Ok, did a lot of searching on ripped cv's but there is not a ton of info on leaking ones. I finished my lift this weekend on my 3rd gen. I am 1.5" taller in the front now. I must of nicked the passenger side outer cv or something cause the next day I noticed grease all over that area. I cleaned it up, drover around for 30 minutes and found more grease.

For the life of me I can not find the tear anywhere in the boot. Should I look into one of those "Quick boot" replacements that autozone sells or just do the full axle replacement?

 

!!! for like $30 you can get both inner and outer boots. its not that hard to rebuild them

 

yeh the quick boot would be for a temp fix...i 2nd the boot rebuild

 

Do you still have to pull the axle out to rebuild the boot?

 

yessum

 

On my 2002, I pulled the passenger cv out, did a complete rebuild, and re-installed it in about 3.5 hours... with time for a break halfway through. That was the first time I ever did a CV replacement/rebuild, so it's not that complicated. Just make sure you get a copy of the service manual procedure, or a write up for your vehicle. Good luck!

 

If grease can leak out, dirt can get in. There are a TON of little pieces/bearing in there - I wouldn't want to risk thinking it was good because it ha a good boot on it, but it was overly worn on the inside. I would just pick up a whole assembly from Autozone with a lifetime guarantee ($70 for my '93) - less labor than rebuilding since you have to take it out and put it in anyways...

 

Yeah no one in town had a boot kit but pep-boys had the full cv shaft for $99 with warranty so I went that route. I'll have some tonight to get it in. Thanks for the info and advice.

 

Update:

The outter boot on the pep boys cv started leaking. So I went to swap it out and low and behold, they do not carry the CV's for the 4runner anymore. They cant even order it. So the warranty is garbage. Stick with Autozone.

 

What did you do with your the one you replaced?

I have a cv boot replacement write up on the CT board. You don't list what year Runner you have but it looks the same Gen as the Tacoma in your avatar. If so, my write up will cover your repair. The boot kit should be less than 50 (40ish) bux from your local stealer. You can either use it to repair your old one or the new one that failed.

Good luck!

 

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.