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My rear axle R&R is done. Be warned, I am confident in saying that this is the absolute dirtiest job you will ever do. Grease will go everywhere, so make sure your workbench is clear, make sure you have plenty of disposable paper towels, disposable gloves, and my suggestion: an apron.
I am running J30 axles. I took a chance and ordered Z32 NA axle boots from NISSAN and they fit just fine.
Getting down to brass tax, I found the FSM instructions rather confusing. Taking apart the inner CV was easy: open the boot, remove majority of beige grease, remove C-clip, then use a puller to remove the part of the CV that is pressed onto the axle shaft. With that done, the boot is free to remove.
FSM suggested marking the parts and not changing their alignment. Making marks on grease covered parts seemed like too much work so I just said fuckit and took a chance without making any markings.
FSM said something about how-to disassemble the outer CV, but I found it impossible. I used a slide hammer and attempted to pull it off of the shaft but it just would not come apart. Instead, I installed the OUTER BOOT after disassembling the INNER CV. With the inner CV apart, I was able to slide out and service the outer boot.
It appears NISSAN used 2 types of grease:
- The inner CV grease was orange when new out the bottle, or beige when old
- The outer CV grease was grey when new out the bottle, or brown when old
The inner CV grease is less viscous which is why it spills easily if the dust cover is removed. The outer CV grease is very thick and does not run.
When you buy boots from NISSAN, they include the boots, grease, snap rings, boot straps, etc. I did not know this and already bought Redline CV2 grease, so I shelved the NISSAN grease and used the Redline grease. Ironically, the red colored Redline grease looks and seems identical to the Mobil1 synthetic grease I have here. Mobil1 grease is a couple bucks cheaper too. 1 jar of Redline CV2 perfectly fills (4) CVs and I packed them generously.
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