CVJ axle boots toast

Yeah, perfect for a spare, but not a primary IMO

 

This is what I finally had them do. The silicone boots tore on a few sets rather quickly. I had them do OEM Toyota boots for an additional charge and I have been problem free for a long time now...

 

My CVJ boots are going as well. I can see some cracking. Ive had them for maybe about 3 years

 

I carry a spare O Reilly’s cv axle. It’s in case I brake an axle. Luckily that hasn’t happened.
If my good CV axle boot rips I replace it right away with the O’rielly’s one. I run those until it falls apart and return and replace under warranty.

 

I've had Napa axles on mine for 20K plus miles. I wheel it as well. I do however - have a diff drop and make sure my CV angle isn't so severe it makes the boot ribs rub on each other. That's what rips them. The heat. I have 1.75 inches of lift on the front with my Toytec Coilovers. So far so good. My Napa Ball joints however are showing some cracking on the rubber. oops. Should of went OEM

 

I guarantee you the Napa stuff will last just as long for a fraction of the price. When it comes to CV axles you're going to beat on they will all fail anyway. Might as well get the affordable stuff and beat the crap out of them guilt free. Whatever you do to mess them up will probably have messed up OEM axles too.

 

I've got 50k or more on Duralast axles with my 92 pickup. I think like most parts store brand parts, they are all made by the same supplier then reboxed at the distribution centers.

 

I think a lot of it also depends on how you drive it. When I off-road I don't bounce my truck off everything. I kind of like it! lol

 

I have extended travel Kings, and my lift is probably about the same. Might try a diff drop kit. I did, and haven't had a problem even with my stock boots.

 

The stock ones? I've never seen an outer boot tear.. it's always the inners. And your inners look fine. Just put factory outer boots on them and you'll be good.

 

Not sure where these "lots of threads" come from, but Napa (new lifetime units) have a good reputation. Almost all of the CV failures I've seen were NOT napa, they were Autozone/Oreilly/Advance variety. It's also been discussed that it's generally easier to replace a busted CV than it is to replace your spider gears. I'd rather not have super beefy CVs for this reason. Hell I've had a reman Napa CV on my truck for a few years now, not even a hint of boot tear yet on the inners. Got tired of replacing the damn boots so I'm just swapping the whole thing out from now on.

 

Cool, I'm not around these parts much lately, so good to hear there is an affordable option. I'll probably go with NAPA because they are local and do military discount vs. CVJ is a bigger pain of a process.

 

I'm with you !
It's just as easy to replace the whole damn shaft as it is to replace the boots. In fact, it's actually easier !
The Napa units are excellent.

Having come from the dark days of rebuilding CV joints when there were NO replacement axle shafts available other than the dealership, I can say the aftermarket axle shafts are huge benefit to the consumer.

 

I replaced my first factory cv that blew out with a new Napa lifetime shaft about 10 years ago “still going strong”. And my factory driver side cv finally gave out this year. I replaced it with another new Napa shaft for 70$ “no core charge either so I got to keep my factory as a spare”. I have been very happy with the Napa shafts especially for 70$ a pop.

 

/\ Yep and all is well

 

This is golden advice here. I don't know many people who carry spare diffs on the trail...

People always (ok, not "literally" always) ask about stronger CVs because they keep busting them. The way I see it you have a couple choices to reduce CV breakage:

-Lighter throttle touch and maybe use the winch more often. No more of the "when in doubt, throttle out" crap.

-You can get stronger CVs, but now your diff becomes the weak spot.

-Solid axle swap

 

I was getting about 60K out of an axle set before the boots got all torn apart. I sent the last set to CVJ and had them use the orange 'high angle' boots. The driver side axle didn't even get 1000 miles before it tore apart. I am so sick of swapping out half axles that I haven't even done anything about the torn boot at this point.

 

Buy a factory reboot kit and do the boot stretch mod. I'm guessing you're tearing boots because you have a lift and the boot ribs are rubbing together.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vcCT4UgFUTw

 

Bought two NAPA CV Axle replacements, will maybe try my luck that my current CV's internals are still good and will try to do the reboot (+reboot stretch mod) on my own while the NAPAs are in. Thanks for all the help guys(gals?), probably saved me some coin.

 

My boot looks just like this after 2 yrs and its also the outer boot which is neoprene vs the inner one that is the CVJ high angle boot. I did order the ones with heavy duty inner and outer boots so fingers crossed it holds out for awhile. My drivers side CV finally tore at 200k