Where to go from here? CV’s

[Adam G]

I have a four seat, dual sport car with a relatively mild LS, 2D and 930’s. I really love the whole package. Before last season, four new GKN 930 CV’s were installed. It was before I owned the car (but verified with Raw Motorsports it had been done as they were the ones who did the work) so I’m not sure if they were “race prepped,” or polished or plane old stock. What I do know is that after a full season last year and 6 trips this year, the right side began to click ever so slightly. I wanted to see how far they would go. Raw prepped them with Swepco/Belray combo and the grease was a bit dry, but the joint still was well caked with grease upon disassembly. The arms were strapped with 22.5° of AXLE angle. There is minimal sweep back and the axles are of identical length suggesting the axles are parallel in the chassis.

Here’s the question, the CV’s were overall in good shape with minor polishing on the driven surfaces of the star and CV body. The cage however, had what I would call significant grooves on the inside where the star was rubbing on it. I’m assuming it is a stock cage, not a super cage, chromoly and definitely not 300m. So where do I go from here? I have to buy some parts but can’t decide if I want to go Fortin 300m CV’s like I did on my previous car so I can forget about them while I’m driving and relax, or do I buy another set of $35 cages and reassemble?

Maybe some @parker@gearone Super CV’s? Or just do a chromoly cage, maybe a set of 300m cages? My goal is a season of dunening with some simple cleaning and greasing as season prep. I’d like to get away from repeatedly wearing parts if possible.

 

[Tonyd]

It sounds like you answered the question for yourself...you can't beat the Fortins and luckily they are 930 vs 934 $$$!!!!!

 

[Adam G]

It sounds like you answered the question for yourself...you can't beat the Fortins and luckily they are 930 vs 934 $$$!!!!!

But is there a middle ground that won’t cost almost $2k?

 

[J Alper]

The Empi 934's will work perfect, i have them in my 3900lbs car 750hp, and they do not break,
after getting 934's you will never talk about cv's again

 

[RiverDave]

I have a four seat, dual sport car with a relatively mild LS, 2D and 930’s. I really love the whole package. Before last season, four new GKN 930 CV’s were installed. It was before I owned the car (but verified with Raw Motorsports it had been done as they were the ones who did the work) so I’m not sure if they were “race prepped,” or polished or plane old stock. What I do know is that after a full season last year and 6 trips this year, the right side began to click ever so slightly. I wanted to see how far they would go. Raw prepped them with Swepco/Belray combo and the grease was a bit dry, but the joint still was well caked with grease upon disassembly. The arms were strapped with 22.5° of AXLE angle. There is minimal sweep back and the axles are of identical length suggesting the axles are parallel in the chassis.

Here’s the question, the CV’s were overall in good shape with minor polishing on the driven surfaces of the star and CV body. The cage however, had what I would call significant grooves on the inside where the star was rubbing on it. I’m assuming it is a stock cage, not a super cage, chromoly and definitely not 300m. So where do I go from here? I have to buy some parts but can’t decide if I want to go Fortin 300m CV’s like I did on my previous car so I can forget about them while I’m driving and relax, or do I buy another set of $35 cages and reassemble?

Maybe some @parker@gearone Super CV’s? Or just do a chromoly cage, maybe a set of 300m cages? My goal is a season of dunening with some simple cleaning and greasing as season prep. I’d like to get away from repeatedly wearing parts if possible.

I happen to know @parker@gearone is going to put up a stocking stuffer featured product in the very near future.

 

[lincster]

Get CV's from Parker, he has good stuff and they are Cryo treated.

22.5 degrees seems like a lot for 930's.
I have my 934's set at 24 degrees.

 

[EastMT]

I have @parker@gearone Gearone CV's and had @J Alper drill/tap them for zerk fittings. Worth every dollar and the shipping back and forth. Easy to add grease and no click.

 

[Rockwood]

Minimal sweep back at full droop, or ride height?

 

[parker@gearone]

We have tested our SUPER CVs against all the other major players on the market. On a 6200 "spec class 1 car" gear one super CVs had a 500 mile longer "service life" than the next best cv. *note this test was only using 934 cv joints not 930.

If you don't buy CV joints from me, I would recommend buying a REM superfinished GKN Cv joint.

