cv fail? need advice

[swise]

I have an 07 v8 awd, just noticed lh front cv seems to have crapped out its grease.not very familiar with cv shafts, do I need to replace now or wait for it to start making noise?

 

[pearlj10]

There are several threads on here (and T120) about how to replace just the cv boots. But when you can buy a quality reman cv shaft from Napa or the like for $80 or so, I'd just do the entire shaft. Last time I looked, the cv boot kit from Toyota was $40. You'll also want to replace the inner cv oil seal (the one that sits inside the diff) and those can be a bit tricky to seat properly. If you are not leaking fluid out of the diff now, take careful measurements of how far that seal is seated in the diff housing and replicate with the new seal. If you've never done these types of oil seals before, might want to buy two in case you screw up the first one. There is no lip in the diff housing that the seal rests against, so you can insert seal too far, and it will leak like a SOB. I'd do a lot of reading on here before you tackle the task (there's a ton of cv replacement/oil seal write ups here) so that your R&R goes smoothly. Good luck.

I have an 07 v8 awd, just noticed lh front cv seems to have crapped out its grease.not very familiar with cv shafts, do I need to replace now or wait for it to start making noise?

 

[progress4m]

On the picture, I do not see the tear in the boot… it is possible you just have a boot clamp that got loose; if that is the case you can add grease back into the boot and re-clamp with new clam; you can do all that without taking that CV shaft off.

 

[manp0899]

I had a similar situation on my 04 in 2009. I have still been running the same cv, I do get it checked but no issues.

 

[swise]

Thanks all. I may have been over thinking this one. A Closer inspection shows Boot is not torn, the original clamp seems to have come a little loose on one end. Going to cut both clamps, dump some grease back in the boot and 're clamp.