Jeep Wrangler JK CV Joint Rebuild Kit Review & Install

Jake: Jake here for ExtremeTerrain. And in this video, we're taking a look at the Forward and

Rearward CV Joint Rebuild Kit, fitting 2007 to 2018 JK Wranglers. Now, if your JK is experiencing

some driveline lash shaking or clunking, the CV joints on your driveshaft might be the culprits.

Now, this kit gives you everything you need to rebuild both of those joints and get your Jeep

running smoothly again. Not only will this kit get your JK back into fighting shape,

but you'll also save some money by doing the job yourself, and you'll get a nice sense of

accomplishment having fixed such a common issue with these rigs. While it might not

be the most exciting thing to talk about, CV joints, also known as Rzeppa joints,

are a crucial part in the automotive realm. The CV joint, or constant velocity joint, is made up of

a spherical housing and an inner shell. The inner shell can move around it while staying in constant

rotational motion, but it's really just a fancy ball-bearing joint as you can see right here.

But having a lift, locking diffs, or even larger wheels and tires puts extra stress

on these joints and it can cause issues for your rig. Now, this kit gives you everything

you need to rebuild both the front and rear joints on the driveshaft. They are identical,

so you've got two of everything here. It's going to make everything function smoothly again,

thus eliminating vibration and excess movement in the joints. You also even get some grease

in the kit to make it happen, too. Now, this kit, again, comes with everything you need

to rebuild your CV joints. You've got bolts, you've got clamps, everything. It's all new,

it's gonna give the joints a full refresh. Now, everything is made to OEM specs as well,

so it's gonna fit right, and should get your JK driving smoothly for a while to come.

Pricing comes in around $150 for the kit, making this a pretty economical choice,

especially considering you get everything you need in this kit, and you can do it yourself.

That's going to save you a ton versus taking it to the shop since you're not going to pay labor

costs. Now, it is a little bit of an involved job, but not too terrible. We'll talk about that,

though, right now. Installation is going to get a 2 out of 3 on our difficulty meter and should

take you around 2 hours to complete. Now, while this is not a difficult thing to accomplish,

you are going to have to get up underneath the Jeep, disconnect your driveshaft. It sounds like

a daunting thing, but if you've got some experience turning wrenches, then you're

going to be more than fine. And even if you don't, we've got you covered. So, with that,

let's hand things over to one of our XT customers who's going to walk you through the process.

Man: Air ratchet to help get some of the 8-millimeter-headed bolts out,

socket for that. These couldn't work also, 8-millimeter. Torque wrench for tightening

up the bolts. The channel locks help push some things together. Pliers help take

the clamp off. Snap ring pliers, you don't have to have them but it's easier. Hammers,

we all know what they're for. Screwdriver to pry, lock tight to hold the bolts tight so they don't

come off later. Punch for separating that joint cap. Eighteen-millimeter socket for removing the

skid plate. Fifteen-millimeter socket for removing the driveshaft. Impact, you don't have to have it,

but it sure makes it easier. A reducer for the impact to get to whatever length extensions

to help it easier for the bolts. This is a swiveled socket. It helps a wobble socket,

I think they call it. Helps if you can't get directly at it. You can turn it. It works sort

of like a U-joint. Ratchet, hand-tighten things, extension, gloves recommended.

So, today, we're going to be replacing this CV joint because the boot is torn and flung grease

everywhere. So, we're going to do this by removing the front axle. And to start, we're going to

remove this skid plate just to make it easier. All of these bolts are 18 millimeters. You'll find the

first one along the driver's side frame rail. Next will be on the gas tank. And the final two will be

right up here towards the front. Next, what we're going to do is take out these four bolts on the

driveshaft towards the front of the vehicle. We have it jacked up that way we can rotate it

easily. But before that, we're going to strap it so it doesn't fall on us once we get it unbolted.

We're using oversized zip ties, but any sort of strap should work. And then,

these are 15-millimeter bolts. And you may need to use a rubber mallet to pull it out

if it doesn't just come right off. So now, we're finally on to the part we'll be replacing. It's

known to have torn boots, especially if you have higher lift kits or oversized tires on

it with that extreme angle. The front driveshaft is more prone to this because it's longer. So,

we're gonna remove these bolts. These bolts are 8-millimeter and there are

eight of them. They each have these little plates, one bolt connecting to the other,

so just be aware of that. That helps spread all of the load more evenly. It'd be a good idea to

break these 8-millimeter bolts loose while the vehicle still on the ground, not jacked up while

in park with the brake on, that way the driveshaft isn't spinning while you're trying to turn these.

We're using an air gun to get in here just because the bolts are so long. It makes it a lot easier.

