E30 Zone

Right, so i bought a used halfshaft with abs. Then began to clean it up by removing boots and scraping the grease off. I started from the outer/wheel side joint because i thought that if the joint is faulty, i could return the halfshaft and get my money back. That's still an option. Even though it's used, seller gave it a warranty.

But abs shafts are not that common here and my usual source of parts (german ebay) is out of the question because there would be little difference in prices due to shipping costs and also difference in prices isn't that large.

The part that's broken is the "cage" that holds the "balls" together. Broken in pieces. So one option is to find a new outer joint. Not available from dealer.

At first the joint looks sealed. But because the joint is larger than the hole for the boot, some part has to be removed to assemble the joint in the first place. My bet is on the bright or yellow(ish) part on the (example) picture below. Then it would be possible to remove the joint.

I've come across to this finnish website that lists a lot of aftermarket cv joints that might fit to e30. At the moment i have measurements or number splines:
-abs ring toothing=48
-boot seal diameter 55 or 56 mm
-number of splines on wheel side=27
-overall diameter=87 or 88 mm
With this information, i still have four joints to choose from. At the end of the shaft is the center part of the cv joint. Anyone know what holds this center part in the shaft? Is it also splined like the inner/diff side joint? If it is splined, how many splines are there? This information might be the solution for this problem. There are so many cv joints available that there must exist one joint to e30. I'm not that interested of the lazy man's solution: buy a brand new and pretty expensive halfshaft.

The option i'm thinking is that i'll find a new joint for this halfshaft. Then give measurements of the abs ring to machinist and create a replica of the abs ring. Then install the ring to my other relatively new non-abs halfshaft that's currently on my car. If it's possible to make a non-abs halfshaft from abs-halfshaft by removing the abs ring, then i guess the same trick would work vice versa?


Pic borrowed from this topic (BTCF link).

I tried to fit ABS rings to a non ABS CV before and it wouldnt go on, would need machining.

GKN make CV's and boot kits, im struggling to get sense out of 'the fool on the phone' at the moment as I am also after some parts from one of their distributors

Ok, should have known that fitting the abs ring can't be that simple. Was the difference that big that heat expansion wouldn't be useful? I was getting desperate when fitting new rear wheel bearings, because it seemed that one side fitted really nice but the other side was a nightmare. Then used a big torch to heat up the trailing arm and at the same time freeze the bearing with snow and result was a really easy fitment!

GKN's website looks promising. The outer joint seems to be called ball plunging (VL) joint. I'll put an inquiry by email and hope for the best. If joints are available, then i'll swap the joints with my non-abs halfshaft.

IIRC the shoulder of the CV wasnt deep enough for the ring to fit on, but it was the right diameter.

I phoned the GKN factory as there is one close by, they gave me details of their local supplier that is about 50 miles further away
I first contacted them on Tuesday, then again Wednesday and yesterday and still waiting for them to find out the part numbers/prices of the E30 parts

If you manage to find out the part numbers please post them up