More pics please. Is it shut tight, cant wiggle it at all? (Cant sort out if youve located the ring, if you have, never mind) I think i see a "hood" on the body between the two pieces, isnt that the clamp?
Looks quite odd imo, hope you get it sorted.

 

Yes, there is a "hood" between the tripod housing and the gear box. I can move that back and forth easily enough and it spins round, but the housing itself is very tight. It wiggles maybe a 1mm or 2mm, virtually nothing.

What do you mean by "locate the ring"? is there some ring i should be compressing, apart from the internal ring that's keeping this bad boy on?

I can attach a few more photos tomorrow morning first thing...I'm knackered tonight. going to bed. Thanks for the reply!!

 

They can be very tight but it will come off in the end with a good enough lever. If you are using a springy pry bar that isn't enough. You want a big wide flat bar that doesn't bend and it needs to be as long as a metre. I have always found a series of sharp jerks rather than just strong leverage works better.

Not 100% sure with the auto version but you need to get that shaft end out so you can inspect the splines on it and also the splines on the corresponding stub shaft.

You can protect the aluminium gearbox casing with a bit of wood if you don't want marks and it also helps to provide a better fulcrum for the lever. It will just suddenly pop out just as you are about to give up!

 

They can be very tight but it will come off in the end with a good enough lever. If you are using a springy pry bar that isn't enough. You want a big wide flat bar that doesn't bend and it needs to be as long as a metre. I have always found a series of sharp jerks rather than just strong leverage works better.

Not 100% sure with the auto version but you need to get that shaft end out so you can inspect the splines on it and also the splines on the corresponding stub shaft.

You can protect the aluminium gearbox casing with a bit of wood if you don't want marks and it also helps to provide a better fulcrum for the lever. It will just suddenly pop out just as you are about to give up!

Now that you mention it, I had noticed that the pry bars I was using were, as you say "springy". Unfortunately, I am working on this on the ground (jack stands), so I don't think I have enough room for a 1 meter pry bar. I will get something much stronger tomorrow, as you've suggested, and give it another go.

Thanks for the advice and I will definitely be back tomorrow to let you all know how it went. Cheers!!

 

well, that didn't go to plan. I got a solid pry bar. no luck. tried whacking it. no luck. had my wife tension it while I yanked on the pry bar and....slipped, hitting me in the head. ER visit and 4 stitches later. I am completely dejected. I think this housing got the best of me.

Now, the tail between the legs question. If I have it serviced, how am I to get it to the mechanic's? I imagine I have to call a flatbed, right? and can I put it on the tyres if the drive shaft (only left side) is out? will that ruin anything else? I suppose I would reconnect the ball joint at least.

What a disaster. But, at least I now know that I tried my best and that it was just too big a job for me. One step closer to knowing my limits, I suppose. Thanks guys for the advice all the same. maybe if the van had been in the air instead of on the ground, I'd have had more room and more leverage...who knows.

Cheers.

 

Oh dear, what a disaster! You can certainly have it winched (it won't have drive on one shaft) onto a low loader without doing any harm. It mustn't be towed with the front wheels on the road any distance though because the differential may be damaged since one wheel will not be moving at all with the other doing normal speeds.

I didn't realise you didn't have it raised. Do you have the equivalent of mobile mechanics in Spain? Or someone local with proper jack (and good quality axle stands) who can get it high enough. I think I would struggle with that job on a van not reasonably high. You could yet snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

Oh dear, what a disaster! You can certainly have it winched (it won't have drive on one shaft) onto a low loader without doing any harm. It mustn't be towed with the front wheels on the road any distance though because the differential may be damaged since one wheel will not be moving at all with the other doing normal speeds.

I didn't realise you didn't have it raised. Do you have the equivalent of mobile mechanics in Spain? Or someone local with proper jack (and good quality axle stands) who can get it high enough. I think I would struggle with that job on a van not reasonably high. You could yet snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

I had it on axle stands, but still not high enough really for me to get any decent leverage while laying on my side. Tyre was about 2" off the ground. Thanks for the advice on getting it winched. Quick question though: What's a mobile mechanic? sounds like the mechanic version of a doctor's house call...

 

If it was me (stubborn once a job fights back) I would have one last go with it.. maybe get some wood blocks under the axle stands and jack and get the van nice and high.. axle stands both sides on the subframe should be nice and steady. Wheels off.

Then walk away for an hour, cup of tea.. read the paper. Finally go out there with your bar, some intent and purpose and beat / bend it off.

 

cheers for that. although we've never meant, it does make me feel a bit better. I will certainly have a look around Valencia for a mobile mechanic. marbella is a wee far (at least 7 hours by car).

 

We often stay in a villa near Torrevieja because we have a direct flight from our local little airport. I'll bring my nice big high-lift jack next time I come..

