66: Saturday 14th November 2009

Had a bad cold develop on Friday, so I wasn't feeling like doing much, however I wanted to get the gearbox in, but beforehand I still had to sort out the CV joint rubber boot. I went round my brother's to borrow a 32mm socket and a torque wrench and he suggest that rather than stripping all the suspension apart, I could just use a split boot. So I bought one. However it was raining and the shaft was getting dripped on, so I didn't want to fit it right away. I then fitted the left CV joint into the cup. This was really fiddly as I had to hold the shaft with the cage on the end just inside the cup and put the 6 balls in one-at-a-time. I did drop a ball several times and the only course is to go into the garage and clean it thoroughly before trying again. After some time, some swearing and a lot of fiddling and with my wife's help manoeuvring the hoist and questioning my methods I finally got the last ball in, so I shoved the shaft in the cup and fitted the retaining clip. Finally home and dry I greased the CV joint and fitted the boot. As it had been raining a lot, I had limited time to work when the rain stopped. Not ideal with a cold as well. I set about fitting the intermediate shaft to find the power steering pump was getting right in the way. So I unmounted it and tied it out of the way. I then fitted the intermediate shaft in the gearbox end and fitted the front and rear gearbox mounts. I removed the hoist and called it a day.