Otherwise, you can just do it by hand or with a ratchet. There's eight of them. Here, we're

using an extra-long extension with the socket on the end of the end impact. This is also another

option that you can do. Just go ahead and break these 8-millimeter bolts loose with the driveshaft

still connected. Otherwise, if you try and do it with the front of the driveshaft disconnected,

the whole thing will just spin. Go ahead and completely remove all of these bolts then. Now,

we're going to go ahead and smack it with a rubber mallet to break it free. Put a

flathead screwdriver in there to try and wedge it apart and hit it like a chisel.

Depending on how long it's been since, if this has ever come off or how old the Jeep is, it might be

more difficult. You can use a chisel to hit right in here, and you'll destroy the existing CV joint,

but you're putting a new one in, anyway. Because the rear driveshaft has these CV joints on each

end, you're just going to remove the bolts and then chisel away at both of them. The front

axle's different because the CV's only on the one end with then that you join on the other. So,

the rear axle might be a little more work, but mainly the front axle is where it's prone to

tearing a boot first, especially with lifted tires. There's the torn boot right there on

the existing one. Next, we're gonna take off this ring that's holding the boot on, and then we're

going to pry away at this piece to get this end cap off. I'm gonna squeeze it and loosen that.

We're going to see if we can separate that.

Go ahead and wipe it out enough because we're going to be taking out a snap ring. We have

to be able to see it. I'm going to remove the snap ring next. It doesn't matter if that one

gets destroyed because we have a new one that it comes with. Next, we're going to hit the

old joint off. Next step is to clean these splines very well with brake cleaner. Next,

we're going to take the new joint out of the bag and put grease all in the ball bearings and the

spline while ensuring that afterwards, we are going to clean where the seal will go and then

also clean where the bolts will go because you don't want any grease there. It'll mess with

the seal or mess with the thread lock that we'll put on the bolt. You want to make sure you apply

the grease very liberally and to not just put grease on the top, but actually get it down in

all of the bearings. You want to make sure you do both sides. The more grease the better. It'll

increase the longevity of this part. Squirt any excess grease onto the inside of the cap.

And then, we're going to clean this side, clean where the seal's going to go,

and then clean the thread holes. We're going to use the old bolt now to push the grease through

the bolt holes. Then you can just wipe the ends off. You want to make sure that the bolt holes are

free of grease and where the seal will go is free of grease. Those are very important parts. Next,

you wanna put the clamp on. You can use either the new clamp that's provided if

you have a CV boot clamp tool. If not, and the original one is in good shape,

you could also use that because that only requires pliers. Then you're going to slide the boot on

just a little bit to the end of the splines. You can work it the whole way down to where

the boot will sit. So now that we have the boot end on, you can go ahead and slide the joint on.

And then any excess grease that's pushed, you can make sure that it's placed so that the seal will

not be covered in it. And then, we will be putting on the snap ring. You can spin it around to make

sure it's in properly. Wipe the seal again just to make sure it's clean. Then we're going to put

the other end onto it. Might be a little hard to go on. You can use channel locks with some light

pressure around to ensure that it's on tight enough. Then you can put the ring around the

boot to ensure it stays on. You can either use the old clamp if it's still in good condition,

and you don't have a CV joint boot tool or use the new one if you have that tool. So,

these little plates have a flat and a round side. You wanna make sure you put the flat side down,

and you can place the bolts through each end and then put them on through. And then,

you can apply Loctite to the ends of every bolt. Then you can do that for four sets of these.

You're going to want to restrap it, help secure it in place. You want to get all of

the bolts in and at least finger tighten them so they don't back out. Now back towards the

front end of the front driveshaft, just put in two bolts to make it easier. And

we'll come back later and put all four in properly with the right torque of 81

foot-pounds and Loctite. And then, we'll snug these bolts up to 15 foot-pounds,

and we already applied Loctite. You can use channel locks, just the channel locks will

help pull it all together and make it tight. Go ahead and snug these 6-millimeter Allen bolts up,

applying even pressure the whole way around, similar to how putting on a wheel would be.

You want to make sure you use hand tools to put these in because you don't want anything to bind

and it is a very tight fit. So, it can be very easy for something to go in that's not aligned

properly. Now that they're all snug down, we can torque them to 15 foot-pounds. Do each one. Next,

we can take these bolts from the front of the front driveshaft back out, and apply

Loctite to them, and then put them back in at 81 foot-pounds. Hand tighten them all in first,

then rotate the driveshaft, put the other two in, and then you can remove your strap

holding the driveshaft up. Then we can use the 15-millimeter socket to snug these down

before using the torque wrench. And the final step is to put the skid plate back

on with the four bolts that are both 18 millimeters. Bolt locations are here,

two right there, one down here, and then the other one down at that gas tank skid plate.

Jake: That's going to do it here for our review and install of the Forward and Rearward CV Joint

Rebuild Kit, fitting 2007 to 2018 JK Wranglers. Thanks so much for watching. And as always,

for all things Jeep, be sure to keep it right here at extremeterrain.com.