CV Boots Replaced with directions
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Well - I cleaned up my boots and found they were in fine shape. I re-banded the outer ends this morning after reading some helpful posts here. Not a big deal at all. $20 for bands and a tool + a little grease to shove back in the boots. Total Job = 20 minutes. I'll watch them and see how they hold up, but based on the tighter fit of the boot, I'm feeling it's going to be good.
What kind of clamps/bands did you use?
from NAPA: https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?A=BK_7307375_0120013535&An=0
Got the tool there too.
Did we ever figure out the correct grease to use? Mine aren't torn but are weeping. I don't know how much I've lost nor if water has gotten inside. Boots appear fine, but I might just replace them now as a PM if I'm taking the thing apart anyway.
that's what I'm thinking too. I'm thinking that I'll need to pull them to re-grease (gravity). so as long as I'm that far, might as well r&r all 4 and drain/refill the front diff. 11 year old rubber has to be approaching it's service life.
well, guess it was bound to happen. Took Greenie to the local yota mom and pop this morning for routine maintenance, thinking it wouldn't hurt in preparation for a long weekend.
Brother-in-law drops me off a few hours ago and I see Greenie up on the lift....not a good sign. Shop guy says both my CV boots are busted, one cut somethign serious and pulled almost completely off. Grease is everywhere.
Thing is I haven't wheeled Greenie anything that hard. I did do the 2.5'' lift recently, with dif drop, and I added bigger wheels/tires, so perhaps all this, and considering Greenie is a 99, means its just time for new ones.
Shop guy quoted me $550 with labor for a new axle and CVs. He said it's worth replacing the axle because everything would come with a lifetime warranty.
I have to admit that after seeing the condition of my CVs, $550 doesn't seem all that bad, and anything with a lifetime warranty sounds good. I've never priced something like this so i'm unaware if its a fair deal.
What you guys think?
Brother-in-law drops me off a few hours ago and I see Greenie up on the lift....not a good sign. Shop guy says both my CV boots are busted, one cut somethign serious and pulled almost completely off. Grease is everywhere.
Thing is I haven't wheeled Greenie anything that hard. I did do the 2.5'' lift recently, with dif drop, and I added bigger wheels/tires, so perhaps all this, and considering Greenie is a 99, means its just time for new ones.
Shop guy quoted me $550 with labor for a new axle and CVs. He said it's worth replacing the axle because everything would come with a lifetime warranty.
I have to admit that after seeing the condition of my CVs, $550 doesn't seem all that bad, and anything with a lifetime warranty sounds good. I've never priced something like this so i'm unaware if its a fair deal.
What you guys think?
Trunk Monkey
Moderator
Are they OEM axles? The lifetimers are usually NAPA or the like and peeps here have had to replace them not long after install.
If the grease is fresh I would just reboot both with OEM kits.
If the grease is fresh I would just reboot both with OEM kits.
If your existing CV boots have been torn for some time and/or as bad as you say they're probably not worth rebuilding due to accelerated wear. However if you think they just tore and you haven't been driving them packing dirt into them then they might be able to be salvaged...depending on, too, how many miles you have on them.
If you go the non-OEM CV assembly be sure to: Get lifetime labor included too; save your receipt; and plan on doing it again sooner not later.
That's been my experience over the past 6-years and 125k miles.
To the CV grease/lube question: I wouldn't mix greases/lube brands. But Redline and other's make CV grease/lube. Even special CV lube for racers
.
If you go the non-OEM CV assembly be sure to: Get lifetime labor included too; save your receipt; and plan on doing it again sooner not later.
That's been my experience over the past 6-years and 125k miles.
To the CV grease/lube question: I wouldn't mix greases/lube brands. But Redline and other's make CV grease/lube. Even special CV lube for racers
.
Finished a reboot and bearing pack yesterday. These instructions and comments were very helpful in getting everything put back together.
Upon attempting to insert the inner shaft, I found it difficult to get it lined up so i used a prybar to lift the tulip and to align it. Once this was done the shaft slid right in and just needed a little tap with a block of wood as previously described to lock into place.
Thanks for all the comments and especially the link to the 2004 owners manual.
Upon attempting to insert the inner shaft, I found it difficult to get it lined up so i used a prybar to lift the tulip and to align it. Once this was done the shaft slid right in and just needed a little tap with a block of wood as previously described to lock into place.
Thanks for all the comments and especially the link to the 2004 owners manual.
Toyota doesn't sell the grease separate from the boot kit. Common theory here is that it's bad juju to mix with another type of grease so most folks just re-boot. Another consideration is that while not much may have come out, what may have gotten in?
Pretty sure lots of folks have added grease, don't remember seeing any issues. I would use a needle attachment but don't puncture the boot - just stick it under the boot and under the clamp to get it in there (you may need to loosen the clamp and if you have the type that can't be retightened make sure you have new clamps b/f doing this.
Definitely agree that if you're looking to keep your cv joints/axles as long as possible in tip top shape then do it right and clean/repack them with the boot kits. As a matter of fact, unless you lost a ton (have pics), you may be better of just leaving it as is and not doing anything other than clamping down better. If there is possibility that you got water/dirt in there and you want longest possible life for the cvs you should clean/repack them.
I'm not recommending this but if you're at high mileage on your cv joints (say 180k) and you are planning to replace them with new anyway sometime soon, I would either leave as is or inject some more in and wait till you're read to replace.
On the topic of grease compatibility - I am not a grease expert but would love to understand better if there's a potential for incompatible grease? I repacked my cv joints a few months back and remember that there were two different size packets - just checked the FSM and inboard is the one with smaller packet and outboard gets the larger packet. However I can't remember if the color of the grease was different. I see references to black vs. yellow grease on other toyota threads but not sure if that's true for our LC/LX boot kits? Can anyone remember if the packets had different color grease. I think I just remember the yellow grease.
