ball joints and gearbox oil

[puddlefluff]

hi all

just replaced the lower ball joints on my gtl. not as straight forward as haynes suggested, as a result i lost some gear oil via the driveshafts.
questions are- will i have caused any damage to the drive shaft ends? and i presume i can top up the oil until it leaks back out of the fill point?

thanks all!

(top ball joints ordered-well why not!)

 

[Steve Hennessey]

Hello Steve, not sure why you removed the drive shafts as the joint can be replaced without doing so. Providing you have not damaged the seal in the gearbox end then top the oil up as you described. No need to replace any of these joints unless they really need to be done.
Steve

 

[puddlefluff]

didnt remove the shafts, i could not get the clearence from the ball joint to outer cv. i ended up undoing the top ball joint to manouver the hub assembly away from the lower arm- dead easy when i did that!

 

[puddlefluff]

top joints are fine,are these handed like the bottoms???

 

[Steve Hennessey]

The top ones are not handed. Still not sure how you lost some gear oil but just top it up and check for leaks.

 

[beagle]

Do you mean you damaged the CV joint? http://www.renault4.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4377&highlight=joint

How has the oil escaped?

 

[Azazello]

I changed all the four ball joints this after-noon, with an old mechanic as a teacher; We had to remove the drive-shaft from the wheel side to change the lower joints, but before understanding this we slightly detached the drive-shaft from the gear side, losing some oil... We pushed it again in its place and go ahead with our job. Now I will check if some replacement is needed.

 

[puddlefluff]

slightly withdrew from the gearbox 2 cm max. oil trickled out, pushed shaft back in and all ok. def easier to do both joints at the same time,undo top, remove and re-fit bottom, re-fit top job done.