I was on my way home from work and heard a high pitched sound (not really sure how to describe it), anyway, I yanked the wheel and inspected the cv and saw that the boot was blown out like a fat kids pants after gym class. i just cleaned the wheels a week ago and saw nothing then so it's a new problem. I did have a fender bender on that side so I would guess that's what caused the blow out.

I am wondering if anyone has had good luck with any particular brand or shop for the axle. I also seem to be having a hard time finding the long 8mm 12 point and the 14mm allen to get the job done. '01 quattro, AWM engine, manual. Help please.

 

germanautoparts.com get a cv joint and a boot. it's cheaper than the reman axles. autozone has the 14mm axle bolt. 12 point can probably be bought at NAPA. check out ebay for the 12 point

 

MAC tools has a set of the Triple squares or 12 point torx for 54.00 worth it and gauranteed for life. Go to the local shops and ask what day the truck comes or try to order on line. While your at it get an 8" 5mm and 8mm ball head allen socket for the other tight *** bolts. I also saw a few sets on esctuning.com

 

yeah napa should have the tools, you can also get the a reman axle there. the thiing is a reman axle is $70 with a 150 depsoit plus ti comes with a warranty, the cv joint is $80 usually and you need to take the axle out and replace the joint them get new bolts to put it back in (trust me a few us had our new axle fall out because the oldbolts failed). its really just cheaper to get a reman axle from NAPA. thats waht i did so just my 2 cetns.

 

I got my 12-point set from German as well - four bits for around $15, and they're all the bits you'd need for every 12-point bolt on the car.

Be very careful with the reman axle. I may have gotten lucky with mine, but our friend here in town went through four axles from two manufacturers (none of which was built correctly), before he said the hell with it and bought the CV joint rebuild kit. It cost more, but it allowed him to use his OEM axle, and it was ridiculously easy to do. Plus, it worked perfectly. Given the number of axle problems he had, I'd recommend doing the joint rebuild.

 

alright fellas, i got the tools and decided to see if i could even do the big-a bolt at the end and i pulled it out and there was oil on it. i suppose it may have been grease because i just got home from work and i drive about 60 for 10 mile on the way. this doesn't seem normal to me but the hopefully the new axle will fix whatever is blown out and causing this. let me know if this may be something bigger to worry about. thanks.

 

any ideas on the bleeding bolt?

 

The bleeding bolt, if it is the end axle bolt, probably has axle/joint grease on it. All the more reason to get this job finished.

 

finished off this lame-o project tonight. measured all the different lengths i could think of on this thing, and from what i see, that's all good. but that's where the good ended. i got the axle from napa, a reman. when i got the box home i realized there was a hole it the bottom. being a steel part i figured no biggie but i opened it only to see that the inner joint was a pile of scrap on the bottom of the box minus one of the ball bearings.

i spent about an hour figuring out how to get the stock one apart for a ball and then putting the reman back together with the best one of the used bearings; and then another half hour taking the new one apart because i did it backwards the first time and then getting it right.

this was the first time i ever tried a cv project and this one was a bastard. got it all with just some mechanical know-how and time. now i feel like a cv pro rebuilding the inner joint from a pile of parts with no instruction.