Inner CV Joint Questions

More great info! Thanks. I do not know if the seals have been upgraded. I'm thinking there may have been too much grease pumped into the drivers side - perhaps a seal is even "blown". because of this. The passenger side leaks no grease, although there is grease in the joint, but does drip a small amount of gear lube- not enough for me to be concerned about. The drivers side has thrown out some BIG gobs of grease. At this moment, I'm not sure if it is over serviced or getting low. I put a few pumps of grease in both sides when I got the car almost a year ago, and none since.

Rick do you know if these universal joints have ever been upgraded to the newer style seals? Reason I ask is the original seals were at best problematic. Some of them on the outer edge under the spring were nothing more than a piece of leather. The large moveable seal was also a leather seal but backed up with a spring steel band. I can post pics of some of the original seals because when my father got this car in 1961 new original seals came with it. I decided not to install them because of the leaks they were famous for. True, there are no rubber boots but with the new style seals it is my opinion leaks will be a thing of the past. As for adding grease and not knowing how much to add is something you may not want to do. Adding too much is as bad as not adding enough. Too much causes heat and expansion. Then some will be forced out. I'm far from an expert here and hopefully someone with much more experience with these universals will chime in with more help. Several members have helped me along with these universals. Tim Gilmartin is someone that has sent me plenty of hand drawn diagrams of the universals. At the moment my printer scanner is broken otherwise I would scan them and send you an easy to read teardown and reassemble instruction sheet.

Thank you for taking time to post this excellent reply. Much appreciated! From reading Josh's book "Cord Complete" the cv joints leaked when new, and they're still leaking! Lol. I don't think this is something I'm going to fix as I don't drive the car long distances. Nevertheless, having confirmation that there is not supposed to be a boot there and that using grease is ok, along with your insight about the tubes is very helpful. I suppose with leaks though, Ill not know if I have enough/too much grease in there even if I occasionally give it a few pumps.

What you posted a pic of is correct for your Cord. Stan sells all the special seals to slow down or possibly stop all these leaks. It is a very big job to undertake re sealing both inner and outer universal joint seals. You will need to take the wheels off. Then remove a large nut that has I believe 175 ft lbs of torque on it. Remove the brake drum. Remove the upper & lower king pin bearings and parts. Then drop the axles. This is just a few of the things that will need to be removed to reach the inner universals. Stan at Auburn Cord Parts in WEllington Kansas has plenty of parts and information sheets showing all of what needs to be done. Grease is the new recommended lube for both the inner and outer universals. A 1 lb tube is used in each universal. Those tall tubes you see inside by the radiator are the original way these inners were filled. The original lube was a really heavy oil much heavier than what goes in any American differential of these early year cars. It is no longer made or used if you could find it.. There are 3 seals and one gasket for the inner universals and one bushing. The bushing is no longer made so you need to make one or have a machine shop make it. This club suggest this bushing should be modified to support the seal better also. I can supply the part numbers from Stan if you want them. Probably many other members can do the same.

Are my inner CV Joints missing boots, or is this how they're supposed to look? The driver's side (shown) leaks gobs of grease, and the passenger side drips gear oil. There are tubular extensions with grease zerks in the top installed forward of the radiator for servicing the joints. Were these factory? Is grease the correct lube? How do you know when to add lube? Thanks.