Front Hubs Service

[Chris Skinner]

Has anyone serviced and greased their fromt ball joints etc?
It is probably good to do this periodically.
How difficult is it, and is there somewhere a description of what/how to do it?

[Peter Connan]

Chris here is a link to a thread on the Auzzi Patrol forum with nice pictures: http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/showthre ... t=cv+joint

I recently did mine, but it is not exactly the same as yours because I have manual locking hubs. However if you do it properly (ie cleaning everything and replacing with new grease) it is quite a long job which would probably keep you busy all weekend. Not especially difficult though, if you have a manual, but quite a lot of work. Also, you will require a good selection of torque wrenches.

It is a job that should be done every 40k km according to my manual. Note that it is a good idea to replace all the major oil seals that you disturb in the process, but particularly the oil seal in the end of the axle tube (inboard of the CV joint), and the one in the hub carrier that you have to remove to get the inner wheelbearing out, as you are likely to damage these during the process.

Note that although the manual gives a service interval of 40k km, this is apparently not adhered to by Nissan themselves who apparently only service this area if there is a visible oil leak. Personally I suspect mine has never been touched untill I did it now at 250k km, and 40k seems a bit short. Not sure what the pros like Gerrit feel about this?

[Chris Skinner]

Thanks Peter!
It looks like quite a big job, maybe I will put it on hold till I get to 250k (10 years time the way I am driving now....)