AznSky

Well my day started off excellent, my 7:30 class was cancelled, I got my lars disco's in, and it was sunny around the time we installed the disco's. Well after finishing the driver's side, we headed towards the passenger side, as we jacked up the car and looked underneath, my roommate said there was a lot of grease under there. Then he said those horrifying words "Dude, your CV boot is broken"

I was like crap....well not really, I said a different word but I can't say it on here Anyways, here are some pics of the damage, I don't even know how it happened because I haven't really gone off-roading in my truck since I've gotten it. And I would think the dealership would have noticed it when I got my 60k service. I think this is the origin of the "clicking" noise I hear when I turn and reverse and such.







As you can see, it's a pretty clean cut, so I don't know how this happened.

So basically now, what are my options? If I do have to go to the dealership, how much is this gonna cost me? My roommate told me I could get a cv boot from Downey, maybe save some money cuz toyota will charge me a fortune. Or Todd can you get me a good price on the oem boot? Thanks.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

PhxTRDRunner

Yup, definately the cause of the "clicking", mine is doing it now too ~ though you know I am lifted...you can buy remans from checker for $92 a piece plus a $105 core. If you are still in az then I can help you install them, if not its up to you. Toyota wants $390 each, haha, ya right!! The ones from checker are lifetime warranty too, so you can break them all you want.

doink

sorry to hear about your troubles with the CV boot, but on an offtopic rant (sort of anyways)..those quick disconnects look nice !!! good luck with the fix

AznSky

no I am not in AZ, man this sucks. And I would have no clue how to repair this. I guess my only way is to go with the dealership.......

Yotabozo

Yeah it reminds me of my 94 camry. Both my rear CV boots were cut one day. Oddly, it happened shortly after my 60K tuneup at Toyota. Ended up costing almost $500 to get both replaced.

For awhile I suspected foul play from the mechanics.....I hope that's not the case with you.

metal22lica

why dont you replace it? im not sure if its that much different from us 2nd Gens..but mine was really easy. i know what your thinking...i cant do that..its to hard. but that was the way i was thinking the first time mine blew...and i posted the same question. give it a try!!

Gadget

You can get a boot kit from Toyota for around $60. To install it you have to remove the axles, disassemble the joints and then install the boot, reinstall the joints, grease it up and install the clamps. If it is already starting to click, then it might be over due for a replacement CV axle.

I recently blew one up and shopped around for a replacement and a spare to carry with me in the truck.

It seems that most all of the different places have reman exchange units for around $84, but there is big differences in the core charge. If you are going to take it back right away, then it really does not matter. It really matters if you are trying to keep a spare on hand. Core charges ranged from $45 to $120.

Advanced Auto had the best deal. $84 for the axle with a lifetime warranty, and the lowest core charge at $45. I got two of them.

If I were you I would just replace the whole axle with a reman exchange unit. It is so much easier and much less messy.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

AznSky

So basically if I'm just looking to get this replaced, the best thing would just to be taking it to the dealer? Cuz I'm not really looking for a spare, I just want this fixed, thanks for the advice though gadget.

INsr5runner

DAng Rob that sucks. you are lucky your chick-magnet roommate was there to spot that! He must be a stud and pulls all kinds of ladies! heh,heh,heh

really it does bite dude.
At least the Disco install was smooth, and we got to use the new ratchet set. Too bad I didn't get to buy a new drill though!

Gadget

A dealer, hell no.

A dealer is only going to install a Toyota part. That axle new from Conicelli Toyota which will give you a great deal is like $300. Your dealer is going to charge you full price and that has to be over $400 just for the part and at least two hours labor which could be anywhere from $60-90 and hour.

Do it yourself or find an idependant shop to do it for you.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

metal22lica

dude...ill be in ohio this weekend..if you have some tools...we can meet in the middle and change it on the side of the road..that is how easy it is. really..its not hard to do at all. but yeah..you do just want to replace the whole thing. i got mine done and it cost me 350 total...and only 80 or so was for the part. that is why i learned to do it my self. i save 200+ bucks when i did, and i also learned how to do it.

