rear output shaft inner cv joint bearings?

[pwhitt]

here is another stupid question from someone probably in over their head... i'm removing everything but the cross member & diff before the RF kit goes in, and am taking off the half shafts. i'm taking a break to go get lunch and a larger socket set so i can remove the rear axle shafts.

on the driver's side, the inner CV boot interfered with my socket on the side so i cut the strap off and pulled the boot back to loosen the bolts. i've got replacement boots and bands, so i wasn't worried about closing it up.

while cleaning up, i found five small ball bearings (about 3/16" dia?) on the garage floor. they were fairly clean, with a bit of grease on one. FWIW, the boot is full of grease. they were about a foot away from the area just below the diff. i didn't notice anything fall, but had headphones on...

this is obviously alarming, right? i have no idea where these came from. the only thing i can imagine these are from is the CV joint, but i expect that to be a much more substantial joint. and even though i'm at ~130k miles, there has been no vibration or sign the joint was falling apart. i've been torquing on it all morning from different angles, and there has been no observable play in the joint.

so the question is - did these ball bearings come from the CV joint, and do i need to replace my axle shafts? if not the only bearing i'm messing with, what did they come from??? i can't think of anything else they'd fall out of except maybe a tool chest drawer slide...

i haven't pulled the boot back and inspected... i just can't believe this isn't a beefier joint, and if bearings are just falling out - how the hell was this thing road worthy before?? holy crap - this can happen? did i just happen to catch it just before kablooey?

[BimmerBreaker]

I have a rebuild kit for a Porsche axle in my car right now... It was about $125 shipped for both sides. I bought mine from AutohausAZ

More info here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-911-CVJ-(WIP)

[pwhitt]

It was my creeper - a wheel is going out, just happened to poop bearings at the wrong time.

All good!

[hydrocrust]

Ha! Good catch. Never done this job, admire your skill and ambition.

[streetmaster56]

here is another stupid question from someone probably in over their head... i'm removing everything but the cross member & diff before the RF kit goes in, and am taking off the half shafts. i'm taking a break to go get lunch and a larger socket set so i can remove the rear axle shafts.

on the driver's side, the inner CV boot interfered with my socket on the side so i cut the strap off and pulled the boot back to loosen the bolts. i've got replacement boots and bands, so i wasn't worried about closing it up.

while cleaning up, i found five small ball bearings (about 3/16" dia?) on the garage floor. they were fairly clean, with a bit of grease on one. FWIW, the boot is full of grease. they were about a foot away from the area just below the diff. i didn't notice anything fall, but had headphones on...

this is obviously alarming, right? i have no idea where these came from. the only thing i can imagine these are from is the CV joint, but i expect that to be a much more substantial joint. and even though i'm at ~130k miles, there has been no vibration or sign the joint was falling apart. i've been torquing on it all morning from different angles, and there has been no observable play in the joint.

so the question is - did these ball bearings come from the CV joint, and do i need to replace my axle shafts? if not the only bearing i'm messing with, what did they come from??? i can't think of anything else they'd fall out of except maybe a tool chest drawer slide...

i haven't pulled the boot back and inspected... i just can't believe this isn't a beefier joint, and if bearings are just falling out - how the hell was this thing road worthy before?? holy crap - this can happen? did i just happen to catch it just before kablooey?

I just repacked both of my axles, using Redline CV2 grease, in order to access the 6 ball bearings on the inboard joint, the end cap had to be tapped off, and the inner cage and race, both need to be tapped sideways in order to gain access to the bearings. The outboard joint can not be undone, just need to flush out the best you can, then repack. But I gotta say, my car was extremely hard to roll out, while trying different spring pad thicknesses, and decided that new wheel bearings where in order, also noticed that my cv axles where really stiff as well, the Redline CV2 grease really loosened things up.