What is this and how urgent is it?

[Brique]

Hey guys, need your trained and/or experienced eyes for help on this one...

I'm guessing the thick grey grease I'm seeing is from the CV boot, am I right? A cursory look didn't seem to show any signs of tearing or slippage, but I put a 3 inch lift on her last year and was surprised not to have any CV issues at the time. I also redid the brakes last week and had turned the wheel all the way a few times in order to get at the calipers. I had also had to rotate the axle at that angle to get the old rotor off.

So second question - how urgent is this? Can it wait a few weeks or is the truck grounded till I can address it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[StreetCreeper]

Hey guys, need your trained and/or experienced eyes for help on this one...

I'm guessing the thick grey grease I'm seeing is from the CV boot, am I right? A cursory look didn't seem to show any signs of tearing or slippage, but I put a 3 inch lift on her last year and was surprised not to have any CV issues at the time. I also redid the brakes last week and had turned the wheel all the way a few times in order to get at the calipers. I had also had to rotate the axle at that angle to get the old rotor off.

So second question - how urgent is this? Can it wait a few weeks or is the truck grounded till I can address it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Looks like CV grease to me. They can split in the folds and will look normal until you pull it back or have the wheels turned left or right.

I've had mine split for a year. I'm lazy though and just squirt some grease in when I'm doing oil changes and greasing the driveline.

But I'm in California and the only water my truck sees is the car wash. So depending on the conditions, your CV is probably fine for now most likely. Just keep an eye on it and get it done when you can if it worries you. Just don't go driving through deep water or wheel it too much until fixed.

 

[mark21742]

Pain in the ass, but if you have tools it's not that big of a job. Since 1 went id buy 4 new boots and replace all of them ASAP so you dont ruin your axle

 

[Cree]

Hey guys, need your trained and/or experienced eyes for help on this one...

I'm guessing the thick grey grease I'm seeing is from the CV boot, am I right? A cursory look didn't seem to show any signs of tearing or slippage, but I put a 3 inch lift on her last year and was surprised not to have any CV issues at the time. I also redid the brakes last week and had turned the wheel all the way a few times in order to get at the calipers. I had also had to rotate the axle at that angle to get the old rotor off.

So second question - how urgent is this? Can it wait a few weeks or is the truck grounded till I can address it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

As stated, you are correct. How urgent? Do you wheel? I wouldn't get too far from the beaten path with them, but for DD use? If you get to them soon, you can reboot/regrease and save them. If that's not a concern, run em till they start making noise, then replace. Napa has a sells Lifetimes for about 100 per side. I'd put those in before I mess with a reboot/grease. Just my pennies. YMMV.

 

[Brique]

Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

No plans to wheel anytime soon, probably about 200 highway/surface road miles per week, though. I'm in Nashville, so some rain, nothing crazy.

I've read that it's easier to just swap in a reman, but my question on that is how can I make sure I'm getting a OEM reman as opposed to aftermarket steel?

I've read that there is a real difference between aftermarket steel and the hardened steel toyota uses for CVs.

I know I can google it, and I will, but if you know and don't mind saying so, it would help.

thank you!

 

[afg10000]

Money shot! I would recommend CVJ axles in Denver for true OEM re-mans. They'll put longer boots on them for ya as well. I also see a lot of folks use the Napa ones because of the warranty.

 

[pluton]

The issue is dirt: If you can put new boots on before the CV joints have run without enough grease, and/or are contaminated with dirt and grit from the environment, you can just add grease and reboot. Or, you can just drive them until they start clicking when you go around corners, like most folks do with their front drive cars. If OEM new are not available...and it looks like they may not be anymore..., agree CVJ has a good pitch(I haven't purchased from them), and stay away from mystery sourced new or rebuilt units.

 

[GVL]

I just went through the exact same thing. I bought a reman OE axle from CVJ that cost me $195 shipped and get $75 back if you send back the bad axle. I had never done a CV before and wanted to watch and learn so I paid a Craigslist mobile mechanic $80 to come to my house and change it. It didn't look that hard but we getting out the old one was pretty tough on mine. The guy was pretty cool and loves T4R's so helped me with a couple other minor issues too. I'm too OCD to drive with the slight clanking noise so just did it immediately, but as stated you can get away with it for a bit if needed. Good luck.

 

[Brique]

I just went through the exact same thing. I bought a reman OE axle from CVJ that cost me $195 shipped and get $75 back if you send back the bad axle. I had never done a CV before and wanted to watch and learn so I paid a Craigslist mobile mechanic $80 to come to my house and change it. It didn't look that hard but we getting out the old one was pretty tough on mine. The guy was pretty cool and loves T4R's so helped me with a couple other minor issues too. I'm too OCD to drive with the slight clanking noise so just did it immediately, but as stated you can get away with it for a bit if needed. Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. I'll be calling cvj this morning. Fortunately, there's no issue with clicking yet. Girl's been running extra smooth since the brake swap, actually. The only indication I had that something was amiss was two drops of axle grease on the floor. Hopefully I can get the new axle delivered by this weekend and swap them out on Friday or Saturday night.

 

[Brique]

Well, cvj doesn't have any cores ATM, and so it'll be a few weeks till they can send me a rebuilt axle. So it looks like plan a. is to see if one of the local pull it yards gets a 3rd gen in this week that I can pull a CV off of. Plan b. is to buy a Napa axle and send cvj my existing OEM for rebuild.

 

[OldManKamps]

At least your swaybars and tie rod ends are getting oil coated!
No rust!

 

[Cree]

There are TONS of guys running the Napa Lifetimes without issue. Just make sure you get the Lifetimes. They have a low rent house brand version as well that I don't know if I'd trust.