Inner CV boots - OEM or High Clearance?

I need to replace an inner cv boot as it’s leaking.

The CV boots are factory and have 138k miles on them.

The truck’s been lifted the last 75k miles and the boots have been fine up until recently. I haven’t touched the boots so they’re still in the stock location.

Looking at 2 options - OEM replacement boots or the aftermarket “high clearance” boots.

Are the aftermarket ones worth the extra money vs the OEM ones?

I feel like getting 75k out of a set of OEM boots on a lifted truck is pretty reasonable. If I replaced them and got another 75k miles out of the replacement set I’d be happy.

When I replace the boot, I plan on doing the boot slide mod to keep the fins spaced apart a little bit more no matter what boot I install.

Another thing I was wondering about was the aftermarket boots are longer so the fins would touch each other even more then the OEM ones do installed in the stock location. I feel like you’d have to do the slide mod just to get them sit the way the OEM boots do in the stock location. To gain any real benefit of the aftermarket units, I feel like you’d need to space them 2-3” out past the stock location.

Spaceing the OEM boots out an inch or so seems like it would yield the same results as the aftermarket boots spaced 2-3”.

Does anyone have any input they’d like to share?

 

My only experience with aftermarket vs. Toyota OEM CV's are the full aftermarket parts store brand vs. Toyota and the lousy quality of aftermarket vs. the quality/longevity/reliability/strength of Toyota CV's, in this case, has me paying the significant additional premium for those every time. I know that's not what you're asking here, necessarily, but in your case, you know what you're getting with Toyota boots. The slide mod will only help.

 

I bought boot kits from Raxles for a previous car and they lasted ~175k miles. When I sold the car they were still intact. They lasted longer than the OE ones did.

 

Third option
https://www.cvjreman.com/

 

I’m keeping the oem axle and plan on re-booting it. No reason to replace the whole thing.

Just need to decide on an OEM boot or one of the high angle/high clearance boots.

 

Gotcha

 

I went with the CVJ's which were OEM with the upgraded boot. They also put an o-ring between a couple of the bellows to help to keep them from rubbing.

 

Is there an actual benefit of the aftermarket boot?

Everything I see just shows people running em because theyre high clearance. No real long term info if they are in fact better than stretched oem boots.

 

I don't know if anyone has actually run the upgraded ones long enough to a compare to the length of time that the originals have been on. Mine have only been on for 20k miles at most so far but I'm pretty sure the upgraded boot will last longer than the standard rubber

 

That’s about all I’m seeing in my searches.

 

I ended up just ordering an OEM boot kit. Gonna do the slide mod to it and I bet it’ll last another 138k miles.

 

I had to replace boots on one side of mine and used the SDHQ boots, was such a pain in the ass that if I do it again I'll just get new axles and stretch the new boots.

 

I did the same thing and they are working great so far. I replaced my cv axle with OEM at 90k and they only lasted 30k miles.

 

How far can you stretch the OEM boots safely? Or should I ask, what is the optimal stretch?

 

I bought cvj axle with high angle red boot & the boot ripped meanwhile my opposite side still has the stock CV and is fine. Boot lasted less than 20k miles

 

Welp.

Since this got bumped back up, I’ll update…

85k miles since I made this post.

The slid OEM boots are holding up well.

No sense spending extra money on the “high clearance” boots.

 

I just looked at the mileage on my CVJ axles and they're sitting at 60k miles and still holding up. Sounds like either option should give years of trouble free service.

 

Did you get the red boot? Mine got a minor slit in it and threw out grease. Cv joint itself is still good. CvJ doesn't give ANY sort of warrenty on thier products labeled for "offroad"

 

Was this straight out of the box?

 

No after miles of driving. Replaced it with the same boot and it's been good.