A local shop refuses to relpace a split boot on my CV joint. It is a f@##ing 10 dollar part. They insist on replacing the whole axle. And of course want a fortune to do it! I know it is labor intensive....they have pissed me off now. I will do it myself when I find the parts and the time to do it. Anyone done it? Any tips?

Wily

 

How bad is the boot. How long has it been bad.

Most shops won't change just the boot because when the boot goes bad, the grease goes out, and the dirt goes in. Being a mechanic my own labor is "free", but I learned the replacement boot (split boot) is only a temporary measure. You can't get all the crap out and new grease installed correctly while the axle is installed.
I change my own axles with rebuilt units instead of replacing the boot.
It isn't the easiest thing to replace. Local kid I know just bought a 90 4Runner and got stuck the first time he went 4 wheeling. Only the rear wheels were spinning. Come to find out, both front axles were MISSING!!!
His brother has a totalled truck, and the part numbers are the same for the axles, so we plan on taking those out for his truck.

David

 

Its not hard to do. If you have the A.D.D then its a piece of cake. just Loosen the bolts that hold the axel to the diff. tube. Jack up wheel with jack under "A" arm. Put jackstand under frame to hold it all up. You can then lower jack some as needed to provide you with clearence since it will move the A arms up and down. Unbolt shock at the bottom and just let it swing free. Remove wheel. Pull of the hub "cap". Remove bolt and washer thats in the end of axel. remove circle clip thats on this end of the axel. Now totally remove the bolts that bolt the axel to the diff tube. Now pull the whole axel shaft out. The hard part to me was installing the new one. Installation is in reverse order. One time I got a new one that had a round end that bolted up to the diff. tube. The diff tube connection was a star shape. That was hard to get in there so I took it back and got one that was star shaped. Easy as pie to get in there. About 6 months later the other side failed. Again I got a round ended one, but with a little elbow grease, I got it in. Should take you less than an hour start to finish.

 

I noticed it about a week ago.....I saw all the grease in the fender well. The joint doesn't make any clicking noise yet.

Yoda.....what isn't the easiest thing....replacing the axle or just
the boot?

Willemon.....what is A.D.D? Also.....it sounded like you don't need
to remove the hubb, brakes, rotor, ect....???

Thanks for the reply,
Wily

 

I can get the whole shaft for 90.00 here locally.

Wily

 

A.D.D means automatic disconnecting differential. In other words, its a shift on the fly into 4 wheel drive. The front hubs dont have a moving locking mechanisim. Just a splined plate that bolts to the wheel/rotor hub that the end of the axel slips through. If you had manual hubs, or what they called automatic locking hubs, you might need to pull the hubs off. that would mean youd need to deal with the cone washers and all. Not really tough, just an extra step.

No, you dont have to remove the brakes or the rotor and all. You may not even need to remove the tire/wheel, but I forget.

By all means, replace the shaft as a unit. I read some about how to repair CVs and saw on a "shadetree mechanic" show how to do it and replacing the shaft is earier by far. Ive called myself going to go to manual hubs so as to save the CVs but have not done so yet. A friend tried to replace just the boot on his Nissan Stanza, but the new boot, after he glued it up all proper, lasted 2 days. Later.

 

I think I will have a go at it myself. From what it sounds like....all you do is take the bolts out where it connects to the diff....then remove the wheel and the cap for the hubb(the one with the 6-8 cone washers and nuts).....then remove the bolt that goes into the end of the axle......then a C-clip that is around the axle.....and slide it out and the new one in. Sound right???

The shop I spoke with came up with 420.00+ tax to do the job. I also found the shaft for 70.00......20 bucks cheaper than what I posted yesterday. I took a good look at it and hope it will be simple enough.

Thanks,
Wily

 

You are on the right track. Is it an axle with a lifetime guarantee? If you can find one of those it might be worth a few extra $$.

I don't remember it there is a nut on the end of the 4Runner axle (by the hub). If so, break it loose before raising it on stands. Most of those axle nuts ar torqued at about 150 ft lbs and it is difficult to do if the truck is already in the air. The bolts at the diff side of the axle are not easy either, but IIRC they are about 70 ft lbs. Not much room to work with there. CONSULT THE MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT TORQUE SPECS TO REASSEMBLE!

I have been the split boot route before, and it didn't last. A solid boot is the only way to go (if you insist on repair the axle), and it was about $30 AND you have to dis-assemble the axle to install. Since then I have only put in rebuilt axle shafts.

David

 

Big nut on the hub end?? My toyotas, the 90 with ADD and I think the 94 with manual hubs both have a bolt and washer screwed right into the end of the axel. It is small so about 20 to 25 ft/lbs is all it needs. The only big nut on mine is the one thats sandwiched with the lock washer and you remove it to get the bearings out. They might have used a big nut with the automatic hubs, I dunno.

But yea, real simple. Since you dont have to remove the cone washers and nuts, thats a headache you wont have to worry about. Now on my 94 truck with manual locking hubs, I do have to remove the cone washers and nuts so I can get the hub off to get to the axel shaft, but like I said, on the do runner with ADD, I dont have to. Have you checked and repacked bearings? I just had a bearing go south since I neglected to repack it when I really should have. If you dont know, you do have to go pretty deep into that, but after 1 or 2 go throughs you will be quite profecient in that too. Theres some detailed writeups on that somewhere, maybe ODW or Off-road.

