tarheelrunner

I carried my car to the Toyota dealership today for a regular oil change and service, and found out that my driver's side inner CV boot is busted, with grey grease everywhere :pat: . The grease is fresh, so it just happened. The dealership is telling me to just replace the whole driver's side axle, because with labor replacing only the boot is almost just as much.

I don't have any experience messing with CV axles, so I don't really know what to do. I don't want to get robbed by the stealership, but I don't want to ruin something on my 4runner at the same time. I've read you can get axle assemblies with lifetime warranties from autozone, which sounds like a good idea. What should I do??? Let them fix the whole axle or just the boot? Or should I try to do something myself? My 4runner is at the dealership right now, so any speedy replies would really be appreciated!!

Localmotion

call local shops and get estimates...if you know how to, replace it yourself.

Duct tape is your friend!! how tore up is it?

Bob_98SR5

not sure if this will help but this was my experience: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...ght=half+shaft

phoenixtroy

haha. that just happened to me too...

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/new-tires-wheels-torn-cv-85213/

here is a write up on how to do it yourself... I haven't done it yet, I just have duct tape on it

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/cv_axle/

tarheelrunner

There is about a 1" tear, so its not too bad. I just got my tires rotated today also, and I would think that they would have said something if they had seen all that grease. If it between the tire shop and the dealership, then I only drove about 10 miles, so the axle shouldn't be messed up.

How hard is it to replace it? I've done a fair amount of my own work on my 4runner, so if I may try it myself. Any good writeups around on the internet?

Localmotion

phx just posted an excellent one.

Intrepid

If you have basic tools, plus a 35/36mm socket, you can do it yourself. I did mine and I had never done it before, I just followed a Haynes manual and that 4x4wire write up and did it. Replacing a boot is more trouble than it is worth IMO, I would replace the whole thing if it were me.

tarheelrunner

Stealership wants $435 to replace the whole axle assembly!!!! That includes parts, labor, and a 12 month warranty.

I've read that guys had gotten these shafts from autozone and then gotten local mechanics to do the labor, which saved a lot of money. Does anybody know what part number this is, or how to go about getting the cv axle from autozone? Thanks for the quick responses!!

DoubleZero4x4

Unless they stopped the practice...AutoZone used to let people rent unique tools (large sockets being one of them) for these once in a while tasks. Basically you pay for the tool, use it and bring it back.

Be warned though...you are going to need a breaker bar of some kind to loosen that axle nut (i use a steel pipe from home depot). They are torqued down to 190lbs on a Camry. I can't imagine it being less on a 4Runner.

Intrepid

Agreed, check out Autozone and see about their rental tools.

vegaskurt

Just order the axle from autozone, it was $120 plus an $80 core out here. DO NOT BUY FROM PEP BOYS. Pep boys discontinued stocking the axle for our trucks and wont honor their lifetime replacement warranty.

BajaRunner

Id vote to do it yourself.

1) Take off wheel, and black dust cover...(need to pry off w/ screwdriver)
2) Take off axle nut. Big ass socket and a breaker-bar or impact wrench will be needed
3)Remove four bolts near the lower ball joint.
4) Whack the axle end with a rubber mallet, your spindle should slide off (prolly need to jiggle it for a bit)
5) Pull out axle shaft
6) take off old boots, put on new one and fill with grease
7) put axle back in, "burp" out all the air in the boot
8) tighten boots with hose clamps

Put everything back together and your done. It took me about 3hrs the first time doing it. Took me the longest to get the dust cover off.

Oh, and somewhere in there, you'll need to take off a c-clamp on the axle shaft...so have c-clamp pliers.

GSGALLANT

The torque on the axle nut is 174 ft-lbs, actually.

I had never done an axle swap before, and when I tore my boot, I decided to remove, rebuilt and re-install my axle. It's hard to find a cheap aftermarket CV with the quality of the OEM ones. It cost me $80 CAD for the boot kit (which included both inboard and outboard boots and clamps, and both types of grease.) On mine, it was the outboard boot that was torn, which meant I had to rebuilt both joints. Since your inboard boot is torn, you can choose to only replace that one if you want (They sell a kit with just the inboard boot, clamps and grease.)

If you have a normal set of tools, and a bit of mechanical knowledge (and a copy of the FSM sections for axle removal, rebuild and re-installation), you should be able to tackle this in an afternoon. (Mine took four hours with a few breaks) The writeup mentioned above from 4x4wire.com is very helpful.

You will need a tool to re-install the clamps that hold the boots in place. I bought a pair of end cutters to do that. I placed a thick piece of cloth between the cutting edges of the end cutters and the boot clamp so that the boot clamp didn't get damaged. (I also needed to use a bar clamp/spreader to give me a bit of extra squeezing force on the handles of the end cutters to allow me to compress the boot clamp to specs.)

If you do try the rebuilt yourself, make sure to matchmark pieces when you take them apart so that you can re-install them in their original orientation.

GSGALLANT

If you order a new aftermarket one, I wouldn't turn in your OEM one as a core. Pay the extra $ and save and rebuild your OEM one to have as a spare (It's worth a lot more than the core charge you're saving.)

tarheelrunner

The breakdown from the $435 estimate is about $205 for the axle and about $230 for labor. I'm going to go to autozone after dinner and check into an axle, and probably just replace the whole thing.

I might ask around a few shops before I replace this thing myself, I really don't have any experience with axles and don't want to screw anything up. What have you guys paid a local shop as far as labor is concerned for replacing the CV axle?

Bighead

FYI...a 3rd Gen OEM replacement boot kit (P/N 04438-35060) costs ~$25.00. It comes with both inner and outer boots and the two types of grease required.

GSGALLANT

Wow! Not in Canada, it doesn't. I paid almost $80 Canadian - taxes in, for that kit from the only local Toyota dealer.

tarheelrunner

I went ahead and ordered a whole new CV axle from autozone for $125, so I've already saved $80 from the dealership costs. Thanks for all the help guys, I'll let you all know what I find as far as local mechanic fees!

DoubleZero4x4

Too bad your not in AZ. We could probably get enough wrenchers together to help you do it.

YotaPower

Sorry to revive an older thread.

I now have this same problem of an inner cv boot torn. I can get a boot and clamp kit for $20 shipped, but without grease. Must I use some special grease, possibly from Toyota? Or can I use just some lubrimatic high temp. wheel bearing grease? Also, anyone know where to get the tool for tightening the new boot clamps?

Otherwise, does anyone have experience with autopartswarehouse.com? They can get me a whole axle assembly for $70 shipped!