Front LH inner CV boot leaking
 

I was working on the brakes and noticed a greasy wet end on the small end (outboard end) of the inner CV joint boot. This boot end has slight movement on the metal half shaft where all the other boots are tight by comparison. The metal "clamp" is intact. The boot doesn't look damaged or torn. I'm not sure how much grease got out but there is an amount that has escaped and coated the framework behind this area.

I'll search the web about repairing this but I have some questions for now:
I want to avoid taking the axle shaft out of the truck. Is it OK to just undo the boot, reload it with grease and reinstall?
Is there a method to reload the grease without undoing the large end clamp?
These are a weird type of clamp. How do they work? Is there a different clamp I can use (like on the outer boot?) Why not a regular worm gear hose clamp?
Is this something I can tackle myself or do you need special tools to tighten this clamp?

I ran out of time so I don't have pics.
Any advice?

The overhaul page from the FSM is too big to post. Here's the component page:

I have replaced CV boot clamps with hose clamps before, it held up fine on my Blazer for years. The oem clamps on cv boots require a tool to tighten and fasten the clamp. Probably not worth getting.

To re-grease, there is an attachment called a needle greaser, which will allow you to inject grease into the cv boot without tearing down the axle. http://www.foxtoolsupply.com/cart/parts.htm

http://www.foxtoolsupply.com/cart/ple05037.jpg

Good luck, glad you caught it when you did.

Thanks for the info rook. I have seen that needle at Canadian Tire. I would have to find the HP90 grease in a tube.

The stealer wants C$58 for a replacement kit that includes the boot, 2 clamps, grease and 2 snap rings.
I checked around and found a crimp style replacement clamp (2 bucks each) and the proper HP90 grease (around C$13.) You can use a side cutter to close the crimp. I looked closer at the boot and it's still OK (not torn.) I'm going to do an on vehicle service (not removing the axle) by removing the existing clamps, clean out the boot, regrease and reclamp it.
Now to find the time.

Here's the clamps I found:

How did this work out for you? Any hints/tips?

I have a similar problem. My passenger side boot is leaking at the outer clamp.

I was changing the brakes and rotors and decided to "check" the boot by grabbing it and making sure it was still well seated and such. Must've twisted it or hit it with a tool, or maybe even run over a stick :(

Now I am wondering if I can just refill it with grease and reclamp it...

The tools on Ebay are around $35, but don't know which one to use.

I have an '04 V8 Limited 4Runner.

Thanks.

-DiskDoctr

I haven't done the job yet but will post when I do.

Found the time to do this so here is the writeup.

I'll start by saying I knew this would get messy because it's working with grease but I wasn't expecting this much work and it took longer than anticipated. I thought the simple steps are small clamp off, large clamp off, boot off, new grease, boot on, large clamp on, small clamp on. It was almost that easy with one glitch.

Jacked the truck and removed the wheel. Then I spread out cardboard to catch any greasy mess I make.

To get this style of OEM clamp off use a flat screwdriver to pry under the end. I started with the small clamp because that was the original loose end (that started this whole issue.) When this clamp was off and I moved the boot I was surprised to have water come out the boot.

Loosened the large clamp and moved both clamps out of the way to the outer boot (don't cut the clamps completely off until the end in case you need them.)

Removed the boot and was surprised to be met with a CV joint full of grey milkshake rather than old grease.

Here's the pic

And another:

This surprise took lots of effort and time to clean out with paper towel. As I was cleaning I also spun the hub to rotate the joint and force more of the junk out. I wasn't expecting this so I didn't have the right cleaning product like a brake cleaner handy.. Finished up by using WD-40 and wiping it out as best as possible.

Here's a pic of the half shaft that has a relief in it for the small boot end. This is where the joint opened up and leaked even though the clamp was still intact. I think the boot wasn't seated properly to begin with and finally seated but then the clamp isn't tight.

Packed the joint with 3 small tubes of HP90 CV grease (sorry, no pics of this because I had my hands full.) Used a small putty knife as a spatula. Reinstalled the boot. Be careful how it seats on the big end. It fits a particular way because of the shape of the "scallops" in the joint housing. There are several styles of clamps but I used the one pictured earlier. Attached the clamp and crimped it using a regular end nip pliers.

Attached the small clamp and crimped the same way. I made sure the boot was seated correctly in the mating groove in the shaft.

Made sure both ends of the boot are held tight. Cleaned up the old greasy mess on the frame. Cut off the original clamps I removed and reinstalled the wheel. Good to go.

I'll initially monitor this repair more frequently just to make sure it holds. In hindsight I was thinking that I had a recent new strange front-end noise whenever the suspension flexed (ie. when I hit a large bump or in potholes.) This repair eliminated the noise so I knew this joint/boot deteriorated in the past 2 months. Lesson is to take a few seconds and inspect the boot ends for moisture on a regular basis.

Great post! Thanks for the detailed explanation and pics. :bigok: