Outer CV boot Leak

[airbur]

I've read a lot of threads on CV boots lately. But I'm a little confused at the appropriate fix for this. It's leaking. Not bad but it is noticeable. The boot is not torn etc. I don't think the boots have ever been changed since new. This is the driver's side. Passenger side is fine.

The truck does have a 2" suspension lift up front and 2.5" or so in the rear.

Should I just replace the boot clamp with a worm gear? It's hard to see in the last pic but the original clamp has sorta dug into the boot pretty hard.

I actually have a remanu. axle ready to go that I could swap in also. I don't believe the front diff gear fluid has ever been changed.

Suggestions? Thanks.

 

[radlynx]

first, clean it up and find out if the rubber boot is torn. if not torn, just remove the old clamp and replace it.

if you have more than enough time to replace the boot, then I would recommend to just replace it.

if you are in a rush and need the car quickly, maybe replacing the whole half axle is best. this will save you time by just removing the old one and installing the new one.

 

[airbur]

first, clean it up and find out if the rubber boot is torn. if not torn, just remove the old clamp and replace it.

if you have more than enough time to replace the boot, then I would recommend to just replace it.

if you are in a rush and need the car quickly, maybe replacing the whole half axle is best. this will save you time by just removing the old one and installing the new one.

Thanks. That last picture is with it cleaned up. All I can see is that the clamp seems to be digging into the boot a bit. Other than that no tears.

 

[TowMeOut]

Both of mine did the same thing after my meager 1" or so front lift. I guess it doesn't take much to piss them off. The stock clamps don't seem to tighten up. They were the weird fold over type with the little tabs. I yanked off the clamp and the boot itself looked to be in pretty good shape.

I bought a clamp tool (basically a funky crimp tool) a few months ago to fix a boot on my wife's van. I got an assortment of clamps too. I cleaned up the boot really well and doused it with some silicone to hopefully preserve it for a while longer. I installed a new clamp and crimped it much more tightly than the original. So far so good.

Just in case I wrapped a few turns of self-fusing silicone tape around the joint and added a zip-tie.

I'm gonna do the other side when I do my brakes, maybe this weekend. My rig has about 150K so I don't know how much more life these axles may have.

 

[airbur]

Both of mine did the same thing after my meager 1" or so front lift. I guess it doesn't take much to piss them off. The stock clamps don't seem to tighten up. They were the weird fold over type with the little tabs. I yanked off the clamp and the boot itself looked to be in pretty good shape.

I bought a clamp tool (basically a funky crimp tool) a few months ago to fix a boot on my wife's van. I got an assortment of clamps too. I cleaned up the boot really well and doused it with some silicone to hopefully preserve it for a while longer. I installed a new clamp and crimped it much more tightly than the original. So far so good.

Just in case I wrapped a few turns of self-fusing silicone tape around the joint and added a zip-tie.

I'm gonna do the other side when I do my brakes, maybe this weekend. My rig has about 150K so I don't know how much more life these axles may have.

Decided to swap out the entire axle today. It wasn't that bad.

What is bad is the fact that I completely stripped the hex head on the diff's drain plug. Spent more time on that than the axle swap and it's still not fixed. Had to order a set of these in hopes I can back it out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SRG66

 

[TowMeOut]

Darn....good luck. Did you try working it out with a cold chisel? I've heard of some folks having a bit of success with that method.

 

[Brutalguyracing]

Weld a nut on it