Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all,

My CV's are clunking nicely so I'm looking to change all 4. Most kits seem to be around £60 for Genuine/GKN/SKF parts, but the apparently compatible SKF VW kit is £44 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKF-CV-joint- ... 1847103889

So it would save about £50... anyone used them before?

I'd have said give it a go but for a £50 difference I'd be tempted just to stick with the GKN stuff. IME their driveshafts are pretty solid units.

On one of my cars it would have been nice if I could have got GKN stuff ; the dealer wanted too much money (around £330 for a Ford driveshaft vs. £100 for a generic item from a motor factor) 2 inner CV joints later and plenty of shaking...

If it were GKN vs generic I'd agree 100%, but the VW ones are SKF - I don't know their reputation for driveshafts, but given their sterling reputation for bearings I'm not too worried about quality.

Update: Found this nice comparison of VW Bus, Bug, and 944, 930 CVs: http://www.blindchickenracing.com/How_t ... ts_101.htm

In summary, the VW Bus 944 CVs are interchangeable, except for their maximum angularity, The 944 being the largest at 22° and the Bus at 17°

My 944 is still at standard height. The dampers are currently what limits the swingarm actuation - without the dampers the CVs will articulate until the driveshaft hits the exhaust... So while 22° appears to be overkill, 5° is a rather big decrease and I'll probably opt to play it safe!

I once heard from a reliable source that the late Mk2 Golf GTi 16v CV's were a straight swap with the 944 Turbo CV's, although they weren't the same spec. materials and hence a service life of around 5,000 miles was optimistic.


Oli.

Not exactly topic but an old style Mini track rod end fits the Ferrari 308GTBs - just in case you meet a FO on a budget...

The 944 Turbo ones are the same as a Ford Sierra

I do know of a Ferrari sitting in a front yard growing brambles... Have often wondered how much it would cost to get it running! Owner isn't selling though. Probably a good thing!

I took the safe option on CV joints, 4 GKN kits for Design911 headed my way. Motivation for getting the 944 going has been low over winter since I lost my garage space!

CV's arrived today, one with an exploded pack of grease which was a nice surprise, another which was popped.

I've reassembled the popped one, but it's incredibly loose compared to the other three... Would wanting to return it be stupid or would it be justified?

The new CVs do show just how loose the old ones were last time I regreased them!

I would not risk the VW CV's, they tend to be fine until you go over a speed hump or a hump back bridge and almost bottom out the rear suspension in the process and then they break.

Lots of the 944's I am now seeing in the workshop are suffering from wear on their driveshaft splines and are probably on their 2nd or 3rd or 4th set of CV joints, a new shaft is about £300 from Porsche plus the dreaded VAT with CV's and boots.. Buy them in bulk from the manufacturer and you can often get them down to £200 each plus VAT which is a bit more reasonable, but so few people go for them, it is often not worth buying them in with batches of 20.

GKN is a good make, as long as they are the right ones for the car, you would be amazed how many motor factors and national chains substitute bits which "kind of fit" and seem to fit, but like the VW CV;'s result and a problem eventually.

All of this is just based on my own painful discoveries thinking I had found a cheaper part to do the job to offer customers, only to be bitten on the bum after trying it out with the customers permission and feeling partly responsible.

Thanks for the confirmation Jon! Part of the reason I went with the genuine one's is "they must have been spec'd for a reason".

Should get the new ones on over the weekend... Then just have to wait for the gritters to stop!