Citroen DSpecial CV Joints

[David Nicholls]

Dear Members.
The CV Joints on my ‘74 DSpecial need replacing.
Some questions,
Where to purchase replacements ?
Recommended tutorials, eg YouTube, DVDs, manuals ?
Any special tools required ?
Any answers or suggestions are much appreciated, before I start.
Regards
David

 

[David S]

Do you have the later outer cv joints or the original double Hooke joint?
Are the inner triax joints OK or have the balls worn a groove in the housing?
It depends what has worn. There are kits for the inner triax joint and you can replace those without doing the outer joints. You need a press to get the 'cross' off the shaft.
I guess some people would just spend the money and buy new CV driveshafts from Europe.

 

[palyasm]

Years of running Ds and SM, including some pretty harsh dirt road driving, I have never found any wear in the double Hooke joints (apart from replacing the rubber boots) on my cars. Certainly the triaxe joints wear. I haven't had a D with the replacement CV joints.

If you have the open-ended steel triaxe the driveshaft can be withdrawn through the hub without removing the triaxe yoke, the early aluminium housing requires the yoke to be removed first. a 3-jaw puller works (if you remove the circlip first...!)

Cheers,
Steve

 

[wheelnut]

I have a part number for the inner CV joint boot for my 1969 ID 19. I took the rack out to recondition it, so I thought I would do a few extra jobs while everything was apart. I went to my local Repco and they allowed me to open up all of the boxes of their stock of CV joint boots to measure up to see if I could find one that suited. The part in the pictures below is ideal. The shaft end is a couple of millimetres smaller than the original Citroen part, but with some plastic tape to cover the spline, and gentle heat from a heat gun, it slipped on really easily. The housing end and the length of the fitting are perfect.

 

[faulksy]

Replacing the driveshafts on a '74 should be pretty straight forward. Take off the wheel, undo the 2 screws that hold the driveshaft to the hub and after removing the ligarex band at the inner joint the whole thing will pull out through the hub.

If the inner steel housings are worn you can swap them side to side but if they are badly worn replacment is the only option.

It depends what problem you are trying to solve by replacing the driveshafts.

Grab yourself a copy of workshop manual 814 from here

814-manual

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

It will tell you everything you need to know.

 

[fritzelhund]

I have a part number for the inner CV joint boot for my 1969 ID 19. I took the rack out to recondition it, so I thought I would do a few extra jobs while everything was apart. I went to my local Repco and they allowed me to open up all of the boxes of their stock of CV joint boots to measure up to see if I could find one that suited. The part in the pictures below is ideal. The shaft end is a couple of millimetres smaller than the original Citroen part, but with some plastic tape to cover the spline, and gentle heat from a heat gun, it slipped on really easily. The housing end and the length of the fitting are perfect.

Great idea. However that driveshaft boot solution will not work with the later steel triaxe joints as they are not circular on the outside edge. They have 3 distinct "lumps" in the housing.
These older alloy housings are a known failure point ( like the alloy accumulator housings of the same era ), though they do have the advantage of steel sleeves that are easily removed and possibly repositioned ( as mentioned above ) to allow a different wear point for the triaxe balls.
They do have another advantage in that the axle is "trapped" because of the closed housing shape.
The "open ended" steel housings have been known to allow the triaxe to fall out of the housings in extreme lock and downward suspension travel.
I have seen it happen during a CCCQ motorkhana competition. It was on the left side IIRC.
A "69 would be a lovey old thing. I had a '69 DS20, a rarity in Oz. It was originally intended as a TT ( tourist delivery ) even having red painted number plate panels front and rear in readiness for the painted on tourist rego numbers. It also was landed with tinted glass, a very rare option and almost unknown in normal OZ delivered cars.