CV joint gaskets. Or not!, Inspecting CV joints. Options

[Elliot Cannon]

While taking things apart for my 5lug conversion, I was taking the stub axle off and found there was NO CV joint gasket between the stub axle and the CV joint. Is this normal or did I just forget to install one when I replaced the axle about 7 years ago. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) Is there any way to determine what kind of shape the CV joints are in without actually taking all the bearings out? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)
Thanks, Elliot

[mrbubblehead]

This is one job i dread. I don't use gaskets either. I use a thin layer of yamabond as sealant. I also safety wire my cv bolts. I use bel-ray cv grease in mine. My rule is, if the boot isn't leaking I don't open them. I just wish I could find boots that last. The off roaders boots are tuff. Gates boots for instance. I had gates boots on my class 5 car for 3 solid years. And they saw the worse abuse imaginable. Never one problem. My cv's were 930s on the 5 car. And my axles were maxed to 28 degrees. Gates dosn't make boots in a type 1 size which sucks. I have replaced one of my 914 cv boots twice in the last 5k miles. And each time they were german reinz boots. What a nasty job. Last time I didn't even remove the axle to replace the boot. So that was a big plus but it still sucked. I am always on the hunt for a good, tuff, type 1 size boot. I have a buddy who races a class 11 car, I'll find out what type of boots they run. They use type 1 cv's like we do.