Hey fellas, so I'm looking for some advice on how to best go about remedying my current situation.
First off, I have a 2008 4.0L 6-Cyl 4WD SR5 with ~100k on the odometer. It's never done any serious offroading and has been driven on paved roads for nearly 100% of it's life.
Here's the backstory (rather lengthy, I know; my apologies):
Up until last weekend, everything on the truck was bone stock.
I'm not very mechanically inclined, but it just so happens that my good friend who I've spent the past 2 years in the Army with worked for BMW, Lexus, and Toyota as a tech for 12 years before enlisting. He's pretty much my go-to guy for any work that needs to be done on the car.
I noticed last month that my rotors & pads were all in pretty dire need of replacement. Seeing as how it's getting up there in miles now, I decided it was a good time as any to replace some suspension parts and do some routine maintenance under the hood as well (water pump, serpentine, thermostat, radiator hoses, battery, diff/engine oil, fluid flushes, etc.).
Out of all the stuff I ordered, the pads/rotors & shocks/struts/springs came in last week, so we got to doing the work this past Saturday (just to clarify; the brakes and suspension pieces were the only things installed, everything else I ordered is arriving later this week so none of the other items have been put in yet).
This was the kit I bought from ToyTec (884's up front and ToyTec Superflex in the rear, chose to forgo the front diff drop kit after reading that the general consensus agreed that it wasn't needed, especially for the small amount of lift I chose to go with):
OME full suspension -- Click here for details
We got everything installed on Saturday, and I was very happy with how much better the ride quality felt with the truck sitting on new suspension pieces.
On Sunday morning, I noticed some axle grease spray-off in my front-passenger-side wheel well. After getting down to take a look, there is axle grease everywhere around the passenger-side undercarriage. Upon further inspection.. what do you know, the passenger side inner CV boot (one closest to the engine) is torn right where it clamps to the shaft connecting both boots (excuse my poor description and terminology, I'm not very versed in the correct nomenclature of these parts)! I was surprised because when we had it up on jack stands to do the brake and suspension work the day prior, there was no axle grease anywhere in sight. At first I thought that this might have happened due to the lift and not purchasing/installing a front diff drop kit, but then after doing some research it's a common point of failure for 4Runner CV boots in general. From what I've read, it's my understanding that torn CV boots COULD be the possible result of not having a front diff drop installed, but if that were the case the location of the tear would be different than what I'm experiencing, correct? (I've attached a photo at the bottom of the thread to make up for my less-than-stellar description of the torn area)
I went over and checked the driver side, and it looks like the rubber on that inner boot is "getting there" in the same spot as well, albeit it's just cracking and not completely torn yet. There's small dribblets of axle grease around it, but not nearly as bad as my passenger side where it's spraying all over the place.
So, I contacted my buddy who works on my car for me, and he told me we could do 1 of 2 things; repair the boots, or replace the axles entirely. He explained that repairing the boots would be cheaper but a huge mess/ass pain and take significantly more time (I pay him for the work he does, but he never charges me as much as he should and I would feel entirely too bad if I choose to have him spend a ton more time on my vehicle than necessary, especially around the holidays when he should be spending it with his wife and kids). After hearing that, I had no problem with just purchasing 2 new axles and dropping them in place of the old ones.
Problem is, after doing some additional research, it seems as though there really arn't any good options. I've looked into all the brands available on RockAuto and the usual Napa/Autozone/Oreilly lifetime warranty route, but it seems as though everything available both new and reman'd are a crapshoot as to quality and longevity. I came across multiple posts from different forums highly recommending a FL based company called "Raxles" that does stellar work and puts out a superb reman'd product, however I called them earlier today to place an order and found out, to my dismay, they no longer do Toyotas. I asked why and the man I spoke with informed me that it's because they only use brand new inner and outter CV joints to ensure a quality product, and that there is just no cost efficient method of sourcing the joints new for Toyotas.
As I see it, here are my current options:
Option A:
Take a chance on a new or reman'd product from Autozone/Napa/Oreilly (I realize that if I ever have any problems with it, they'll replace it no questions asked. My issue is that I don't want to trouble my buddy with taking the time to replace my axle every time it takes a shit on me, which might be quite often seeing as how the longevity is questionable)
Option B:
Buy a boot repair kit, ask my buddy to do it for me even though it's more of a hassle, and compensate him both monetarily and with assloads of beer for his trouble. It's worth mentioning that I've put about 50 or so miles on the truck so far post-tear just going to and from work, so there's probably moisture and all kinds of other bad juju in there by now.
So, with all that being said, my 2 questions are these:
- Can someone confirm that, judging from the location of the tears on my inner boots, this was a result of regular wear/old age and not from putting in the new suspension pieces without a front diff drop kit installed?
- Which axle replacement option would you guys choose? If Option A, then would you choose to go brand new, or reman'd, and why?
Thanks for reading and providing any insight you guys may have, it's much appreciated!
