Resurrection of my CQ20V

[Bowie69]

Previous reads of this thread may remember me saying the gearbox was getting a little reluctant to do switch shifts, and would crunch going down into 2, and up into 3 if hurried.

Well.... added to this, there is a *slight* whine from the rear diff (I think), and at 228,000 miles it is likely the rear driveshafts want looking at. While in there, why not refresh the prop, eh?

So, I found a CQ20V breaking on Ebay, and bought a few bits...

• Pair rear driveshafts
• ASZ gearbox (anyone know what the difference between this and the AXM?)
• Rear diff
• Propshaft
• A rear hub (it was free, as too tricky to detach from the driveshaft!)

A good few hundred spent there....

Then I spent a good bit of time fixing them up where they needed....... cue next post.

[Bowie69]

So, starting with the diff and the driveshafts....

Here's the before:

Photo 0336[6].jpg

After a good de-rusting, one new outer joint, and four new boots, the shafts look like:

IMG_20200920_183047.jpg

SKF CV joint and boots on the outers, and OE Lobro boots on the inners. Completely disassembled and cleaned of the old moly grease.

[Bowie69]

Next, the diff.

Well, with it out of the car, it would be rude not to open it up and have a looksie inside....
IMG_20200911_140312.jpg
Note the bolt I had to weld into the drain bung to get it out, nothing else would touch it. I am replacing it with a classic beetle bung, which has a magnet in it as well.

Also note, painted on the inside.....? Weird....

And the guts of it all....

IMG_20200911_140308.jpg

At this point I'd given it all a good quite of brake cleaner and wiped it all down. On the whole, it looks pretty good in there, and will most likely just swap out all the seals, and whack it back together.

I wanted to do something about the rust on the various flanges, so out with the patio cleaner (weak hydrochloric acid):

IMG_20200920_183116.jpg
(This is actually the gearbox output shaft, but SHHHHHHH......)

After an hour in there, a quick wire brush and maybe some repeat treatment, you get this:

IMG_20200920_183122.jpg

(This is the input to the rear diff....)


Lovely. Will get painted with etch and a top coat before refitting.

As will the casing, in original black:

IMG_20200920_183056.jpg
More to come.....

[John.]

They're looking nice

[Bowie69]

Next.... gearbox..... After a good pressure washing and lots of various degreasants applied:

IMG_20200911_140350.jpg

I was going to change the seals and smarten it all up a bit before swapping it in, so started going at it.... and went at it until my TX45 key twisted itself unto oblivion:

IMG_20200920_182827.jpg

You may notice the outside has had a darned good wirebrushing from a drill, and is a LOT cleaner than before. While doing that, I popped the reverse light switch out, peering in, to find all manner of brown gunge in there, this was the main driver to pulling it all apart, if it was that gungey, what had gone on in there?

As it happens, I think it was just normal for the mileage of the vehicle (about 110K I think), even so, was well worth the cleaning out. I'll split the gearbox off the front diff housing this weekend, and give that a clean as well as a visual inspection, though I doubt I will find anything particularly wrong.

I finally got my hands on a TorSen, cute little things, amazing they take the amount of torque they do:


IMG_20200920_182833.jpg

The rest of the stuff cleaned up ok in the parts washer/brake clean and a rag:

IMG_20200920_182847.jpg
IMG_20200920_182918.jpg
IMG_20200920_182925.jpg
The gearbox will get painted as per the diff, and new seals all round:


IMG_20200920_183037.jpg

[Bowie69]

Also, cheekily, found this on ebay:

IMG_20200920_183100.jpg

Low mileage, leak free steering rack for £100, no point getting one refurbed at that cost. Mine has been hosing down the left side of the gearbox for years now... this one even has the rubber gaiter intact(!)

Gave it a good clean, and it will get painted to stop corrosion, hopefully, silver, same as the rest of the aluminium stuff.

[Bowie69]

Oh, to add to the gearbox post a bit, the balance weight had parted company from the steel backing:

IMG_20200920_182904.jpg Audi tradition only wanted £60 for it...

So I bought it, but on my travels I found various people trying to sell second hand ones for £79.99

[Bowie69]

Forgot to say - Propshaft, no photos apparently, but new UJ, boots, and a fresh lick of paint, and it is looking very nice and tidy indeed.

And that's me up to date !

Plan is to get it all ready and fit the lot in one lump. Shouldn't take too long

[Tractor Dave]

Nice work. I've often wondered what the diff looks like inside.

[Nuvo]

You're making go progress with gearbox and diff.
Will you be replacing the seal for the gearbox selector shaft?
Do you know if it is possible this seal without dismantling the box? Is it possible to extract the old seal by screwing in some screws in to the rubber and pulling it out? Thanks for any pointers you can give.

[Bowie69]

Good question! I will have to have a look when back in the workshop.

Does yours weep from there?

[Bowie69]

Have ordered one anyways, £4 for a corteco version, silly not to try.

[Nuvo]

I'd be very intetersted to learn how you get on with this.
I believe mine is leaking from there just from the limited look I had from underneath. Thinking about your post regarding your steering rack I'm beginning to wonder if this could be the source. I'll need to get a proper look to confirm this.

[Bowie69]

Shifter and steering rack are on different sides, are they not?

[Nuvo]

Well I thought part of the steering rack sit directly above the the rear of the gearbox. When you mentioned that your has been leaking down the left side of the box that got me thinking that the left side of my exhaust has fresh fluid on it. I'll need to check this.