I discovered that the inner race (aka cross or spider) of our CV joint has noticeable wear. Not just shiny spots, but wear you can feel with your finger.

When reassembling, how I should I orient these so that the wear surface is the opposite side? Do I have this right?
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drawing credit CV Joint Blog

I realize the best solution would be to replace the CV joint. After a few hours of research, I've learned that it is not easy to find a set of 914-6 CV joints. Alternatively, replace the entire drive shaft with 914-4. Not cheap. So why not try flipping these races to another wear surface and get some more life out of them?

P.S. I probably should have paid more attention to driver vs passenger drive shaft and which CV joint went at each end. Alas I did not when I threw things in the parts washer.

That looks like an asymmetric sphere that will only work installed in one direction.

It also looks like the bore for the balls is straight.

A common method that junk axle builders use is to fit larger diameter balls and hog the ball bores out with a hand grinder.

This is NOT the way to properly rebuild CVs but if the ball bores are straight instead of curved (95% of CV joints) you might be able to have them properly machine for larger balls.

Just a thought. I'd do some research if I was in your shoes.

The wear you have is too much to re-use in my book. All CVs show the greatest wear in the center just like you have.

I think stoddard was selling -6 cv’s again

New is the way if you can feel any wear

Time for new joints

New joints available for /6 via Porsche and others.

If you know a source for new 914-6 CV joints, please share. Best I can tell, that part number was: 914.332.029.01 and had 25 splines. Searching on that and by name I only found 1 rebuilt 914-6 CV Joint on eBay for $365.

Best I could dig up from research, the 914-4 CV joint is different part (914-332-029-03) with different spline count (33).

Stoddard, Porsche, and the other usual vendors are showing 914-6 flavor as NLA.

Beyond saving these, I am expecting I have to do a wholesale replacement of the complete drive shafts with 914-4 variety. My research suggests the 914-6 input and output flanges can bolt onto the 914-4 shaft without modification.

P.S. I read somewhere that they 914-6 drive shaft was thicker than the 914-4, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

Actually its the opposite situation. /6 CV ARE now available new, its the /4 which are NLA and are only available as machined VAG parts from myself Eric & others.

The issue that has been reported now numerous times is that is various resellers
list the new CV for the /4 but once received it is the /6 fitment (spline count) only.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...amp;hl=CV+Joint

But to the OP question, If you can drag a fingernail across the wear areas & feel it those are toast toss them

Yes dragging your fingernails across your shiny balls will definitely leave wear marks

Thanks for that insight. It looks like the dealer PET catalog now lists the number of teeth in the remarks section. The included product photo also shows 25 teeth. Both for the 914-4 part number 914-332-029-93 and model recommendation 914-4.

I'll let you know if I receive something different.


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I disassembled the CV axels from my original 914-6 that had 100,000 miles and they were near perfect .The previous owner must have babied this car.

Can’t fix stupid - the underlying problem is that they “stole” the part number from the 914/4 parts.

Then proceeded to make a new part (the 914/6 part) with a different spline count and assigned it the “recycled / stolen” part number from the 914/4. A 25 spline 914/6 CV joint will not fit a 914/4 axle shaft. To make matters worse they still list it for use with /4’s and it sort of implies that this (25 spline count) is what 914/4 parts have been all along which is not the case. This is a giant no-no in engineering.

At a minimum it should also tell you that you’ll need new axle shafts to use this CV on a /4. I have never done the deep dive to see if they pulled same stunt with the part number for the /4 axle shafts. Looking at PET graphic above, I don’t see just an axle part so maybe not an issue. Buying the complete axle assembly (graphic 20) would solve the problem. I think Porsche was also offering the whole assembly with new joints but they were $800 - $900 each - ouch! God help the next owner if someone only buys one axle assembly and ends up with 914/6 spline count on one side and 914/4 spline count on the other side. I foresee lots of confusion about 10 years from now when these start getting intermingled in the real world.

I’m thinking Porsche must run a tighter ship with modern production parts or they would constantly be recalling vehicles and/or impacting production if this was the way they handle parts and part numbering in production.

Confirming what others have reported and the description in PET. As of July 2023, ordering 914-332-029-03 from Porsche will get you a joint with 25 splines.
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How much power are you running and how hard are you driving?

You can switch the axles left to right on the car and then the bulk of the wear will be on the less worn surface. I'll be the guy going against the grain and say those aren't that bad and flipped, could last many more years. Use modern high pressure grease with new boots and grease gaskets.

Thanks for the confirmation.... that this STILL isnt fixed & the vendors who that continue selling this part as a /4 part are equally to blame.
How many returns does it take to fix your marketing & inventory ?