CV Joint solution

[Gauravk]

I drive 99 Pajero 3.5 SWB for desert with a 2-inch lift in the front and breaking my CV joint axle every year.

Is there any permanent solution to this issue...?

[geopaj]

Install a pair of rebuilt second hand genuine Mitsubishi drive shaft/CVs and drive with mechanical sympathy would be my suggestion (from my memory, OEM Mitsubishi CVs are stronger that most, if not all, of the aftermarket options).

[nj swb]

Six posts down from this thread, on the first page of the Gen 2 forum:

https://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=55493

[Gauravk]

Thanks guys, for solution I meant for not breaking them anymore. Like changing the angle or stretch something somehow.

In Dubai I can get used CV pretty easily but end up clacking on turn within 6 months to a years time.

Love to hear some solution for extending there life with 2-4 inch front lift. Thanks.

[Dicko1]

Thanks guys, for solution I meant for not breaking them anymore. Like changing the angle or stretch something somehow.

In Dubai I can get used CV pretty easily but end up clacking on turn within 6 months to a years time.

Love to hear some solution for extending there life with 2-4 inch front lift. Thanks.

Even a 2 inch lift and driving hard in sand will see the joints collapse. Standard height would be best but may not be much good for constant sand driving. 4 inch lift is really going to put strain on joints.

[Gauravk]

I agree, Im running with 2 Inch and breaking one set every year. Now Im used to living with claking noise on full turn in 4x4 mode.

Hope there is some solution to this, as its a shame for such an awesome stock offroader to have weak CV joints like an Achilles heel.

[nj swb]

I agree, Im running with 2 Inch and breaking one set every year. Now Im used to living with claking noise on full turn in 4x4 mode.

Hope there is some solution to this, as its a shame for such an awesome stock offroader to have weak CV joints like an Achilles heel.

With a 2" lift?

I've been active on Pajero forums for over 18 years, and breaking Gen 2 CVs with a 2" lift isn't traditional. I don't accept that the factory CV joints are weak, or an Achilles heel.

Are you definitely running genuine Mitsubishi CVs, or are all your used CVs from 20 year old wrecks non-genuine?

[stumagoo]

I run a full 4" suspension lift and have done for well over 70000kms on these now - Genuine mitsi CV's is the only way to go and make sure you get onto any split boots straight away.... that is what kills them.

[Gauravk]

Yes, I was using the axle from scrap as original cost 900 USD (one piece) in Dubai with 30 days wait.

If you guys are 100% sure that brand new will stand up to 2-inch lift without trouble, I don't mind changing. I was under the impression that its the lift spoil the geometry to run axle at a strained angle and killing them.

[geopaj]

My NL had over 300,000km on it when I sold it. It had a 2” lift, had done a lot of 4wding and sand work (including towing a trailer across the Simpson Desert), but I never had CV problems and it still had the original Mitsubishi CVs when I sold it (though I did have to get the boots replaced once).

[stumagoo]

the genuine are not built like aftermarket - and I have found many aftermarket struggle with out geometry once lifted. Genuine should have a green in CV shell.... if it does not have that. I would not believe its genuine

[nj swb]

I was under the impression that its the lift spoil the geometry to run axle at a strained angle and killing them.

Not all CVs are the same.

It's not the amount of lift that causes issues with CVs, it's the angle. The angle is determined by the amount of lift and the length of the driveshaft - the longer the drive shaft, the smaller the angle for any particular size of lift. Within its class, Pajero has good suspension geometry with long shafts, so a 2" lift on a Pajero doesn't produce the same CV angles as some of its contemporaries. This "common wisdom" that a 2" lift will destroy CVs isn't a universal truth.

Then there is the quality of the CV design - as Stumagoo's report demonstrates, different CVs from different sources cope very differently with lift, even if they are all nominally intended for the same vehicle. Genuine Mitsubishi Gen 2 CVs do seem to be better than most on the market. Later models, I'm not so sure about.