Blair

Hey!
A member on the board (Derrick L.)had the same problem a little while ago, just as I did. He posted a pretty good write up. I got a pair from toyota parts dude at a great price (Big Thanks Jason!) and I'm gonna use Derrick's write up to swap 'em and then get my originals re-booted, change 'em again (back to originals) and then I'll have a spare set!
Here's the write up, Thanks to Derrick L.

2nd Generation CV Boot Replacement
(Without Manual Hubs)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to replace the CV boots on my ’95 4runner. The inner CV boot on the driver side had developed a cut that was about a ¼ of an inch in length. So it was spraying grease everywhere.
And after calling a few of the dealers in my area I discovered that if I did the job myself. I’d save almost $250.00. So I went to Toyota and purchased the CV boot kit. Which includes: Inner and Outer CV boots, two tubes of grease, four CV boot clamps and one ‘C’ clip.
I also purchased the Haynes manual. But it’s worthless. Don’t even bother.
Follow the steps below and this job shouldn’t take you more than two hours to complete the job. (Sorry don’t have a digital camera, so I can’t supply pictures)

Tools Needed:
· Assortment of Metric Sockets, including 17mm through 22mm.
· Assortment of wrenches, especially a boxed 17mm.
· Breaker Bar
· Chisel
· Hammer
· WD-40 or the like.
· Lot’s of solvent. (Brake Cleaner works well)
· Jack stands
· Flat head screwdriver
· ‘C’ Clip tool (Don’t even know if they exist. I used two flat-head screwdrivers.)
· Paint
· Hub Gasket

Removal
· Loosen the six bolts that connect the half-shaft to the front differential. Requires a 17mm Socket. Breaker bar helpful.
· Loosen the shock bolt and remove. Should be a 22mm. Breaker bar helpful.
· Remove the tire and place the vehicle on jack stands.
· Using a flat-head screwdriver. Remove brass cover on hub.
· Next remove the bolts surrounding the hub. You’ll notice that there are two washers. A regular lock washer and a cone washer.
· To remove the cone washer, use a chisel and gently tap the ‘split’ on the washer. Then with your chisel gently tap around the washer. This should ‘push’ the washer out.
· Remove gold retainer bolt and washer that’s attached to the axle.
· Next, you now need to separate the first layer of the hub. This should reveal the hub gasket and the ‘C’ clip that’s attached the axle.
· Remove the old gasket and reinstall new one.
· Remove the ‘C’ clip. Once that’s removed this will allow the axle to be removed from the rotor assembly.
· Next locate the lower ball joint and remove the 4 bolts retaining it.
· Focus on the sway bar, remove the bolts holding the sway bar to the frame on the driver said and loosen the bolts on the passenger side. (This will help the lower A-arm drop further)
· Go ahead and remove the nuts from the half-shaft assembly near the front differential. (Also helpful if you remove one of the bolts, by hammering it out. Give you more room to maneuver the axle.)
· Using a jack (or an extra person) lift the rotor assembly and push down on the lower A-arm. This will give you enough room to maneuver the half axle out.

Clean-up
· Use a liberal amount of cleaner on your vehicle and the half-axle. Remove all of the grease and dirt. Don’t take the chance of getting any dirt inside the bearings!
· Remove the clamps and boots on the inner side of the axle. Once you remove the CV boot, the housing should just slide off. Revealing the heart of the half-shafts, the bearings.
· Clean the bearings up as much as possible.
· With your paint, put a dot on the axle and the bearing assembly. (This will come in handy when you put it back together.)
· After the paint has dried remove the ‘C’ clip that’s retaining the bearing assembly to the axle.
· Once the ‘C’ Clip is removed, slide the bearing assembly off and place in a clean area.
· Remove the outside boot and clean as much as possible.