Also, ever think about replacing the shaft bushing with a needle roller bushing since the shaft will be out? Man!!! It just never ends does it?? Why not just do an entire front end service??

 

I just replaced the rotors about 6 months ago. The screw and washer in the end is all I have too. Maybe 10-12 mm or so. But isn't there a c-clip that goes around the axle shaft that has to be taken off?

Also, can't you get to the screw and washer to remove by prying off the dust cap? Then it should all slide out.......

A tip for the rotors......the bolts on the back of the hub are soo tight that you can't hold to get any leverage. I put the whole rotor and hub assembly in my wheel and used 2 lugs to secure it.....it was alot easier to hold the tire still than just the rotor and hub.

 

Yes, there is a C- clip. And yes, just remove the dust cap and you can to everything. Like I had said, you might not even have to take the wheel off, but I forget.

 

First and foremost, I'm pretty impress with the information from this forum and second, I can't believe that my first post is such a long post......

I just replaced my CV Boot (from 1993 toy4Runner V6 4x4) last week and it was time consuming but it's worth saving over $300.

I too went to local shops and inquire about the cost of replacing the boot vs replacing the axels.

Just to replace the boot it would have cost me $300 for labor and $60 for CV boots (all front cv boots).

As for axels it's $300 bucks for labor and 200 bucks for both axels.

The cost was the main reason why I decided to do it myself. I spent around $60 for all 4 CV boot kit (inner and outer) and 4 hours later I was done.

The work itself is time consuming but overall it wasn't bad specially with pneumatic tools. Below is the summary of what I had to do... remember this is just a summary and this from my 93 4runner V6 4x4 with a procomp stage II lift kit (with longer braided brake lines).

1. lift the front side of the truck and put jackstands underneath.
2. Remove the tires.
3. on the hub, remove the cap-nuts(6of them), remove the dust cover by using a screw driver and gently tapping it out, remove C-clip, tap the outer hub piece to separate from the hub (this is hard to explain).
4. unbolt the shock from the bottom
5. separate the sway bar ends.
6. separate the tie-rod ends (I unbolted it vs. using the fork to separate from the joints.)
7. remove 4 nuts from the upper control arm that's holding the spindle to the upper control arm (make sure the jact in under the lower control arm for support because it may suddenly drop).
8. remove the 6 bolts holding the axel from the transfer case.
9. remove axel.
10. remove bothe inner and outer cv boot and clean out all the old grease (very messy process and it will require alot of rags or paper towel)
11. Install new cv boot and add the grease. special tool is needed to secure the cv boot strap (buy this tool if you don't have one).
12. Reinstall the axel in the reverse order.

I'm not a mechanic by trade and I'm sure I probably miss something but again this is just a summary. It's worth doing the work yourself to save money and you'll get to know your truck more.

Happy Wrenching.

 

Replacing the shaft is easy. Both side are the same size and you can get them from junk yards for about $25 each. If you're going to wheel an IFS 4runner, especially if you do a suspension lift or change bump stops. Plan on needing a few spares anyway. The inner tulip joint frequently pulls apart when the wheel is fully cranked and stuffed. It was my frustration with the problem that lead to the SAS.

 

a while back while i was taking of the running boards, i notice some grease in the fender. i didnt know it then..but it was coming from the cv boot. well the boot split and the 4runner is going into the shop on thursday to get fixed. the guy said it would be about $350 :pat: and reading the other post that cost didnt sound bad. now i am going to have to push back the buying of the fender flares.... :rolleyes:

 

Dude you can pick them up from a junk yard for $30 and a complete kit for $110/side.

Get dirty and learn how to work on your rig. It's not hard. If you're going to wheel this thing at all, it's time to start. This is a great project to start on.

 

haha..when it comes to stuff this important im not going to mess with it my self. maybe if i had a few buddys that worked on cars i would, but i dont. this is my main transportation and im not going to mess it up! sorry to disappoint you.

 

It's not that hard. Get a shop manual. You can swap out a CV shaft in about 30-45 minutes/side. Pull off the tire, take off the hubs. Take of the c-clip holding the axle, undo the spidle net. Take off the 6 bolts holding the inner tulip joint to the outer flange of the axle housing and out comes the axle.

See if you can find someone who lives near you to come over and help. Ask on the board, I bet you'll find someone.

 

I recently did my Left CV boots also. The Genuine Toyota kit for both boots is part # 04438-35022, I paid $40. It is both boots for one shaft, 2 tubes of grease and 4 clamps, (2 small and 2 large). The brownish grease goes in the inner joint (Differential end) and the blackish stuff goes in the outer joint.

One tip I can add is that there is 1 cutout on each diff output flange to help get the shaft in and out. I don't run a swaybar so I didn't have to undo any balljoints or shocks or crap like that. I just jacked the lower A arm up and down as needed. Its not necessary to take the wheel off but it helps.