Driveshaft CV Boot hole

[Gohn 73]

I've noticed a line of grease flung out of my inner CV boot on my RF driveshaft

(driveshafts are Meyle non-Gti, 21 Spline, M20x1.5thread, M30 hub nut staked, about 5 years old now, they've been good)

 inspected it on the car a few times but could not find a hole anywhere

got it out for closer inspection found a very small hole next to the cv boot clamp, probably copped a stone

 

have not replaced a boot before and don't have the spreader tool

 

- will it keep spraying grease until dry and then wreck the CV joint ?

 

- do I tap the driveshaft apart or get a boot spreader and do it that way ?

 

- and which boot do I get, looks like there's a heap of different part numbers ? the catalog is confusing

 

[welshpug 1,721]

Luckily you have the easier type, the only tools you will need is a circlip plier, hammer and drift, and some kind of tool to tighten the new clips.

 

All will become quite evident when you remove the clips and lift off the inner joint cup.

 

To get the right boot measure the shaft and the cup o.d, that is more of a 1.9 style boot on the inner.

[welshpug 1,721]

This one is most likely to be correct shape, but do check the dimensions.

 

https://m.autodoc.co.uk/lobro/1386685

[Gohn 73]

thanks mei, 

(how come this topic doesn't show up unless I search ? its not on the front page ?)

 

just to clarify, its the INNER boot closest to the diff 

 

cant take anything apart unless Ive got a new boot first, otherwise I'll have no car to get to work for weeks

 

the driveshaft OD is 25mm dia next to the small end of the boot

the CV is not round so cant get diam, but the large end OD around the CV clamp is 79mm

is that even useful ?

 

 

[Tom Fenton 1,633]

Degrease with solvent, dry, superglue it, wipe silicone sealer over the top, it will do another few years.

[Gohn 73]

will do Tom, good plan !

that'll get me out of a spot 

[Gohn 73]

the repair made last year is still holding nicely , 

but I've now got at least two other boots that need replacing - one has completely ruptured at the small end and the other has a hole

I'll do a full boot set replacement

 

remove both driveshafts,

dismantle each one,

check shaft/boot dimensions,

order new set of (correct size) boots

 

[Gohn 73]

shafts out , shaft dimensions

 

RIGHT 

Inner CV - Large End (Elliptical) 74.5mm, Small End 23mm

Outer CV - Large End 78.5mm, Small End 24mm

LEFT

Inner CV - Large End 82mm, Small End 23mm

Outer CV - Large End 81mm, Small End 24mm

 

Do I order smaller diameter boots for a snug fit ?? (for a 23mm shaft do I get a 21mm boot ?)

 

the Right Inner CV has a busted spring , 21mm OD. Do I have to throw away the whole shaft ?

 

any suggestions appreciated

[Gohn 73]

replacing my CV boots

its not obvious how to do these things, where and how they come apart, how to do the steel clamps, etc

cannot get my left outer CV off the shaft !

I've thumped it with the lump hammer on the outer rim lots, wont come off

is there any other way ??

I don't have a replacement CV just the boot so if it gets damaged I'll be going backwards

[SRDT 232]

Clean the grease a bit and check if there ins't a weird circlip :

 

[welshpug 1,721]

don't hammer the outer, get a good sized drift on the inner part, worth tapping the joint on and rotating the haft a little, as some portions of the clip are tougher to make the CV slide over when they don't drop into the groove.

 

a little late now by the look of it, but I find its sometimes easier with stubborn ones to slide the boot on from the inner end if you are replacing both boots, 

 

I have not had a Peugeot shaft not want to come apart but did recently have an SKF vw transporter shaft I just couldn't get apart, just replaced the whole shaft in the end, they really have gone downhill on some stuff recently.

[SRDT 232]

The circlip that seats on grooves on the shaft and the inner part won't bulge even with a big hammer and using a puller tool will only damage the joint.

 

[welshpug 1,721]

never seen that style before, only the round wire clip inside.

[SRDT 232]

It's hard to notice when it's full of grease and after using the puller it's usually too late.

At least it's not crimped so you can take it apart if you know about it or spot it by chance.

[Ozymandis 103]

The spring on the long shaft did bugger all, its fine to bin it, the short shaft needs its spring and thrust cup to stop the inner joint pulling out of the final drive as the shaft increases and decreases in length.

 

Do You recommend those Meyle 21 spline driveshafts, how many miles have you put on them please, its the joints/shafts not the gaiters Im interested in. If You had the part numbers that would be very helpful please?

 

Decent aftermarket ones are few and far between here.

