Ok everybody I need your help. I have to take on the dreaded task of replacing my driver side cv boots this weekend. The tear is only about a 1/4 in long on the inner boot and not much grease has escaped. So rather than replacing the whole axle shaft. I'm just going to re-boot.

Problem is, I've never done this before, so any tips you guys could give me would be great.

Thanks.

 

I'd like to see this too.
Just went out to see mine...passenger side, ripped about 1".
A first hand account or a link to a site would be appreciated.
thanks,
bp

 

Uh...note to self...do a search first
source:http://www.barneymc.com/toy_root/techneek/cv_r&r.htm

Getting the drive axle off, I started with the wheel and
hub. There's a little hub cover to pry off and a bolt with
big washer under it. Then there's 6 nuts holding the main
part of the hub on. There are some cone washers here, which
can be a pain to get off. My Haynes manual says to use a
tapered punch. Closest I had was a cold chisel, which
worked pretty well, but it banged a couple of 'em up a bit.
On reassembly, try to orient the slots on these so that it
will be easier for the next guy -- it could be you. A
couple of mine were turned around so that it was hard to
get my chisel in there. Then take the clip and splined
washer off the drive axle...etc

 

Blair thanks man. I must not know how to search. I've been searching for the past two days....I'm also going to go and pick up hayne's manual to see if that helps.

 

Actually, I was surprised myself...just did a google for 4runner cv boot replace....several good links came up. All of 'em making it look like a job beyond the capacity of MY toolkit. Glad it helped you out.
I'm leaning toward on of those 'clamp' type two peice repair units...anyone ever try them??
bp

 

From what I hear stay away those. They don't offer a sterile environment for your CV joints. More of a band-aid for the CV. Band aids aren't water tight.

Went and picked up the Haynes manual and it actually doesn't look like that hard of a job. Let you know how it goes this weekend.

 

I thought the Mecatech CV boots were like that, but I'm not sure. I don't personally know of anyone who has them, but they do seem to be getting quite popular. I tried to order some last week, from Wheelers Off Road, but they were sold out.

 

About $70 will buy you a reman shaft and all you do is to bolt it back in.... no mess, no hassle, and a life time warrantey...

 

The whole shaft is what I did too. Easy, less than 1 hour and I was done, with less messy hands to boot!!!

 

When i replaced my pass side shaft I paid $75 which i thought was a good deal. Replacing the whole shaft is an easy task even for a beginner to do. One tip i learned here about the cone washers is when you loosen the nuts to the cone washer, back the nuts all the way but dont take them off. Then use a soft metal hammer to tap on the hub. This will get the cone washer to pop loose and not fly off in to your eye or punch a hole thru your teeth When those washers pop loose they have alot of force behind them.Trust me i know:cry:

 

Just finished doing mine tonight. The biggest trick is removing the lower shock mount so you can jack under the lower a-arm to get the outer CV to line up and let it all slip out. I knocked out all the studs on the diff side and bought bolts to replace them. That hleped some with clearance also.

I was able to do the job without removing the tire or disassembling a ball joint.

 

I have boots with small holes on both sides of my 4runner, dealer quoted me $525 to replace both axles or $485 to just replace the boots!!
So for about $150 I can have fix both sides, that's much easier to afford. Thanks for the post!!

 

It will be tight, especially on the passenger side due to the differential, but I did it so anyone can. My truck sits higher than stock in the front and I imagine that gives me some clearance on the differential side but it makes getting the outer CV out of the spindle difficult. I've heard of guys undoing their sway bar end link and I'm sure that helps the lower A-arm stuff up higher to straighten that angle out but luckily I didn't have to do that.