Did I blow a seal? Update: torn CV boot

Hi all, long time lurker here with a photo and question.

Just felt a rubbing when turning the steering wheel full lock to the left. Got out to see what it was causing it, assumed it was my new tires when I notice splattered something all-over my wheel well.

I've got fresh grease all over the front left wheel well and not sure what has happened. Most recent thing I've done is pull a teardrop trailer. Please see the attached image.

It appears to be grease and I'm not familiar with front end work. Is this still drivable?

1996 3.4L 4x4 with 350k on her.

 

Looks like a blown CV boot. You can drive it, but eventually it will start making noise. I would get it fixed as soon as you can and don't use 4 wheel drive until you do.

 

looks like your inner cv boot spilled its guts. easy to replace the whole axle or you could just put a new boot on after you replace the lost grease.

 

You tore a boot on your CV shaft. Not a blown seal; you can still drive the truck temporarily. But you'll need to get either a replacement shaft or a replacement boot ASAP or the joint will fail.

 

lol. too slow...



"It was April the Forty-first, being a quadruple leap year;
I was driving in downtown Atlantis.
My Barracuda was in the shop, so I was in a rented Stingray,
and it was overheating.
So I pulled into a Shell station; they said I'd blown a seal.
I said, "Fix the damn thing and leave my private life out of it, okay, pal?"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSi-yCV-gQ4

 

Haha wow. That's just a little ice cream.

Oh, and +1 CV boot needs replaced.

 

Oh, and OP, it's unlikely towing did this, you probably just caught a stick or something sharp under the truck and it ripped the boot, letting out all the juices, or the boot failed from age, or something like that.

 

Agreed, Towing wouldn't have done it. Age or physical object damage coupled with centrifugal force are the culprits here.

 

I rolled over a life preserver on the highway on the way to work maybe the buckle hit it.

Thanks for the quick replies all, this is beyond my skill set at the moment so a call to the wrench is in order.

And on a fully booked week too. My friend is supposed to use my truck to tow his motorcycle to his wrench plus I've got gigs in a 60mi radius in the sf bay area (drummer and DJ). Hoping I can get in quick before all that happens.

 

As a stopgap fix to get you by until you can get it in for service, slap some wheel bearing grease in there, then wrap a few turns of saran wrap around the blown boot. Zip tie both sides of the saran wrap at the axle. It won't be pretty, but it'll definitely protect the joint long enough for you to get it in for service and let you use your truck worry-free in the meantime.

 

Looks like you have ADD axles. No matter if in 4wd or 2wd that grease is going to be spitting everywhere...

Repacking with moly grease and the saranwrap and gorilla duct tape method works well for a temporary time.

Boot kits are only around $40 from Toyota and include grease, but it's Alot of messy labor.

 

Honestly i had a ripped outer boot for at least 4 years and did 4x4 many times. Its not a problem. When i finally replaced it with a Autozone remanufactured part there was still plenty of grease inside some how. Also the replacement is super easy and can be done in an hour or so. Easier to replace than reboot it. A lot of the remanufactured parts have lifetime warranties too. Just make sure the one going in looks like the one coming out. The little seals on the inside and outside did not come on the base replacement one but the more expensive "premium" one had them.

 

If you're interested in rebuilding the CV: