Why are there 4 packs of grease with my CV boot kit?

This might seem to be a dumb question, but the side with the larger boot does not necessarily have the largest volume inside, as the smaller boot is connected to the larger housing.

The honey-colored packs of grease at the same. Which of the black grease packs go to what?

 

The black is for the inner and the honey color for the outer. The outer has needles in it and requires a different viscosity and blend.

 

Hmmm Ok that's weird - only my outer boot is ripped and the leaking grease is definitely black. I guess the honey color grease turns dark over time.

I was thinking maybe the honey grease was for the splined ends or something. It looks like the full content of each set of bags go into each boot?

 

I would check with the manufacturer on which grease goes where. What brand are they?

They are likely both lithium based greases. The darker one might have molybdenum in it, which many CV greases use.

The inner has needle rolling elements as part of the tulip/tripod joint end of the shaft, the outer is a ball-style CV joint.

 

I rebooted my axles this past March, so this is still fresh in my head. When you pull off the boots its pretty obvious which end uses the moly & tan colored greases. The ball style joint uses the moly colored grease and the tulip joint gets the tan grease. Between the four packs, there is enough grease to completely fill the cups with a little left over. The ball joint end takes a little more work to get the old grease out. You will fill the cups, not the boots. Important.

The tulip bearings need to come off to get the old boot off and new one on, and I had to put it on my press to press it off and back on. A hammer and brass drift wouldn't budge it, it was a press fit, both original stock axles. Clean the tulip end well and mark a couple places on the body and shaft end to get them aligned correctly at reassembly.

You will also need band clamp pliers.