Regreasing CVs-worth doing?

[disco stu]

So I've got the front of the car apart regreasing bearings and checking everything out.

I've never normally bothered with CVs until I've had problems, but I'm wondering if it's worth cleaning these out and regreasing seeing I'm uncertain about the service history on the car, the age, ill treatment etc, and they are pricey to replace. It doesn't appear that these have lost any grease.

What are the thoughts-just leave them or worth the effort?

[erad]

Eventually, the balls in the CV joints will wear an indentation in their tracks where they normally run, but this takes a very long time. Most CV failures come from torn boots which allow dirt and grit into the joint and destroy it. If the boots are still in good condition, leave them, but check them regularly. If you wanted to you could put new boots on the joints, in which case yes, re-grease the joints a the same time.

[disco stu]

Cheers erad. I was feeling slack thinking that I should just leave it

[stumagoo]

I agree the factory grease is going to be good as long as the boots are good ---- check them carefully and if they are perished maybe replace but the aftermarket boots never last as well as factory ones. the grease will be fine as its the dirt/sand/mud that causes the grease to fail once the boots split

[disco stu]

Thanks Stu. I'll go back to being slack. Now to work out how to tighten the bearing lock nut to 130nm!

[brw0513]

And it's a fiddly, messy job.

I replaced a split boot with an aftermarket boot. I did get it on eventually but I reckon the genuine boot would have been a much easier process.

[disco stu]

It's not so bad with brand new parts getting them greased, but old ones are a nightmare. I'm doing when bearings and tie rods etc at the moment-grease leaking out of everything, so it's all over tools, the ground, walking it inside, my face.... Degreasing bearings-that keeps the solvent companies in business!

But times I've done cv joints in the past, they are much worse