Which axle grease?

[BlueRubber]

The inner boot on my drivers side axle has come loose, it looks like whatever cable tie that was supposed to hold it in place is gone and now grease is coming out of it.

I am planning to re-secure the boot to the axle with a cable tie, but as some grease has already leaked out ( and sprayed around ) I wanted to replace it.
What grease should I use?

Car is a 2002 v70 auto 2.4 n/a

[John97Tdi]

Hi,I was wondering the same thing a few months ago when the inner joint of the front driveshaft on my XC popped apart as I was fitting a new control arm. I dismantled it above a tray and some thick(ish) oil came out. 'No problem' I thought, 'I'll get some new grease to replace it'.
In theory,from what I've read and been told on this site,you should use 'tripod grease' since the inner joint is different to a CV joint and the bearings have different requirements.
In practice,try finding any! CV joint grease (usually black and moly based) is sold everywhere,tripod grease (brownish and much more 'oil like')is only sold by a few outlets such as 'race and tuning' specialists - have a look on ebay for the two different types and you will see what I mean.
After asking at four local motor factors and three local garages what grease they sold or used for inner joints the answer was always CV grease rather than tripod so I'd guess that any car that goes into an independent garage for an inner boot replaced gets repacked with a moly grease. Unless a capable owner subsequently takes it apart to look, no-one knows any different. Since there don't seem to be hundreds, if not thousands, of cars with failed inner driveshaft joints I'd guess in 'real life' usage rather than 'ideal engineering or race spec', standard CV grease proves more than adequate. At risk of upsetting the purists on here I ended up using moly CV grease( it was what I had and delivery of tripod grease at £30.00 + would have taken several days) and so far, so good.
So the choice is yours, buy,and wait for, expensive tripod grease and get peace of mind that you've done the best job you can, or use the tin of CV grease you've probably got sat on a shelf that will almost certainly last as long as you keep the car.

Cheers

John

[oragex]

I've used lithium - moly grease, but surprisingly my CV joints started to vibrate a little 1-2y later. Not sure if it was coincidence, but I'll stick with some standard CV boot grease packs next time, maybe even from Volvo or some parts store. The clamps are Oetiker type (not worm type), need an Oetiker clamp

[BlueRubber]

Thanks for the info all.

I have ordered some CV joint grease and Oetiker type clamps and tool.

[BlueRubber]

I couldn't fit the Oetiker clamp as I couldn't get the pliers in the right place to use them so I ended up using a Mikalor W2 clamp instead.

Thanks for the help all!

[oragex]

I wonder if the Mikalor clamps would cause vibrations at motorway speeds ?

[BlueRubber]

Originally Posted by oragex

I wonder if the Mikalor clamps would cause vibrations at motorway speeds ?

I wouldn't have thought so, but I will find out this weekend.