DIsmantled Outer CV joint!

I was half asleep whilst watching a Youtube video of a guy take apart the driveshaft on a Mk1 Gti.  I saw him cleaning the ball bearings and the inner and outer race but I didn't concentrate and he was doing the inner CV.  I have now taken apart the outer cv and have all the ball bearings sitting on the side but can't get them back in.

Any tips on how it is done please?

Thanks

Well when that happened to me I moved the race all the way down  which allowed me to drop them in one at a time turning and then pulling it up tight IIRC could be bassackwards…. then I put a piece of tape over it to hold it all together from the shaft over the cage to the other shaft….. I only remembered to remove the tape after I had almost rebolted the whole shooting match together to the Diff…. OPPSY.  The Bentley has a good write up on it as well as the Haynes.

It isn the steering section 10-15  in my Bentley. Picture 5-12
 

Well I will write this up here for future reference in case anyone is dumb enough to do this again.

Firstly, and this is very important, there is only 1 way the inner race and outer race will fit into the CV joint.

The outer race has a "slim" edge and a "fat" edge. You need the fat edge to face the gearbox.  The inner race has a "flat" edge and an "open" edge. You need the open edge to face the gearbox..
See the photo about half way down here
https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=running-gear_2%2Fhelp-outer-cv-boot

Now once you have established which way round they go clean all the grease out with wd40 and assemble them dry.  Ironically the grease was making it harder to push the race around once inside the joint.  THen with them dry and the right way  round you can just push both races down and pop the opposite ball bearing in from the outside edge.  If you manage to get one in do the exact opposite side, if both races are the right way round this will be quite easy, if not it will be impossible.

It is a kind of nightmare game of 3D tetris but if you can get 4 or 5 balls in the you are on the right track. With the races the wrong way round I need a load force just to get 3 in and that was my limit.  If they are the right way round then the 6th one is a bit tricky but only because it takes a bit of strength to push down the opposite corner races as there are already 5 balls in providing resistance

It is actually possible to assemble the wrong way. I know, I did 2! You'll know if it's wrong as it won't pivot like it should. Best to check that before you put it back on the drive shaft……
It's really not that hard to put them together wrong, but it is very hard to get them back apart again!

Been there!