[Gohn 73]

thank you very much for your suggestions and info

longest my cars been off the road

On 5/16/2026 at 9:59 PM, welshpug said:

a little late now by the look of it, but I find its sometimes easier with stubborn ones to slide the boot on from the inner end if you are replacing both boots, 

I am, and I would obviously, but it wont come off either and I'm not hitting it with a lump hammer

On 5/17/2026 at 4:11 AM, SRDT said:

The circlip that seats on grooves on the shaft and the inner part won't bulge even with a big hammer and using a puller tool will only damage the joint.

nailed it SRDT ! mine's got one of these, although its almost impossible to see even with the grease cleaned away

will spread the clip and remove with finesse this time

On 5/18/2026 at 12:12 AM, Ozymandis said:

Do You recommend those Meyle 21 spline driveshafts, how many miles have you put on them please, its the joints/shafts not the gaiters Im interested in. If You had the part numbers that would be very helpful please?

mine have done just shy of 100,000 km, on a XUD7TD 

I got them late 2020 from the UK

the joints are good, the rubber boots are going or gone

I'd recommend them yes, but not with any confidence - think Damir said the Meyle bottom control arms are rebadged rubbish now so that's not good

I've been trying to get the boot numbers out of Meyle because there's a thousand sizes and shapes for all the cv shafts and I've already got wrong ones once

they wont give them, no idea why its so difficult to just quote the numbers on some parts I obviously want to go and f'ken buy

Meyle CV shaft numbers:

Left(short)   40-14 498 0035 

Right (long)  40-14 498 0038

[Gohn 73]

after a month off the road :

don't have the correct parts, (that actually fit)

Meyle STILL won't give me the correct part numbers

don't know how to get the driveshafts dismantled

don't know how to get them back together

don't know how to clamp the metal clips, so I use zip ties

one boot out of four replaced so far...and it could be wrong

and this topic does not show up on here, have to go and search for it to find it

 

so if you have to do this job, if you get nothing else from this topic

you can take it from me:

1. it is difficult

2. nothing about it will be obvious

 

so baptiste, if I spread the circlip and hit with a drift on the inner part of the cv joint it should come apart right 

how tf do I get it back together ?

or if I can't get the outer cv off or on, how tf do I get the inner cv off the shaft ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 22 by Gohn

[welshpug 1,721]

spread the clip with internal circlip pliers and knock it off with a drift and a lump hammer.

 

fitting is easy, make sure the clip is sitting central in the groove, push the cv against the end of the shaft then tap it on (fit the nut on the end to protect the threads)

[SRDT 232]

Mei is right, once spread the clip can fit entirely in the outer groove and just clears the splines so that the shaft can pass freely. There should be no big chamfers so you can tap with a drift and a hammer to help parts get in place but a big wack won't get everything lined up forcefully.

 

For reassembly on the other hand there should be a big chamfer at the end of the shaft so the clip will be pushed/spread further inside the outer groove then ride on top of the shaft splines until it fall into the inner groove.

[Gohn 73]

the shaft numbers above are wrong.

L (short) is 40-14 498 0038

R (long) is 40-14 498 0035

 

the spring clip on mine was more difficult to spread out because the ends weren't parallel like the baptiste version

the boots are not meyle so the L inner ID seems too tight and it seems too short too

same for the R outer boot

I think I didn't put the R outer CV properly back on the shaft, its full of grease and you don't know when to stop hitting it

so the R outer's probably f***ed (CV not on shaft)

the R inner has the original boot which probably wont last long (the new boot was way too small ID)

the L inner potentially f***ed (boot feels too small and will probably work its way off)

the L outer is ok

 

far as getting some other boots:

can't get the Meyle boot part numbers

the peugeot shop has a few random sizes and some have almost no information to help

they never answer questions either (see Meyle)

 

peugeot could have avoided all of this by insisting supplies adhere to same specs

all boots, diametres, pins, etc same across brands

 

 

[SRDT 232]

1 hour ago, Gohn said:

peugeot could have avoided all of this by insisting supplies adhere to same specs

all boots, diametres, pins, etc same across brands

Aftermarket suppliers don't care about what Peugeot says, as long as you can fit it on the car then it's good enough.

What Peugeot will tell you is that you should go to a Peugeot dealer instead of trying to figure it out yourself.

[Gohn 73]

yeah true Baptiste

 

Meyle 'service' dept at HQ told me they don't make them anymore just to avoid giving me the part numbers

Pretty sure they still do make them as they're being sold on the web

 

L : 40-14 498 0035 , 567mm

R: 40-14 498 0038 , 845mm

 

the new boots I've done on the L seems passable but the R is not

 

this is officially the worst job I've ever had to do on any car