TORE C/V BOOT!!!!!!!!

Ok, im a bit frustrated, but maybe this is the work of God. i was considering the ecgs bushing fix for the front diff anyway, now i have no excuse not to order it.

however, a new toyota axle is too much dough, it is only a tiny tear i have anyway, no water or sand or anything could have contaminated it yet, so i was considering a boot fix. Toyota makes a boot kit, with grease, for like sixty bucks, but while ordering it, it crossed my mind that i may not be able to install the factory boots without dissassembling the c/v joints themselves. can this be done? this is new territory for me as my last truck i was comfortable running its shithoused boots. this one is too new for such treatment.

ideas? fixes? anything? thanks guys. btw it is the driver side, outside boot

 

so i found a video of a guy taking apart a random axle. the wheel end joint (outside joint) popped right off the axle no problem. similar to how our axles seat in the differential with a c-clip sorta thing where the splined portion of the axle shaft engages the c/v joint itself.

are the toyota axles like this? put the shaft in a vise and the outside joint comes right off with a gentle hammering?

 

Let's put it this way...it's easier, faster, and probably cheaper to just buy a new aftermarket axle. My friend Brad ripped his and that was the only advice given. He bought one for $70.

He got the autozone one...and let me tell ya, it's nothing short of OEM. I've been wheeling with him for a year now and no problems at all.

 

yea kind of mixed responses on the aftermarket ones. i would be more inclined to buy one at that price if i could keep my old one. that way i can tinker with it and put it back together, just in case.

 

I've replaced one boot over the years on my Chevy and I realized that it is so much easier to just replace the axle. Most of the aftermarket boots available are very thin. Just not worth the hassle.

 

Why couldn't you keep the stock one? I don't remember if there is a core charge on those.

 

you can get the toyota boots. boots, grease, clamps were around 60 bucks from dealer

 

ill shop around. . . see whats out there

 

Try Rockauto.com $45.00 Cardone new axle. Just watch the shipping

 

i went there and noticed that. anyone tried that brand yet?

 

I'll chime in because I have torn a boot on the passenger side and I opted to go for the boot kit from the dealer. I will tell you from personal experience that I will never do that again, its a hassle! you will have to disassemble the whole cv to get the boots off (you could cut them but you'll still have to disassemble to get the new ones on) and dealing with the new grease is a MESS! On top of that, you'll need a special tool to crimb the boot clamps down and if you dont get it just right it could end up seeping from the edge of the boot.

If you go down to auto zone you can get a rebuilt one that may have even come off a Taco (not sure that only our truck uses it). There is usually a core charge that you will get back when you bring your old one in. It will get recycled into the system to be rebooted. When I priced it, it was about $65-70 after getting core fee back. Hope that helps!

 

it helps alot. i am however somewhat stuck on the boot kit. how did you disassemble the axle? does one of the joints simply pop off of it or is it more involved?

and call me crazy but i was thinking worm-drive hose clamps instead of factory

 

Search ,I recently saw a write up replacing the whole thing, it didn't look too bad.

 

Let's put it this way..you can buy a boot replacement kit from toyota for about 60 bucks or you can buy an aftermarket boot replacement kit from Napa that even cheaper. The labor to replace a torn boot isn't very hard at all provided that you have the right tools. I have replaced 3 torn boots already on my taco. There is no need to replace a whole half shaft becouse of a torn boot. For the outer boots i would suggest the aftermarket ones from AllPro Offroad.

 

i did and still am. im very thorough, and at this point well educated on how to replace the axle. the boot, not so much

 

This is the inside joint or tulip..there's a c-clip you remove and then using a brass drift or even a piece of wood you knock the tulip joint off..you also remove the three bearings, they come off by pulling with some pressure..




And for the record..auto zone CV's are nowhere close to OEM quality

 

is it necessary to remove the bearings for proper greasing? or am i ok just popping the tripod off for boot replacement, putting it back together, and filling her up?

your help has been great

 

Well good to know, Tom.

I'm just going off the advice we were given by many here on TW when Brad's outer boot shredded. I'd rather do 2 hours of work for $10.00 more than take the CV off and then try to figure out how to take the boot off and replace it with a new one.

Either way, a screwed up CV axle is the only motivation I need to do a SAS on my Taco

 

if you sas yours i will sell the house to do the same! the wife and kid may also have to go. depends on if i can do leafs instead of coilovers lol

 

Thing is..you're losing out on a crappy Chinese made cv joint that is inferior in strength( our OEM shafts are 30 spline and are as strong as a Dana 40) and has nowhere the degree of movement as the OEM version..so what that means is when at full droop if running a extended travel setup the outside joint will bind before reaching full suspension travel. Besides, takes me about an hour and a half to replace the outer boot and repack everything. I guess aftermarket CV's are only good for the peeps who stay on firefoads lol..