hey all, as the title says, I’ve got a torn cv boot while on a road trip vacation. It’s torn on a top part of the rib and thrown all the grease. I noticed it yesterday while camping in Monarch, CO. We made it to Gunnison where I grabbed some grease, a grease gun, and black RTV. Cleaned everything with brake cleaner. Shoved in a half tube of grease and then RTV’d the hole and let it set for the afternoon. Not ideal, I know. We are now stopped for the night in Ridgeway, CO and it’s still throwing grease, which I expected. We planned on doing the easier to moderate trails around Ouray for the week before making the trek back to Indiana. Anyone have some insight on how long the axles could last? I’m worried about total failure either on the trail or the highway heading home. Does this issue need to be “everything gets put on hold until it’s fixed,” or can I inject grease daily and run the truck for the trip as planned? Really appreciate all the help!
RTH: torn cv boot on vacation (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter LandHoosier
- Start date
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I drove a maxima around with a broken cv boot for 2 years lol.
You'll be fine, it takes a lot of time and rust to completely break an axle, but try to keep dirt away from it so you can go home and reboot it.
You'll be fine, it takes a lot of time and rust to completely break an axle, but try to keep dirt away from it so you can go home and reboot it.
Just rebooted mine so am familiar with some info here on Mud after reading threads a gazillion times. Consider filling with grease, wrapping with plastic and duck taping it...keeps some grease in and some dirt/water out. Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about.
See pic in post #56:
CV Boots Replaced with directions
Also might be a good idea to get familiar with this just in case:
Hub flange removal writeup
See pic in post #56:
CV Boots Replaced with directions
Also might be a good idea to get familiar with this just in case:
Hub flange removal writeup
Run as planned. You don't want to let water or dirt get in there, grease it up as you go, but it is definitely not a "everything gets put on hold until it’s fixed” kinda situation.
All the boot does is keep dirt and moisture out, short term you won't really see any issues (other than grease flying around) but the cv joint will definitely remain serviceable for the remainder of your trip (probably for a long while to be honest...)
All the boot does is keep dirt and moisture out, short term you won't really see any issues (other than grease flying around) but the cv joint will definitely remain serviceable for the remainder of your trip (probably for a long while to be honest...)
Options
Running it dry for 1500 miles at highway speeds would be sketchy at best. It may grenade on you.
1- Refill at each fuel stop:’Going to be messy trip home, but buy a grease gun, 2 or 3 tubes of grease and fill it at fuel stops. You can try a thick bag and wrap it then tape it off- but expect it to vibrate.
2- Go to a NAPA service center and have a rebuilt axle installed-
3- PM @2001LC And see if he has a used take off CV you can buy to install for the trip home. Hes near Denver.
Plan on buying a new axle when you get home.
Good luck
^^ 4 - CVJ Axles - CV Axles & Steering Racks for all your needs is located in Denver, rebuilds Toyota axles
- Thread starter
- #8
Just a follow up: the boot tore completely in half somewhere between Moab and Denver. We were not in any hurry home, so we stopped at a dealer in Denver to have it rebooted. I had them reboot a spare I had in the back that already had a torn boot and just toss the damaged one in the back. Dropped it off right before closing and picked it up a little after 11a the next day. Sucked to pay the bill, but being on vacation is about time with family and I opted to spend the time with them instead of under the truck. It was nice reassurance to be able to safely run at highway speeds the rest of the way home.
For whatever it's worth I just went through this same thing on a 3000 trip on my 1999 LC.
I had just installed a 2" lift and it tore my outer passenger boot. I decided to buy a NEW aftermarket CV axle assembly from one of the local auto parts stores, and installed it just before leaving.
BIG MISTAKE!!!
It turns out that the aftermarket CV axle is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the OEM in several ways, but the most important is that it was too loose where it fits into in my front transfer case. (It also only had 3 big ball bearings for the inner joint, where the OEM has 5!! ... or is it 6 I now forget) I of course did not realize this until I was a few hundred miles from home and was forced to deal with this on the road. Pulling and replacing the axle under a shade tree on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere was (to put it mildly) a character-building opportunity.
Long story short, after trying several aftermarket axles and having them ALL fail or not be right, I ended up removing my front drive shaft and doing the "7 pin mod" to lock the center differential in AWD High. All the aftermarket axles created so much vibration I thought I was driving on the highway "rumble strip."
I took it easy and drove the truck as a 2wd, rear wheel drive for about 1700 miles. Fortunately I still had the OEM axle back at my house and was able to re-boot it with Toyota boots when I got back, and now all is well.
So, just in case you (or someone else in the future are/)were considering it, DO NOT be tempted to just buy a cheap $80 aftermarket axle. That simply won't solve the problem.
You totally made the right decision to pay the extra money and have your Toyota one rebooted. Plus the DIY remove the CV Axle, rebuild it, and put it all back together is a MAJOR pain. It requires several special tools and is messy as one can imagine.... Doubly so when on the road.
Peace and grease!
-Steve
I had just installed a 2" lift and it tore my outer passenger boot. I decided to buy a NEW aftermarket CV axle assembly from one of the local auto parts stores, and installed it just before leaving.
BIG MISTAKE!!!
It turns out that the aftermarket CV axle is SIGNIFICANTLY different from the OEM in several ways, but the most important is that it was too loose where it fits into in my front transfer case. (It also only had 3 big ball bearings for the inner joint, where the OEM has 5!! ... or is it 6 I now forget) I of course did not realize this until I was a few hundred miles from home and was forced to deal with this on the road. Pulling and replacing the axle under a shade tree on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere was (to put it mildly) a character-building opportunity.
Long story short, after trying several aftermarket axles and having them ALL fail or not be right, I ended up removing my front drive shaft and doing the "7 pin mod" to lock the center differential in AWD High. All the aftermarket axles created so much vibration I thought I was driving on the highway "rumble strip."
I took it easy and drove the truck as a 2wd, rear wheel drive for about 1700 miles. Fortunately I still had the OEM axle back at my house and was able to re-boot it with Toyota boots when I got back, and now all is well.
So, just in case you (or someone else in the future are/)were considering it, DO NOT be tempted to just buy a cheap $80 aftermarket axle. That simply won't solve the problem.
You totally made the right decision to pay the extra money and have your Toyota one rebooted. Plus the DIY remove the CV Axle, rebuild it, and put it all back together is a MAJOR pain. It requires several special tools and is messy as one can imagine.... Doubly so when on the road.
Peace and grease!
-Steve
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I have a set of CVJ rebuilt axles on my truck. The last one I put on there was last fall, I thought I'd try the RED silicone boot, but it tore offroading in Jan of this year. Since then, I have but about 10K miles on it, including several Arkansas Campign outings, and 2000 mile drive to Utah and back for CruiseMoab18, wheeled pretty hard out there too. Only in the last month has it started clicking. I have an new OEM that is going on when my new UCA's come in, but OEM or CVJ's will run quite a while, under quite a bit of stress before they let go.
So if a boot tears and you have a quality axle, let it ride till you can fix.
I'll take this one apart and see what the damage is.
So if a boot tears and you have a quality axle, let it ride till you can fix.
I'll take this one apart and see what the damage is.
I tore one on a weekend trip 4.5 hours from home. It threw all the grease and was making a lot of noise. Since I needed to get our travel trailer home, I filled it with grease, wrapped the crap out of it with black gorilla tape, and it was fine. When I pulled the axle a week later, the fix wasn't even leaking.
