Tools needed - 30mm 12 point socket, torque wrench, breaker bar, basic socket kit, soft faced mallet, 17mm socket (for wheel bolts), new outer CV boot kit which should contain new boot, new 30mm nut, sachet of grease, a couple of new washers and a pair of new clips to tighten the boot and some petrol/ethanol to wash away old grease. Oh and some gloves. It's a messy job.
Step 1 - With car on the ground remove the centre cap on the wheel and using the breaker bar and the 30mm socket loosen the driveshaft nut. This baby will be tight so make sure you get a good grip and secure the breaker bar so it doesn't jump off and scratch the car/wheel.
Step 2 - Once loosened, loosen the wheel bolts and jack the car up. Remember to put axle stands underneath and take all the precautions you should when jacking the car up.
Step 3 - Remove wheel. Now what you need to do is undo the 3 bolts that hold the bottom balljoint to the wishbone. There's 3 bolts in the shape of a triangle, the bolts are either 10mm or 13mm I can't remember. Remove all 3 being careful not to round them off, use plenty of plusgas or any other lube. When you remove the 3 bolts the plate to which they all screw onto will come off. Remove that and give the threads and a nice wire brushing so they go back in easily.
Step 4 - Remove the 30mm driveshaft nut. Now you will be able to pull the hub towards you, without removing the balljoint from the hub itself or the suspension strut, thus ruining the alignment. Once you've pulled the hub away from the driveshaft carefully push it to the side to get it out of the way, being careful not to break or bend anything.
Step 5 - Now you will have the driveshaft free and ready to be worked on. From here on it's easy. Cut/release the old clips holding the boot down and cut away the old boot with a knife. Make sure you have gloves on and old rags at hand, this is the part that gets very messy.
Step 6 - Once the old boot is off get the rags and clean away as much greasy as you can. Now it's time to separate the CV joint from the driveshaft. You'll need the mallet to tap the joint away from the driveshaft. Careful not to break your joint, but it will need a few good whacks to come away as there's a little circlip on the driveshaft that holds it in place.
Step 7 - Once the CV joint is off, using the petrol/ethanol and the rags clean it off as best as you can. You need to remove as much of the old CV grease as possible. Give the drivehaft a clean too, making sure the circlip is still there and undamaged.
Step 8 - Before you do anything else, fit the new CV boot before fitting the joint again, otherwise you'll have to tap the joint out yet again. Obviously fit it the right way round, bigger opening towards you.
Step 9 - Once you're happy with the cleanliness of the CV joint and the petrol/ethanol has dried grab the sachet or two of grease that came with the kit and pack the joint with grease. Fill it with as much grease as you can. Once it's packed push the joint into the driveshaft. Now any remaining grease you had fill the new boot with.
Step 10 - Push the boot over the joint to make a tight seal. Grab the two clips that came in the kit, and fit and tighten them. They require a special set of pliers to crimp it down, you can either use your imagination to tighten it or get a pair of jubilee clips the right size and use them.
Step 11 - Once the boot is back on and tightened down, grab the hub and refit the driveshaft, loosely put the new nut supplied in the kit. Grab the 3 bolts and the other bit that you undid from the balljoint and refit it. Tighten them to 26 ft-ln using the torque wrench.
Step 12 - Once that's refitted, tighten the 30mm driveshaft nut so it's nice and tight. Put the wheel back on. Tighten the wheel bolts so you can put the car back down.
Step 13 - Once the car is back on the floor, tighten the wheel bolts to 80 ft-lb. Remember to use a star pattern.
Step 14 - Now you need to tighten the driveshaft nut. If you car is pre 95 there are two stages to this, you will need the torque wrench.
Pre 95:
Stage 1 - 66 ft-lb
Stage 2 - Angle tighten 45 degrees. You can use the 12 splines on the driveshaft nut as a reference. Between each point it's 30 degrees, so do a point and a bit.
Post95:
Stage 1 - 150 ft-lb
Then fully slacken the nut
Stage 2 - 37 ft-lb
Stage 3 - Angle tighten 30 degrees. That's 1 point on the 12 points from the nut.
For all other models there's only 1 stage, tighten to 197 ft-lb.
That's it. Job done. Refit the centre cap and go for a test drive, and most importantly enjoy the fact you're not spitting CV grease all over the inside of your wheels
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