(See attached image for a picture of the CV boot tear location)
First off, I have a 2008 4.0L 6-Cyl 4WD SR5 with ~100k on the odometer. It's never done any serious offroading and has been driven on paved roads for nearly 100% of it's life.
Here's the backstory (rather lengthy, I know; my apologies):
Up until last weekend, everything on the truck was bone stock.
I'm not very mechanically inclined, but it just so happens that my good friend who I've spent the past 2 years in the Army with worked for BMW, Lexus, and Toyota as a tech for 12 years before enlisting. He's pretty much my go-to guy for any work that needs to be done on the car.
I noticed last month that my rotors & pads were all in pretty dire need of replacement. Seeing as how it's getting up there in miles now, I decided it was a good time as any to replace some suspension parts and do some routine maintenance under the hood as well (water pump, serpentine, thermostat, radiator hoses, battery, diff/engine oil, fluid flushes, etc.).
Out of all the stuff I ordered, the pads/rotors & shocks/struts/springs came in last week, so we got to doing the work this past Saturday (just to clarify; the brakes and suspension pieces were the only things installed, everything else I ordered is arriving later this week so none of the other items have been put in yet).
This was the kit I bought from ToyTec (884's up front and ToyTec Superflex in the rear, chose to forgo the front diff drop kit after reading that the general consensus agreed that it wasn't needed, especially for the small amount of lift I chose to go with):
OME full suspension -- Click here for details
We got everything installed on Saturday, and I was very happy with how much better the ride quality felt with the truck sitting on new suspension pieces.
On Sunday morning, I noticed some axle grease spray-off in my front-passenger-side wheel well. After getting down to take a look, there is axle grease everywhere around the passenger-side undercarriage. Upon further inspection.. what do you know, the passenger side inner CV boot (one closest to the engine) is torn right where it clamps to the shaft connecting both boots (excuse my poor description and terminology, I'm not very versed in the correct nomenclature of these parts)! I was surprised because when we had it up on jack stands to do the brake and suspension work the day prior, there was no axle grease anywhere in sight. At first I thought that this might have happened due to the lift and not purchasing/installing a front diff drop kit, but then after doing some research it's a common point of failure for 4Runner CV boots in general. From what I've read, it's my understanding that torn CV boots COULD be the possible result of not having a front diff drop installed, but if that were the case the location of the tear would be different than what I'm experiencing, correct? (I've attached a photo at the bottom of the thread to make up for my less-than-stellar description of the torn area)
I went over and checked the driver side, and it looks like the rubber on that inner boot is "getting there" in the same spot as well, albeit it's just cracking and not completely torn yet. There's small dribblets of axle grease around it, but not nearly as bad as my passenger side where it's spraying all over the place.
So, I contacted my buddy who works on my car for me, and he told me we could do 1 of 2 things; repair the boots, or replace the axles entirely. He explained that repairing the boots would be cheaper but a huge mess/ass pain and take significantly more time (I pay him for the work he does, but he never charges me as much as he should and I would feel entirely too bad if I choose to have him spend a ton more time on my vehicle than necessary, especially around the holidays when he should be spending it with his wife and kids). After hearing that, I had no problem with just purchasing 2 new axles and dropping them in place of the old ones.
Problem is, after doing some additional research, it seems as though there really arn't any good options. I've looked into all the brands available on RockAuto and the usual Napa/Autozone/Oreilly lifetime warranty route, but it seems as though everything available both new and reman'd are a crapshoot as to quality and longevity. I came across multiple posts from different forums highly recommending a FL based company called "Raxles" that does stellar work and puts out a superb reman'd product, however I called them earlier today to place an order and found out, to my dismay, they no longer do Toyotas. I asked why and the man I spoke with informed me that it's because they only use brand new inner and outter CV joints to ensure a quality product, and that there is just no cost efficient method of sourcing the joints new for Toyotas.
As I see it, here are my current options:
Option A:
Take a chance on a new or reman'd product from Autozone/Napa/Oreilly (I realize that if I ever have any problems with it, they'll replace it no questions asked. My issue is that I don't want to trouble my buddy with taking the time to replace my axle every time it takes a shit on me, which might be quite often seeing as how the longevity is questionable)
Option B:
Buy a boot repair kit, ask my buddy to do it for me even though it's more of a hassle, and compensate him both monetarily and with assloads of beer for his trouble. It's worth mentioning that I've put about 50 or so miles on the truck so far post-tear just going to and from work, so there's probably moisture and all kinds of other bad juju in there by now.
So, with all that being said, my 2 questions are these:
- Can someone confirm that, judging from the location of the tears on my inner boots, this was a result of regular wear/old age and not from putting in the new suspension pieces without a front diff drop kit installed?
- Which axle replacement option would you guys choose? If Option A, then would you choose to go brand new, or reman'd, and why?
Thanks for reading and providing any insight you guys may have, it's much appreciated!
(See attached image for a picture of the CV boot tear location)
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