CV joint/driveshaft re-assembly

[Allen Brzeczek]

Still only working on one side but have struggled to extricate the driveshaft from the CV joint. Relief and joy when they finally came apart but now have another problem.

Cleaned and painted drive shaft, lower suspension arm,tie rod,hub,caliper and disc guard and equipped with all necessary new parts from Minispares I set about re-assembly. Fitted shaft into new CV joint careful to ensure that inner and outer circlips were correctly fitted and driven in with the outer circlip fully seated into the recess in the CV - cannot go deeper. New bearings in the hub and attempted fitting onto the car. The shaft has bottomed out in the Hardy Spicer on the gearbox but I cannot get the swivels in the hub to fit into the top and bottom arms, it is as if somehow the assembly is somehow longer.

I have worked on my mini for years and believe I know what I am doing but am puzzled what am I missing or is there a procedure or sequence to get these to fit? Any ideas please

[andy1071]

The inner race of the CV joint is different at each 'end'.. Has the inner race been assembled the wrong way around at the factory...?

[Alex]

Have you put the longer driveshaft into the short side ?
It's a bit obvious, but we've probably all done it at some point...

[Allen Brzeczek]

Thank you for your input, the CV was particularly stubborn to remove and i the end I resorted to cutting away the outer leaving the inner part on the shaft. The circlip had lodged and jammed the assembly which was then relatively easy to deal with as I managed to loosen and remove the clip and and then push the drive shaft through from the top that had been buried in the CV,

However, with the puzzling and frustration I walked away from it for a couple of days, when I returned with a clearer head I realised to my embarrassment, and relief, that I had caused the problem myself. During my attempts to remove the CV the shaft slipped through the jaws of the vice
and was hanging on the inner splines, this caused damage which prevented the shaft form sliding fully into the inner Hardy Spicer. a measurement of the length of the splines and depth of the UJ confirmed this. After dressing the ends of the splines the shaft slipped in and job now finished.