Installation
· Slide the new outside boot onto the shaft and place in proper grooves.
· Fill the boot with the supplied grease and attach the proper CV boot clamp. Attaching the CV clamps is just a matter of bending the metal over itself and locking it in with the metal tabs. Very easy. (Be careful here, Toyota gave you 4 CV boot clamps. The smaller two are the same size, but the larger ones different. Use the smaller of the larger CV boot clamps on the outside boot.)
· Be sure to attach the smaller CV boot clamp to the outside boot. Then also slide the Inner CV boot clamps on.
· Next slide the Inner CV boot onto the axle.
· Re-attach the bearing assembly. Remember to realign the painted dots.
· Install the new ‘C’ Clip.
· Fill the boot with grease and attach the clamps.

Slide the axle back into place and reinstall all nuts and bolts. The Haynes manual didn’t specify what torques rating all of the bolts are supposed to be at. So I torqued the hub bolts and nuts to 15 lbs, the lower ball joint bolts to 25 lbs and the differential bolts to 60 lbs. I’ll check them all later.

AznSky

As you can see, it's not that easy.

Well I have an appointment with the dealership on Thursday. If this was a lot easier and I had somebody who actually knew what to do with me, then I would do it myself. But considering I have no mechanical skills (yet), I don't think I am quite ready to tackle this myself. Thanks for the advice and help though. Hopefully this won't cost TOO much.

rimpainter.com

Rob-

That sucks dude. But, worse things can happen. Maybe there is a reason this happened? Maybe it will keep you off the road when something else could have happened like a wreck. See what I mean? I always try to see the positive, even when something crappy like this happens.

All-

You know its funny. I wonder if the droop caused by being up on a lift can tear old CV boots? It seems like everyone that gets torn CV boots just so happened to have had work done recently. Hmmm, just a thought.

DyeBoi

Hey

Sorry to hear the bad news, but I just joined the club. I started hearing a clicking noise a few days ago, and thought I would give the car a good look over and there she was, a broken CV boot, bleh!
Not happy whatsoever. I think im going replace it myself, not willing to dish out that much money.
Quick question, is this something that needs to be taken care of right away? im thinking of waiting for the weekend, but if it can't wait that long, i'll do it tomorrow. What is the potential harm of waiting? I drive on average 100 miles a day, cause of my jobs.
Will the cv boot kit from the dealership be all i need to replace them? or is there something else that i need? or someplace with a better deal?

Another question, off topic, has anyone run into problems with a leaking powersteering system? Seems everything rears its head once you look, so I need to take care of that too.

Thanks in advance, Oh yea, I haven't gotten any servicing done recently, so I won't be able to help the stealership cv boot theory.

Steve

DyeBoi

Ok, i went back and took a look and searched the forum for info. How do you know when your cv joints and axle have gone bad?
I went and looked in the boot and it looks like it might be contaminted with dirt and such. I have gotten the clickin for a while and recently started getting the odd thumping sorta sound at high speeds.
Im starting to think im about F'd in the a-hole cause I wasn't able to catch this sooner.
What am i lookin for to know exactly whats wrong? There is still a good amount of grease in there, but the boot is just hanging there. How much should I be planning to dish out and can all this work be done by myself? or should I just take it in to get fixed?

Thank for all your help

Steve

shazaam

hey Rob-
hello from K2 base camp (near there anywayy) .. finally got internet access!

just take it back to the guy that did mikes lift. He'll take out the axle, send it to be remanufactured, and put it back in all in about 5 hours. Total cost about $200 or so. If its making a clicking noise and you've cracked the axle (like I did) he'll have to order you a new axle total cost 275.

cheaper then the dealer, and you know its done right.

I'll be back in 3 days .. can't wait

oh dealership cost for new axle $375, labor cost $250, shop supplies $10.

AznSky

I was thinking about going to Tom but I already have an appointment on Thursday, and I really wanna get this fixed asap. Tom has a huge project this week and this weekend. I'll probably just have the dealer do it, I'm really fed up with this so I'm being really hard headed right now.

AznSky

Is it true that for something to actually happen to the axle with an exposed cv boot, it should take about a month for something to actually occur.