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Jeez, another engineering beauty on these things ('66 Toronado). The clearance from the CV boot to the lower ball joint is wafffer thin, to say the least. When you put in a service replacement lower joint, you have to use a nut to secure it as the original was riveted in. Well the clearance between the boot and the nut is even worse, obviously.
I took a carbide bit and shaved the nut down as far as I dared and even with that my cv boot clamp still hit the nut and pulled the clamp off when I moved the car out of the garage today. Previously, I had tested it out prior to moving the car while I had it on jacks. At the time It had sufficient clearance while suspended on thejacks and I turned the wheel and spun the tires a few times just to be sure. I noticed when on the ground, however, the clearances were tighter but still looked ok. Yeah, not so much. You can see the clamp hanging off in my picture below.
Anyone ever dealt with this? I was going to get a new nut and grind it down thinner. Not sure of any other way. There's a lock washer under the nut, maybe remove that and just rely on the loctite and stake?
Check out that clearance!
Last edited by ourkid2000; March 23rd, 2024 at 12:17 PM.
The ball joint comes with a threaded stud. It's part of the assembly so there's no other way to secure it other than using a nut. The CSM shows it this way as well so it's just the way it is.
The problem might not be the clamp hitting the nut at all. When I restored my 68, I used outer CV boots like you have in your photo. I found that they did not have enough flex when turning the wheels and both sides popped off almost immediately. I switch to a convoluted style boot and have not had a problem since. Here is the best shot I have of the boots I switched to:
Also, how did you tighten the clamps? Do you have a tool like this (bottom one in pic), or did you just pull it tight with a pliers?
You could be right about that. I had moved the car out of the driveway and back in order to bring it in front on. When I turned into the driveway I had to go to full left lock. I wonder if I just popped it off?
Yeah, I used the tool in your second picture to secure the clamp
The problem might not be the clamp hitting the nut at all. When I restored my 68, I used outer CV boots like you have in your photo. I found that they did not have enough flex when turning the wheels and both sides popped off almost immediately. I switch to a convoluted style boot and have not had a problem since. Here is the best shot I have of the boots I switched to:
Also, how did you tighten the clamps? Do you have a tool like this (bottom one in pic), or did you just pull it tight with a pliers?
Just wondering if you remember where you got that boot?
March 23rd, 2024, 11:51 AM
