Axles
 

So being an experienced offroader I am quite familiar with all of the noises and vibrations associated with axles and CVs.

So imagine my surprise when I discover the tell tale vibration on acceleration and deceleration normally associated with a bad u joint on my Boxster.

Upon inspection of the axles I see that all of the CV boots are ripped. I knew that already and I am planning to change them out. I checked the condition of the CVs and they are well greased in spite of the ripped boots.

There is no play in the axle or CVs rotationally, good news, they are tight and feel right.

BUT, the axle slides longitudinally about two inches. In other words I can slide the axle shaft toward the diff or the hub about two inches. It is this way for both sides. In essence the axles are floating. What is left of the rubber boots is limiting the travel but out of curiosity I checked my wife's axles and they do not do this.

I looked at the parts diagrams and it looks like the circlips on the axle ends should limit this movement and in my case I would guess that the inboard circlips are not there.

Has anyone run in to this, I cannot imagine that there should be that much play in the axles longitudinally.

In my experience the CV should attach to the axles and you should have to use a soft blow hammer to remove them. I believe mine would drop right off if they were not bolted to the car.

Thoughts please.

What you see is...
 

... very normal.
The CVJ need to be able to move the axles in and out in order to compensate for the movement of the suspension.
You will still have to pound out the axles after removing the axle nuts.
Here are my DIY instructions:
http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Replace_the_CVJ_Boots_%26_Half_Axles.html
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Well I just order the boots and other bits so I will tear it down this weekend. I still feel that the axle is floating too much, just what my gut tells me, I will report back what I find.

An update after this weekends wrenching festivities.

Pedro was correct, the play is normal. The thing that threw me off was that the boots inhibit the amount of lateral movement and since mine were ripped and the ones on my wifes car are not, it felt like more play on mine than on hers because of the difference in the boots.

Secondly thanks to Pedro for the write up, very helpful.

The first side took me about four and a half hours most of which was spent trying to get the cage and the bearings back in the CV housing properly. Word to the wise, don't pop the whole assembly apart to clean everything unless you have a few hours to kill. It is counter intuitive but I can assure you I now have a complete and thorough understanding of the porsche CV joint. I like puzzles but if you don't have to then dont.

The second side was completed start to finish in two hours.

Now I have nice shiny new boots for my CVs and a bit of the noises I was hearing are gone. It is amazing how much grit will get in the grease on the CVs with ripped boots. The gratification will come from not having to replace them later on.

Also I got the anti theft lugs off of my car. The car did not come with the adapter thingy and I cannot stand a car I cannot easily take the wheels off of. I got four replacement lugs from Joe at German Auto Dismantlers.

I will be replacing my rear brake discs and pads very soon. That is a piece of cake on the Porsche. Much easier than other makes I have worked on.

Cheers