mrbee2828

So almost exactly a year ago my CV joints blew out right after my lift was installed. I got a 2.5" Fabtech up front and a 1" diff drop from 4Crawler. It's almost a year to the day and I went to change my oil and just saw both side are blown out AGAIN. WHAT THE HELL???

Now I will say I bought whatever Advanced Auto Parts sold and that they probably aren't the best out there but still. I wanted to know if I can get some better boots and just replace the boots on the newer CV joints. I also wanted to ask what else I can to to avoid replacing these annually. I could just have bad luck but somehow I don't think that's it. Can I drop the diff more? Is it recommended? I can't be the only one who's got this problem???

VSU_4runnin

does advanced or napa make lifetime warranty cv boots?

BigBallsMcFalls

anything over 2 inches lift is too much for the CV's

get used to it

Kerby J

if you buy from autozone thye have a lifetime wararnty and if it happens u jus take it back and they will replae them no questions asked i have them on my rig with 4" suspension lift and a 1" drop bracket and i have nad no problems to this day with them

runneroffroad

ya just take them back u should have the life time wararny.
make sure u got extended bumpstops in the front too

Jin_Chris

Frequent torn cv boots can be also caused by engine/tranny mount-failure or excessive play.

Any auto part store such as autozone, napa, carquest, pepboy will start asking questions and may deny replacement if replacement is asked for every year. Moreover, I do not think anyone would enjoy messing with CV joint greese every year.

I would check first, if there is any excessive play in engine/tranny mount.

techno

How does that work??

toyNG

I think you are referring to CV driveshafts, while the OP is referring to CV axles on the IFS setup.

FogRunner

Rebuilt CV axles are nothing but problems. I went through two of them after I put on my 3" lift. After talking to a guy at Oreilly he suggested to buy the NEW CV axles (lifetime warranty) which were 20 bucks more a side.

Since then I've put about 20,000 miles on then and abused the piss out of them and never had a problem.

Normally you can get about the same service life with a rebuilt or new CV axle. But the difference comes when you put them in a abusive operating situation like a 3" lift.


FOG

mrbee2828

Thanks so much everyone for the replies! So with a 2"-2.5" lift I can expect this to happen every year? Does anyone else have this happen frequently? I will try and bring them back. As for the excessive play, how do I test/check for that? The axles are fine, it's the boots that are tearing from the angle.

FogRunner

What you want is a high angle CV boot, they are specificly designed for tolerating high lifts on IFS axles.

Only drawback is YOU have to pull the CV joint off the axle and install the boot and then put the axle back together because no one seems to sell them assembled.

Off road solutions of one of several companies that carries high angle CV boots .. http://www.offroadsolutions.com/96-02_4runner.html

I've known several guys that run these with lifts over 3" and never had a problem.

FOG

cpizzle42

NO thats not right. With all due respect of course

Anyway yeah, if you wheel you rig with a lift on it, a year is pretty good to get of a CV. I changed like six or seven out on my rig in three months before I bought a diff drop(yeah NAPA hates me, knows me by name, and knows what I drive). I have not snapped or torn a boot since the diff drop like 5 months ago and my truck in pretty much trail only and gets used once or twice a week.

Ron Helmuth

mrbee2828 a photo of your angles might be helpful so we can all be sure what you are describing. You can see there is a bit of confusion already what exactly is being referred to.

I believe there are tougher boots made also-T4R.org is Runner specific forum and I believe it is member "duhockey" has such boots. But yeah if you can get them replaced free again then go for that but it will get old doing this over and over.

Would that be the Fabtech spacer lift up front then? I've yet to hear good things about spacer lifts myself, just my 2 cents.

ISFast

Yes they are lifetime warr and they do cover the boots i asked them and put mine in last week! Advanced seemed to have the better of all the part stores cv joints for the 4runners.

mrbee2828

I have a 1" differential drop. I'm going to email off road solutions!!!! Here is a picture right after I got the lift installed and before the first tear.

Ron Helmuth

Off road solutions closed since December of 2008 per website.

JWaldz

iTrader: (1)

dang! That's a good little angle, even with a dif drop. I think that's about what mine looked like before the diff drop and I threw both boots and one axle actually broke offroad before I got mine in. That was just me being stupid though. I've replaced both axles since then and have yet to see any signs of wear and tear. Been roughly 4 months. I don't think you should have to be going through boots/axles every year unless you're doing offroad more than on road. But with that angle I can see why you are.

For reference, here is mine before the dif drop..

mrbee2828

CLOSED?!?!? DAMN IT!!!! I can't win.

AlexJet

ARe those High-Angle CV for outer or inner CV?

Fo-runna

Is it the outter boot (the boot closest to the tire) that keeps tearing? If so, is the lower shock bolt making contact? I have heard that the bolt can make contact with the boot when flexed or something like that, so it should be inserted so the head of the bolt is on the CV side... I have not experienced this myself, but my bolt faces away from the CV =). If it's the inner boot (closest to the differential) I don't know what to tell ya.