Someone said they have used ordinary "hose clamp" style clamps on their boots with no problems. I was wondering about this...

Had a similar problem to Kmvreter, but mine was after I removed the half shafts to renew the boots, as they had split.

I installed and sealed the new boots on each shaft, refitted the shafts to the vehicle - but after driving it a bit there was grease appearing and flinging onto the body, from around the outer end of the outer boot. No matter what I did, I could not get the clamps (which came with the new boots) tight enough to keep it in. (BTW didn't know there was a special tool for this - ahhhh, eBay...)

I bought two big hose clamps - the kind you tighten with a screwdriver - and fitted them, and tightened them REALLY tight.

I was told by one bloke that these might cause a balance issue, being that they're not "uniform" all the way around, weight-wise. Hard to explain in words but I hope you get what I mean.

WTF??!! Surely this would not be enough to cause a problem?

And also, good job on Kmvreter on the write-up. Good pics mate.

Cheezel.

What's this special tool? Is it for the type of clamp I used? A regular pair of end nip pliers worked for me.

As for the hose clamps, I understand what you are saying. The worm gear may cause a balance issue but you might get rid of it by putting 2 clamps with the gears 180 degrees apart. Not sure if this is an issue at that diameter. The biggest problem with a regular hose clamp is the width of the band is too wide to properly fit the groove of the boot. This may affect how the boot seals in the groove of the half-shaft. Who knows? Maybe it works.

I recently "repaired" a leaking boot on the outer (smaller) end of my CV boot. I left the regular clamp in place and put a hose clamp over top of it. It seems like a good seal so far. The biggest trouble was cutting off the unused end of the clamp so it didn't rub anything. I used a *good* clamp that I could really tighten, not the cheapos that strip out as soon as you get tight.

As for the rotation/balance issue... Keep in mind that for every single rotation of the shaft, your tire is making a full rotation.

On a 17" tire, the circumference is about 53" (just under 4.5'), so just under 1200 rotations in a mile. At 60 mph, that's a mile a minute, so 1200 rpms, right? (some of you smart guys can check and correct my math )

The shaft diameter is very small, the length is short, and the weight difference is minute. But the rpms can be high.

Anyone notice an issue with a hose clamp and balance? Seems to me that tire balance and mud in the tire would be much more significant, but just thinking out loud here...

- DiskDoctr

a hose clamp will not effect the balance at all.. too little mass close to the center will not cause any vibration..

Bump.

WEAR DID YOU GET THOSE CLAMPS YOU USED FOR THE LEAKING CV JOINTS

NAPA type auto parts trade counter called Carquest.

Where did you get the good hose clamp? i have mine leaking too and wanna try that.

I purchased a Spicer CV boot kit from Rockauro for $ 7.93 (pn# 816-8076). It comes with a boot, two clamps, and grease. I did not use the boot. The picture shows the boot with a standard hose clamp that I placed next to it (not the clamps that come with it) Not sure if you can see it but a standard clamp is wider than the boot lip. Not sure if it matters or not, so I choose the clamps that come with the kit. It would be best to purchase a proper band clamp tool, at your local auto store but I made my own tool from an old pair of pliers. Then I ground the jaws down with a bench grinder to provide a better bite. It works so far but I only have did it last weekend so time will tell.

Modified ground-down wrench

Just realized this is happening to me too, same inner CV, same small one. Both side. Clamp is tight.

Would anybody be interested in writing to Toyota about this?


This is NOT normal what so ever. We only have 80k miles, and I'm no dumb butt about cars and have babied this thing since we bought it new. I've done my own maintenance.

This angers me.

Bump for msanta. Hose clamps will work but they are slightly wider than the groove.

It helped me with my problem, have you had any more issues since you did this job?

Kmvreter, how has it been since you repacked the joint?

How many miles?

These posts made me go check again. The repair is holding after almost a year and ~20K miles.

The kicker is that now the small end on the inner passenger side is leaking! This is recent because I checked about a month ago plus there is hardly any grease on the chassis. Not sure how the boot is working loose under the intact clamp because everything appeared OK when I did a thorough inspection at the time of the previous repair. I'll be picking up a clamp and fixing it shortly.

Mine are both leaking. I'm writing a letter to Toyota about this. This to me just isn't right.

I was gonna take out the whole thing, but you convinced me otherwise.