Need advice

Krusty Krab · 10-17-09, 12:26 PM

Hey guys,
Scwab put a three inch lift on my 98 4runner one year ago. And immediatly the inner CV boots started leaking grease. I took it back and the guy cleaned the grease off with brake cleaner and said it should be fine. Yea right

. Well after my chucker opening last week the boots pulled clear up and are open and thrashed. They refuse to accept the fact that they have anything to do with it. Now the CV axles need to be replaced. They want 550.00 to do it. I can do it for about 250.00 parts and a butt load of time cause I have never done it before but got some good instructions off mudd. How long will they last if I just run them till they fail? Will it be harder to fix if I do that? Or do I find another shop that will do it better and for less(My faith in Scwab is failing)? Any ideas? Shops? I really hate doing stuff like this and could scratch up the cash. I guess I'm leaning to having someone else do it unless you guys have done it and it isn't too bad.

Advise welcome!

locrwln1 · 10-17-09, 01:37 PM

PM Spressomon, he has experience with replacing the boots on his CV's and he can probably tell you where to source the replacement boots. I think Toyota even has replacement boot kits available. He will know more than I.

I wouldn't trust Les Schwab either.

Jack

WILLD420 · 10-17-09, 03:38 PM

If they aren't ruined yet, you can probably clean them up and put new boots and grease on them and keep running them.

If you keep running them, they will surely fail when you need them not to.

Krusty Krab · 10-17-09, 08:54 PM

Thanks guys. I noticed that all pro has a set that are longer for lifted aplications. I hope they(boots) can be replaced and the axle still last. They said at scwab that i should replace the whole axle cause it probably had dirt in it and just replacing the boot was a band aid repair. Maybe Spressoman has the answer. Thanks
Mark

rusty_tlc · 10-17-09, 09:35 PM

I put new boots on the 100 CV axles, it's no big deal. The kit is cheap, I have the Napa crimp tool and I'm sure Dan has one too. From reading on the 100 forum it seems like you need to replace the boots whenever you do a lift since they take a "set" at a certain angle and start to fail when that angle is changed. This is pretty much internet speculation AFAIK.

The tough part is getting the axles out and back in. I did mine while I was replacing the front diff. Dan and Jack helped me take mine apart, Jack helped me put them back in. If you have the FSM the instructions are pretty clear.

One thing you might look at to prevent future problems is a diff drop, assuming it wasn't part of the original lift. This gets the axles closer to the stock angle.

rusty_tlc · 10-17-09, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty Krab

Thanks guys. I noticed that all pro has a set that are longer for lifted aplications. I hope they(boots) can be replaced and the axle still last. They said at scwab that i should replace the whole axle cause it probably had dirt in it and just replacing the boot was a band aid repair. Maybe Spressoman has the answer. Thanks
Mark

Once you have them out you can inspect them and see if there is a problem. If the balls and races don't have any scoring they are probably okay.
Here are the ones from my 100 all cleaned up.

Krusty Krab · 10-19-09, 01:54 PM

Crap! Now I have to pull them apart and make them look that nice? Are mine(4runner98) the same as your 100? Now I am leaning to just replacing the boots unless they are scored then I go buy the whole CV unit, Auto zone has them with a lifetime guarentee. Haven't priced them yet. Anyway, You all know how I love to get my hands greasy.

Thanks for the advice and the cool pic Dan.
Mark

rusty_tlc · 10-19-09, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty Krab

Crap! Now I have to pull them apart and make them look that nice? Are mine(4runner98) the same as your 100? Now I am leaning to just replacing the boots unless they are scored then I go buy the whole CV unit, Auto zone has them with a lifetime guarentee. Haven't priced them yet. Anyway, You all know how I love to get my hands greasy.

Thanks for the advice and the cool pic Dan.
Mark

they won't be exactly the same as the 100 but the design should be close.

spressomon · 10-19-09, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krusty Krab

Crap! Now I have to pull them apart and make them look that nice? Are mine(4runner98) the same as your 100? Now I am leaning to just replacing the boots unless they are scored then I go buy the whole CV unit, Auto zone has them with a lifetime guarentee. Haven't priced them yet. Anyway, You all know how I love to get my hands greasy.

Thanks for the advice and the cool pic Dan.
Mark

Make sure you keep your receipt! Assuming they're anything like the CV assemblies that NAPA sells you'll be returning them. At least that was my experience with the NAPA units: They're nowhere near the construction/quality of Toyota OEM.

Krusty Krab · 10-24-09, 03:03 PM

Well I got one side done (just replaced the boot and cleaned up everything) and it wasn't too bad although it took me 3 hours. It was a really wierd design. The joint had three roller bearings on needle bearings and they fit in like a tulip cup that hooked into the diff. Autozone had the longest boots so I used them too replace the busted one. Had to use the end of the old boot as it fit the end of the cup and then clamped the new boot over that. I plan on doing the driver side this week. I hope I can cut the time in half

.