 

So, I may be snatching victory form the jaws of defeat, but I want to ask about 1 or 2 more doubts. I've decided to leave the housing on the gearbox, regrease the inner tripod bearing and put it back together. I swapped out the outer CV (which was the goal the whole time anyway) with no problem.

My questions:
1. How much of a folly could this be? Am I at risk of having damaged something but tugging on this housing so much without it moving? Might I have inadvertently damaged something inside?
2. Assuming "no" to Q1: Can I use normal bearing grease (as used in the outer CV joint) to grease the treble bearing? or is there a special grease I should get?
3. When packing the grease into the inner treble housing and boot, how much should I put in? 50ml? 100ml? completely full? just in the housing? just in the boot? any best practices for that?

I will tackle this in the morning and then, if Q1 hasn't exploded the forum with danger signs, take it for a test drive. Have to put the new ball joint in too, but that seems under control.

Thanks again guys! Next time you're on vacay in Valencia, let me know. You've got a couple of pints on me for sure

 

Without better knowledge, as much moly-grease there is room to fit, no rubber involved right? Might get scoulded at for even suggesting, but its my way. That or follow workshop manual
If you can move it manually w/o any hinder or strange noise it should be ok, i guess.

Sick updates, sorry to hear your beating but its better than dropping the gearbox on your head i bet.

 

It's a big lump of metal there shouldn't be any damage from just normal levering. Make sure the three bearing are ok and still captive on the spider.

You can use normal CV grease yes. It doesn't need to have as much as an outer CV which is working much harder. I would just slather up the three bearings very well and leave it at that. It doesn't matter about the boot it will end up going where it wants to at 130 kph anyway.

Hope all goes well (let us know) and get well soon!

 

So, I have greased everything and was going to put the boot on the treble housing, it wiggled a little so i pulled on it with my 1 hand....wouldn't you know...the little bugger slid right off. so when i did my head, the pry bar must not have slipped but actually popped the housing free, but i was too busy bleeding all over the street to realise it.

so, i took it off, put the boot back on and all is good. slid the drive shaft back onto the stub and felt that it went on quite easy. so i pulled to check it and it slid right off again. so I imagine there's a clip (the one that caused me to break my head) that's missing. I looked everywhere!! no where to be found. not under the van, not in the back where we (my daughter is helping) greased it and put the boot back on it. Gone. Unless....there was no clip and I am looking for something that doesn't exist. There is a groove near the tip of the stub that certainly makes it seem like a clip should go there, but no clip. there's also a groove deep inside the receiving part of the housing the stub inserts into. it's not there either. Checked 100 times. But I can't imagine this clip pops off the stub easily so where the bloody heck did it go? Why didn't it just compress and then depress, but stay on the stub?

I went to the auto parts shop and he told me I have to go to VW to get or a junk yard. I ain't going to a junkyard, I can tell you that.

I think the part number is: N 91080601. is this right?

This is probably a very stupid question but, Is this clip necessary of it slips completely on and is screwed on at the outer CV joint? I would say yes, otherwise there wouldn't be a groove there and it wouldn't have cost me a trip to the ER. But, I have to ask.

 

Hi brad,
Check PMs

 

Hi all again.

I have made a short video of where I am at.

Very frustrating that I can't find that compression ring for the stub drive shaft. I can't believe it fell off....i really can't. but, it's not there and it had to have been there....but man....i just have this gut feeling that it was never there because I just don't see how it could have come off.

Edit: Can I use Loctite 638 to bond the males splines from the stub to the the female inner CV splines? Could that be why it was so hard to get off? Maybe the last person used Loctite and no ring?

cheers.

 

That part number looks like the clip that holds the tripod collar (with the three bearings) on to the shaft. A compression spring clip that fits in a groove should have no 'ears' so look similar to the clip for the outer CV joint end. I'm not familiar with the 6 speed auto and I couldn't work it out from the parts diagram (and they are normally accurate).

I'm assuming that is the shorter gearbox-side shaft (LHD van?) When I saw the pinion/rack pipes in your pic I thought it was the other (our) side! I remember seeing a groove without a circlip from when I did my (manual) gearbox bearing job but I think that was on the the longer drive shaft where the drive shaft centre bearing would prevent any in/out movement. I remember thinking it was odd at the time. Where are all those guys who have replaced T5 stripped drive shafts? They must know.

As for whether it could have popped off, they don't do that normally. In fact they have to be carefully prised off especially if you want to re-use them. If it has popped off, no doubt it is hiding in some dark place on the subframe or amongst the dirt on on the floor. Wiping a good strong magnet around sometime helps. Or maybe someone crammed the shaft in with half a circlip and that is why it caused so much trouble.

What you are describing matches the way they sometimes come off, remember I said 'It will just suddenly pop out just as you are about to give up!' And it sure did! From your video it looks normal but look carefully for anything that isn't dark grease or spline. If you can, post photos of it close up as it is and then once cleaned up.

