CV Joint

[Felix]

How many kittens would die if i never had the retaining spring clip. Changed a split boot today and it never came with a clip but there was not one in the joint either. This is on the N/S, short drive shaft if it makes a difference.

[Ant]

It'll probably work its way back and the grease find its way out at worse. Possibly would be picked up on an MOT?

[porter_jamie]

Do you mean the clamp which clamps the boot into the shaft/CV joint or the retaining clip which stops the shaft coming out of the CV joint inner race?

[Big Red]

If its the internal circlip that holds the shaft to the cv joint, then there is a fairly good chance the shaft will disconnect itself from the joint.
Best case senario is it wont have enough room to come completely out but will be driving on last few mm of the splined shaft and end up stripping

[David]

Either clip is there for a purpose...you could replace the boot retaining clip with wire or a zip tie....the shaft retaining clip is fairly vital, unless you enjoy waiting for recovery trucks.

[Mussels]

Assuming it's the bit to hold the boot in place I'd just use a zip tie, I've fitted kits in the past and that's all they came with anyway.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Either clip is there for a purpose...you could replace the boot retaining clip with wire or a zip tie....the shaft retaining clip is fairly vital, unless you enjoy waiting for recovery trucks.

This ^^^

Either is needed though - not having the latter potentially leads to sudden failure as above. Not having the former means the boot isn't doing it's job (keeping dust and crap out of the joint) and hence leads to a slower wear type failure.

Note the use of the word failure in both scenarios

[Felix]

Its the spring clip holding CV Joint to the shaft. Reading a lot of forums last night and it was mixed answers when other folk were asking. My thinking was the O/S shaft i may have thought twice about as its two parts and the joint in the shafts does have a deep bucket what i suppose is a more primitive CV joint. Between the movement there and at the Hub when turning i would think, Nah but N/S is a one part short shaft and as it never had one when i took the CV Joint off i never had one to go back in so as i was driving like that for some 18 month my thinking its fine. However i found a cheap CV Joint last night for 21 quid what comes with the Hub nut, Spring clip, New boot and clips and some grease. Handy having a spare boot and ill use the spring clip CV Joint will be a paper weight.

[Ant]

I personally wouldn't risk missing out the circlip holding it together. Earlier I thought you had meant the boot over the joint. You can get circlip kits which are useful to have in the garage, with an assortment of sizes. Or build your own kit from sizes you know you will use.

[Felix]

I personally wouldn't risk missing out the circlip holding it together. Earlier I thought you had meant the boot over the joint. You can get circlip kits which are useful to have in the garage, with an assortment of sizes. Or build your own kit from sizes you know you will use.

I TEND to buy universal boots but they all come with the clips, grease and the glue to seal them shut what is amazing glue BTW. I have a mate who is a kerbside mechanic who is handy for the proper tools who tends to have a box of mixed size clamps anyway. Shame he did not stock the spring clips. Still its not a big job taking it off again.

[porter_jamie]

Its the spring clip holding CV Joint to the shaft. Reading a lot of forums last night and it was mixed answers when other folk were asking. My thinking was the O/S shaft i may have thought twice about as its two parts and the joint in the shafts does have a deep bucket what i suppose is a more primitive CV joint. Between the movement there and at the Hub when turning i would think, Nah but N/S is a one part short shaft and as it never had one when i took the CV Joint off i never had one to go back in so as i was driving like that for some 18 month my thinking its fine. However i found a cheap CV Joint last night for 21 quid what comes with the Hub nut, Spring clip, New boot and clips and some grease. Handy having a spare boot and ill use the spring clip CV Joint will be a paper weight.

the inboard one is a plunging joint which allows for the suspension and steering movement. if its a ford it will have a long shaft on the rhs to put the inboard joint in the same place as the lh shaft, which improves torque steer