CV Axle Boot Repair Sanity Check

[babar]

Hi everyone,

I have a new to me '03 V8 and the inner cv boots are torn and leaking after my first offroad trip. No clicking on turns, just the boot is torn right inside of the clamp.

Initially, my thought was just to keep driving it and using it for mild/moderate offroading until the clicking starts. The rebooting seems like a pain in the ass when replacement axles are $100 from the major suppliers and they have lifetime warranties.

But from my reading on the forums, it seems like the stock cv axles are the strongest if you have a lift. I'm searching for fj springs but am having trouble finding them. When I do find them, I'm planning on pairing them with bilstein 5100s to get about 2.5" front and 2" in the back.

It'd make sense to do this all at once to avoid needing to do two alignments?

Anyone have a good source for the OEM boot repair kits? Any options on how long I can drive with the torn boot and not irreparably damage the axle?

 

[jbtvt]

The sooner the better, and the less thoroughly you'll need to clean the old sand-infused grease out of there. OEM is the way to go, even Beck Arnley boots barely lasted me 2 years. Never had an issue with aftermarket CVs, other than boots, but never put them in anything I wheeled. Any OEM reseller will have the boots, part #s here - Toyota parts catalog

 

[y=mx+b]

As someone that's been chasing down an OEM CV to rebuild, get that boot sorted out asap. I let my OEM axle go for too long, and its got 1/4" up and down play on the tripod end now. Trying to track down another OEM axle is either expensive or annoying. A new CV axle from Toyota is ~$350 and CVJ OEM equivalent is ~$200+core&shipping.

I spend a month, off and on, trying to track down an OEM axle that I could rebuild for cheaper than the above options. I ordered low mileage CVs 3 different times from LKQ on ebay, 1 was an o'reilly and I got refunded, 1 was cancelled the day after it was expected it to arrive, and 1 was cancelled the day after ordering. I finally found one at a local junkyard, 4runner had been there less than a week and 1 of the CVs was already gone. I scooped the passenger side to rebuild with an OEM boot kit. I have the kit for inner, outer, grease, and clamps with PN 04427-60141, got it from MeGeorge online for $46. I don't know the PN for the inner only kit, but it was around $20.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

If the tear is not too bad, I've had a couple of bicycle patches holding up for a few thousand miles. But, the tears weren't that bad. Might work until you can locate a decent replacement. But you really have to check the patch every day as well. Good Luck!

 

[smyles1632]

Hi everyone,

I have a new to me '03 V8 and the inner cv boots are torn and leaking after my first offroad trip...

How do you know the axles are still original? In 17 yrs. could've been replaced already, and more than once.

 

[newton22]

I don't think rebooting is that bad, aside from the messiness of the grease. I for one did not remove the axle to reboot both of the boots. Remove the lower control arm and pull out the inner axle tripod and you can reboot them that way.

I got an OEM boot kit from ebay for about $40.

 

[Drift Monkey]

The actual reboot process is easy, just messy.

 

[johntdye13]

If you just need to get by for a while but want to keep dirt and water out, wrap some heavy plastic, like a cut open gallon zip lock freezer bag around the boot several times and ziptie both ends. It works as a temp repair.

 

[babar]

To answer one question from above, I have some but not all of the mechanical records but I'm pretty sure the axle is still stock.

Either way, I'm going to be doing the lift anyway so I bought the oem boot kit for both sides and I'll just yank out the axle in the process and do the reboot. I'm pretty sure that the boot was just torn recently and the axle shouldn't be in bad shape.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[joshik]

I had grease spewing from my boots at one point. I did a lot of reading on the boards and decided against going with non OEM axles. Sure the Napa ones and others come wiht a warranty, but who wants to constantly be replacing CV Axles, even if they are replaced for free. So I decided to reboot mine while doing my front lift. I actually cleaned them out and completely re-greased them.

Not sure about the other peeps experiences but I hated those stupid clamps that come with the boots. You have to buy special tools to clamp them and I guess I didn't do it well and it started to spew grease again.

With the advice from another T4R member, I cut off the clamps while they were still on and bought some nice stainless steel hose clamps. Never looked back!

They are the hose clamps with rounded edges so they won't dig in and cut the boot. I'd go that route

McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr

 

[MrSeth]

I had grease spewing from my boots at one point. I did a lot of reading on the boards and decided against going with non OEM axles. Sure the Napa ones and others come wiht a warranty, but who wants to constantly be replacing CV Axles, even if they are replaced for free. So I decided to reboot mine while doing my front lift. I actually cleaned them out and completely re-greased them.

Not sure about the other peeps experiences but I hated those stupid clamps that come with the boots. You have to buy special tools to clamp them and I guess I didn't do it well and it started to spew grease again.

With the advice from another T4R member, I cut off the clamps while they were still on and bought some nice stainless steel hose clamps. Never looked back!

They are the hose clamps with rounded edges so they won't dig in and cut the boot. I'd go that route

McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr

I also found these metal zipties at Lowe's in the electrical section that have worked well for me for a few months now if you can't find good hose clamps

 

[joshik]

anyone have issues with the worm drive clamps for the outboard boots clearing the lower control arm?

I'm installing new Superpro double offset LCA and (no alignment yet) at full droop the wormdrive housing hits the lower control arm.

On the otherside that has the OEM LCA still the clearance is CLOSE but it doesnt hit. You think an alignment would fix this?

 

[rdruss]

anyone have issues with the worm drive clamps for the outboard boots clearing the lower control arm?

I'm installing new Superpro double offset LCA and (no alignment yet) at full droop the wormdrive housing hits the lower control arm.

On the otherside that has the OEM LCA still the clearance is CLOSE but it doesnt hit. You think an alignment would fix this?

Adjust the cam bolts on Super pro to same as stock and see how clearance is and/or play around with the cam bolts on SP and see if clearance changes to your satisfaction.

 

[joshik]

Adjust the cam bolts on Super pro to same as stock and see how clearance is and/or play around with the cam bolts on SP and see if clearance changes to your satisfaction.

Yeh, I tried to get it as close to where my OEM LCAs were. I was messing with the cam bolts to see if it cleared but it would not.

 

[Fern]

I used electrical tape in a pinch. Held up well. Just clean the surface prior.