As for 300m CV joints, I don't recommend 300m star. 300m is a great material, we use it for axles and shafts all the time. But that doesn't mean it is the correct material for every application. I prefer to have a CV star induction hardened to give it a hard bearing surface while still keeping it "core tough".

300m in the offroad industry is like 4130, 6061, or 7075, all are great materials but that does not mean it fits every application.

As for EMPI cv joints, 930 I would not recommend. But for the price the 934 seem to do pretty well and you may be surprised where they stack in service life against more expensive cv joints...

I would love for a 3rd party to do an unbiased test on all cv joints to see who is king.

Also when you pull the boot back and the grease is "dry" or "chalky" etc. Usually that is a good thing. I would not be worried what the grease looks like at ambient temp. If you really want to check the grease pull the boot and take a look while it is at operating temp (note if you do this be careful).

How to make your Cv joints live

1. Good quality grease, swepco belrey mix or even straight belrey (other will argue but they are wrong )
2. Make sure the grease is staying in the cv joint where it belongs, not migrating to the boot or hub cap etc.
3. Keep an eye on your axle angle, I recommend 23* max with no "axle sweep"
4. Service them regularly to try and catch small pitting or cracks and deburring or polishing as needed.(every 1-3 season depending on how often you drive)

If you would like to try Gear one super CVs shoot me a message or give me a call and I will get you a discount code.

 

[parker@gearone]

Also on a side note, a 934 upgrade will definitely extend your cv life.

although this being a 2d car I would probably recommend against it as it will put more rotating mass and stress on your 2d.

 

[Loganhawkins418]

I always had great luck with the race prepped 300m cv’s that kartek sells and they’re only around 200 bucks each. They lived behind a stroked ls3 before I went twin turbo and 934’s.

 

[acefuture]

Are your limit straps still in decent shape? If youre strapped at 22.5 but you are running a single strap and it's in sad shape, you'll probably be closer to 24+ degrees at full droop. Way too much for a 930. My last car was strapped to 19.5 so at full droop was around 21

 

[J Alper]

For what is involved in a CV, @parker@gearone makes some of the best out there, looks like car jewelry

 

[Looney Duner]

My last car had 930 cv joints, at some point I switched to the RCV joints, with 300m cage. Never replaced another one after that. I was going 15-20 trips per season, had them for 3 seasons and they were still on the car when I sold it. I have 934 cv joints now, and that a whole different subject

 

[Adam G]

@parker@gearone , I sent you a DM.

 

[Adam G]

Minimal sweep back at full droop, or ride height?

Maybe 2° at full droop and of course a little bit more at ride height and a bit more with the axles level. I happen to think it’s a very well thought out car.

 

[Adam G]

Are your limit straps still in decent shape? If youre strapped at 22.5 but you are running a single strap and it's in sad shape, you'll probably be closer to 24+ degrees at full droop. Way too much for a 930. My last car was strapped to 19.5 so at full droop was around 21

Funny you should mention. The left side broke last trip with no apparent detriment to the left side CV’s. I stopped by shock therapy and picked up a new pair since the right side was the same age as the broken left side. The 22.5° was taken on the side with the older, stretched strap. There was right about 22° with the new strap.

 

[Adam G]

There is a new set of Gearone CV’s coming and Parker has been awesome behind the scenes. Thought I’d throw in some pictures of the ones I took off. These pics are the hub side on the driver side.

 

[Adam G]

These are the transmission side on the passenger side. Probably the best looking race and star, but the balls obviously saw enough heat to turn them almost black.

 

[Adam G]

I placed my order with @parker@gearone on Friday around 9:30am. They showed up on my doorstep the following day! Someone in this thread says the Gearone Super CV’s were like jewelry on the car…and they’re right. The only problem with that was that as soon as I installed them, I had to begin cleaning up my whole car. The 2D was recently redone by Ron at Sand Car services and the cleaning process he does looks great next to the shiny new GKN Super CV’s from Parker. Man I love the sand community.

I ordered the CV kit that included 2 tubes of CV grease that Gearone mixed up and put into an incredibly convenient caulking tube. It was so freaking nice injecting the grease with the caulking gun instead of fingering a grease tube and poking it into the joints.