Yeah so I decided to take the day and head down to the beach today. Well there was a nice little puddle of what looked like caramel under the truck just when I was about to head home that I noticed. So I did a little investigating.... CV Boots! FML!!!
I moved the truck and stopped to see what the rate of loss was...

The casualty....

Maybe the driver side is better.....

Nope


Heading to the stealership tomorrow because I really don't have the time or the tools to do this job myself. Ughhh I will update with the grand total.
CHECK YOUR CV BOOTS...a lesson from your forum friend

you can run with torn boots for a long time. The stealership is going to want mad bank to change them out. you could probably outfit your garage with all the tools and then some for what they will charge. Also it takes with practice 30-40 minutes a side. Semi-mechanically inclined first time 1.5-2hrs each side. Tools needed, jack, jack stands,lug wrench, 35MM socket, 14mm socket, ratchet for each, torque wrench, medium threadlock, prybar, hammer. Link to write up below.

Toyota Maintenance: CV Axle Replacement on 3rd Generation 4Runners and Tacomas

I bet they try to sell you shafts and if you drove it on the beach with open boots it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to put shafts in it.

When you go to the dealer bring plenty of lube.
Sorry I just had to. LOL

Pikeman is on the money (excuse the pun!).

The dealer will charge crazy money and truely, you wanna learn how to change your own shafts anyway.

There should be someone locally (on the board) who can help you too. I suggest you post up a thread seeking a wrench a thon to get your boots done.

Actually I would also agree to chnage out the shafts given that you drove on the beach with split boots.

Good luck

I automatically change the entire axle. It is less messy and faster. I will go a long time on torn boots simply because if you trade them in to much(lifetime warranty ones) they want to flag you for a while. Also as mentioned before if you were on the sand, dirt, trail at all you probably got some in there and would need a really thorough cleaning, even then might be suspect in the long run.

I agree with Pikeman 100%, get some lifetime replacements and be done with it, the money part of it any way, being lifted you'll be replacing them quite often.

If they try to sell you new CV's they are something around 300-400 apiece new from Toyota so be prepared. I would go to Napa, buy some lifetime units and take them to an independent shop.

X's 100 on lifetime CVs and changing them yourself. They are ~$100 each at a normal parts store. Swapping CVs is 4wheeling 101 when it comes to our trucks and the dealer will charge hundreds to do what many of us do in the dirt, on the trail, with a janky Hi-lift, on uneven ground - and we get it done in 30-45 min per side. If you were in SoCal we'd help you out, but I'm sure there's a member by you that could help.

If I was you, I wouldn't do anything right now. I'd run them just like that for a while (I ran with no boots at all for like 4 months). Buy a couple of lifetime CVs and keep them as spares. When your stock CVs finally break or start binding, switch them out with the lifetimes and then rebuild the stock ones to use as spares. That's my $.02.

Thank you guys so much for your replies. Luckily in NJ they don't allow us to drive on the beach so I saved my CV joints from a gritty bath. I wish I had a local shop that I could trust around here that won't rip me off. Unfortunately I can't have the truck down for long with my job and being a first responder. It took me a solid weekend to install the lift myself so im sure I could do this job as well.
I heard many of you say that you run your cv boots even with them torn and no fluid. Isn't this risky? Considering that replacing an axle shaft would be more expensive then a rubber boot? Couldn't you also lock the cv joint if it ran that dry? Just wondering. Also where do you get the lifetime CV boots?

Like Pikeman was saying earlier, it actually easier and a whole lot less messier to just replace the whole CV than reboot it. New ones are $80-110. It's not really "risky" because in 2wd there's no stress on the CVs so they won't break on the road. And "locking one up" and breaking one in 4x4 is routine. It happens all the time so that's why we say no big deal, just run them into the dirt and replace them whenever.. it's not really very time sensitive.

Napa, O'Reilly's, Autozone... they all have lifetime CVs for sale. I think the Napas are better made (cut splines) than Autozone (rolled splines).

Boot kits are 30-50 and you need to dissassemble the axle. Quick boots are designed as temporary fix but don't require you to take the axle apart. New CV's from Autozone 69-79, Napa a little more. I have installed 4 O-reilly ones and all four gave me a difficult time. There are people that drive a year or two without knowing their boots are torn and are okay. I do mine quarterly to avoid being blacklisted for to many exchanges for my lifetime ones. I tear my boots 2nd or 3rd time out and I wheel at least twice a month. Also I have yet to break a CV or even run it long enough with torn boots to hear it start to make noise or bind.

Read that link on how to change them out and like I said, semi mechanically inclined 1.5-2hrs side first time then 30-45 minutes a side after you do it a time or two.