Re the Loctite- If it was bonded it would have taken quite a force to remove. But you should be able to see some residue.

 

That part number looks like the clip that holds the tripod collar (with the three bearings) on to the shaft. A compression spring clip that fits in a groove should have no 'ears' so look similar to the clip for the outer CV joint end. I'm not familiar with the 6 speed auto and I couldn't work it out from the parts diagram (and they are normally accurate).

I'm assuming that is the shorter gearbox-side shaft (LHD van?) When I saw the pinion/rack pipes in your pic I thought it was the other (our) side! I remember seeing a groove without a circlip from when I did my (manual) gearbox bearing job but I think that was on the the longer drive shaft where the drive shaft centre bearing would prevent any in/out movement. I remember thinking it was odd at the time. Where are all those guys who have replaced T5 stripped drive shafts? They must know.

As for whether it could have popped off, they don't do that normally. In fact they have to be carefully prised off especially if you want to re-use them. If it has popped off, no doubt it is hiding in some dark place on the subframe or amongst the dirt on on the floor. Wiping a good strong magnet around sometime helps. Or maybe someone crammed it in with half a circlip and that is why it caused so much trouble.

What you are describing matches the way they sometimes come off, remember I said 'It will just suddenly pop out just as you are about to give up!' And it sure did! From your video it looks normal but look carefully for anything that isn't dark grease or spline. If you can, post photos of it close up as it is and then once cleaned up.

Re the Loctite- If it was bonded it would have taken quite a force to remove. But you should be able to see some residue, it is possible but hard to think someone had such serious stuff to hand rather than order a circlip.

yeah. it's the shorter side on LHD. as you mentioned residue, I did notice some hard baked-mud-type residue on the bottom just under the stub. I'll get better photo tomorrow. but, I remember thinking that I'd have to get a small screwdriver in there to break it away and clean it up.

I'm betting that's what they did. no idea why, but there it is.

I do have an extra clip from the box of the outer CV joint....I wonder if I could use that. I was going to replace both sides, but if I have to sacrifice the clip from the other one to make this inner one work, I'll totally do it. no ears on that one for sure.

I'll also give it a shot tomorrow and include photos.

 

Any mud would have to be quite hard baked indeed to be the residue of bonding.

Those splines are the infamous T5 'stripped = no drive' ones and the light greasing the factory added dries out over a few years as I found on mine. I posted some pics once because the grease on mine was like your mud. I cleaned it all up and re-greased and have done that once or twice again in the intervening years and I still have the original drive shafts at 18 years. Only 122k though.

If you find truly hard residue perhaps this was someones's idea of a 'fix/bodge' for stripping spines before a sale. If your CV clip is is going to work for the other end of the shaft, try it first in the groove. It should be a slightly slack fit for thickness but the diameter might look a bit too big once you have persuaded it into place. But as long as you can squash it fully into the groove with a pair of grips it's ok. My 'clip ok' test for those sort of compression clips was always to feel a tiny bit of in/out slack on the joint or shaft once it's fitted. No slack equals either not fully in place or something stuck/wrong.

Top tip - if you have expanded a new clip a little too much during fitting you might accidently bend it as you knock the shaft or joint into place. If this happens it will never be able to seat properly and you will need another circlip. If you have enough access, try prodding a medium sized screwdriver around the clip as you press/knock in the shaft. This will help persuade the circlip into its groove.

 

OK!! Everything is done and it has been tested on the road. No knocking or weird sounds.

Here's what happened today if you're interested:

I decided to hell with it, and was going to put the clip that came with the outer CV joint on the stub. As I was pressing it on, guess who popped out of the groove?! The bloody old clip!!!! It was sunk down inside the groove and I couldn't feel it, so I had thought it wasn't there. So the new one went on, but it too is completely recessed inside the groove. I don't get the feeling it's doing anything really, but here's the photo to show you they are the same size. You can also see the old one came out more oval than circular:

I slipped the drive shaft on, did up the ball joint and torqued everything to spec. I took it for a spin and all's good. The only thing that annoys me and I don't know how important it is, is that the metal cuff that was bent when trying to pry off the shaft is loose and I can hear it ringing and bouncing. It's just not tight up against the gear box. Hopefully no one tells me that the van will explode because of that.

Now, time to clean it all up, pack it and head to Munich for the summer. 1600kms tomorrow. Wish me luck! THank you everyone for all your help. Literal blood and sweat was shed over this project. But, it does feel good once it's all buttoned up and running right.

Cheers!!

 

Good job! You can buy that cuff separately when you get round to it. As long as you can't pull the shaft out by hand it should be ok. Usually with an inner joint, the shaft doesn't pull out, unlike the outer CV will usually pop out on turning if the clip isn't holding. Enjoy your trip!

 

Crikey, that was quite a saga but credit to you for sticking with it. I hope trip goes well and summer in Germany is good!