockets - try those. At least they'll be harder to break.

4Driver4

Removing/re-attaching the ball joints on the control arms has negligable effect on alignment.

slimmn

Struggle? No. Learning experience, yes. I've saved thousands in the past few years doing my own work. Some repairs take longer than others, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Always glad to complete a job, and gain some more insight to how a car works. Looking back at my VAG purchases, while is was frustating at times, I wouldn't trade what I've learned over the years.

I'll look into the impact sockets when I'm getting my free replacements at Sears.

Ming rings in Minn

Many thanks to Stan for what we've done so far!

I am making plans to get those other bolts loose

I found an Amoco that will bust em loose and re-tighten, (not so tight) for about 40 buck. For the same price, I could buy an electric impact wrench, but @ $40, is any wrench that cheap just a pice of cr#p?

Would even an impact wrench be any guarantee we could get those nuts out of that caliper.<ul><li><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&amp;item=7566883956&amp;rd= 1&amp;sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&amp;rd=1">Woul d this get those bolts loose? Or even fit in the tight space?</a></li></ul>

Eric 2.7

dealer before you begin. Also, turn the steering wheel to the left (for the right side) and you can swing the joint right out w/o doing anything to the brake calipers.

Do it like this and you can do it in 1.5 hours even if you clean the heck out of the joint like I do.

Ming rings in Minn

the only thing removing the caliper &amp; rotor allowed us to do was see better. After actually seeing the removal and reinstall, the caliper really never came into play, and the rotor probabaly wouldn't have been too much in way either... but... do you think you could get at those 6 bolts holding the driveshaft on with the rotor still attached? It seemed a bit tricky reaching in there, might be too hard with the rotor in blocking the view.?.?. and removing the rotor did make it easier to clean....

If we left the calipers on, I assume the rotor would have to stay on? Could the rotor be bolted to the hub without the wheel? Then, we could use the rotor as leverage when removing/reinserting the driveshaft.

I'd be just as happy to go buy a new lower control arm bolt as take it to Amoco to bust the caliper bolts loose... or both.

What do you think?

Ming rings in Minn

Even after removing the lower control arm, we still had to pull the hub about a half inch out, and toward the front of the car to allow enough room to get the shaft &amp; cv joint back in. There would not have been enough room if the lower control arm was still attached.

Even after removing lower control arm bolt, and pushin &amp; pullin on it a lot... once it was all back together, car tracked straight an true on the trip home. 75 mph, smooth and straight. (knock on wood)

I would re-inforce that removing and reattaching control arm bolts did not seem to screw up the alignment at all.

Eric 2.7

rest it on the rear control arm. That gives plenty of room to remove the joint from the shaft.

The bolt and nut are cheap, but you will probably want to plan ahead since they don't seem to usually be in stock at most dealers so a couple day wait is typical.