Anyhow, in terms of incompatibility - i'm talking out of my ass, but I would think putting grease rated for cv joints that does not have moly would be safe bet (believe it would be NLGI 2)? Can anyone confirm or deny? For example, using a little M1 Synthetic? From what I've seen around here, generally speaking there's not a problem mixing synthetic and non synthetic greases for U-Joints, Slide Yokes, and I would assume the same applies for cv joint applications. I would not consider mixing grease types when it comes to engine oil or bearings though. Just my gut feeling both b/c of the difference in speed/heat and b/c of the high cost and low margin of error. Can someone confirm or deny?
NMuzj100 can you come to the rescue with a detailed explanation of dos and dont's?
I just completed the reboot process and want to than the OP for his instructions. Those instructions along with the FSM pages helped make this a pretty simple process.
A while back I had a bad tear in myCV boot and decided to replace the CV and buy a boot kit so I would have a spare. IIRC, the boot kit was right at about $30 from the good folks at TRDParts4u.
First of all, you need a brass drift or hammer, actually you need one for lots of LC repair jobs. You also need a good pair of duck bill type snap ring pliers, I found mine at O'Reileys for $18.
I had patched the tear on my cv while the new parts were on order so I had to clean all the duct tape and zip ties off to start the job. I started with a messy version of this:
Once I got all that crud off I opened up and removed the stock bands and cut the boot down one side. I highly recommend doing this over a plastic bag, its a sticky, greasy mess. I also recommend having lots of paper towels and nitrile gloves on hand.
After the boot was off and all the goop wiped away I used a thin edged screw driver to remove the snap ring on the inside lip of the tulip, this was surprisingly easy with virtually no tension on the thin wire. I gotta say I was surprised to find out that this thin snap ring is what holds the joint in the tulip.
After removing the joint from the tulip and wiping it down the six large ball bearings will basically fall out leaving you this:
You do need to add match marks that go from the edge of the tulip around the edge of the basket down the side of the bearing race and onto the shaft. This will allow you to put the parts back together the way they came apart. I used a sharpie and watched to make sure I didn't wipe my marks off. You can see my marks in the pic above.
Next step was to remove the basket, it just slides off, then the snap ring on the end of the shaft that holds the race in place, for this you will need the duck bill type snap ring pliers. It will look like this:
I then took a brass drift and hammer and removed the race from the shaft:
My inner boot was still in good shape but since I had the new one there I went ahead and removed the old one and replaced it with the new, again, this is full of grease. The outer joint does not come apart so the only real labor there is to remove the bands, slide the boot off, clean out the grease, then put it all back together. When you go to put it all back together I highly suggest wrapping the end with teflon tape and adding a bit of grease, this protects the boots and makes it much easier to install.
The inboard end is a bit more technical to put back together but its really not hard. Do the reverse of above making sure to line up your match marks and add a bit of grease to the bearings to help hold them in place. I filled up the tulip with grease and dipped the bearings in the tulip to coat them then added a bit of pressure to hold them in place while inserting the end into the tulip....get your mind out of the gutter...
Once its all back together you are left with:
A good as new CV! I was able to use the Toyota supplied band on the larger end of the inside boot, it simply fold over and locks tightly in place, I was not able to use any of the other supplied bands. The bands that came with the kit are no longer the same as the stock bands. The outer boot bands require a SST to crimp in place so I used some hose clamps that I found at West Marine. I don't mind keeping the smaller bands on, they do a good job at keeping the grease in the boot when it flexes. I am gong to look for a tool to properly crimp the larger band on the outer boot. If I find one that works I will post up about it. Fact is I just don't like the screw drive protruding on the outside of the large band.
I did remove the old snap ring that locks the CV in the diff and replaced it with the new one that comes with the boot kit. To do this I took two thin screw drivers and pushed the old one off, the new on pops on easily.
Word of caution, the OP did mention that the bearing cage has sharp edges and my thumb is proof! Be careful with that cage, it will bite ya!
A while back I had a bad tear in myCV boot and decided to replace the CV and buy a boot kit so I would have a spare. IIRC, the boot kit was right at about $30 from the good folks at TRDParts4u.
First of all, you need a brass drift or hammer, actually you need one for lots of LC repair jobs. You also need a good pair of duck bill type snap ring pliers, I found mine at O'Reileys for $18.
I had patched the tear on my cv while the new parts were on order so I had to clean all the duct tape and zip ties off to start the job. I started with a messy version of this:
Once I got all that crud off I opened up and removed the stock bands and cut the boot down one side. I highly recommend doing this over a plastic bag, its a sticky, greasy mess. I also recommend having lots of paper towels and nitrile gloves on hand.
After the boot was off and all the goop wiped away I used a thin edged screw driver to remove the snap ring on the inside lip of the tulip, this was surprisingly easy with virtually no tension on the thin wire. I gotta say I was surprised to find out that this thin snap ring is what holds the joint in the tulip.
After removing the joint from the tulip and wiping it down the six large ball bearings will basically fall out leaving you this:
You do need to add match marks that go from the edge of the tulip around the edge of the basket down the side of the bearing race and onto the shaft. This will allow you to put the parts back together the way they came apart. I used a sharpie and watched to make sure I didn't wipe my marks off. You can see my marks in the pic above.
Next step was to remove the basket, it just slides off, then the snap ring on the end of the shaft that holds the race in place, for this you will need the duck bill type snap ring pliers. It will look like this:
I then took a brass drift and hammer and removed the race from the shaft:
My inner boot was still in good shape but since I had the new one there I went ahead and removed the old one and replaced it with the new, again, this is full of grease. The outer joint does not come apart so the only real labor there is to remove the bands, slide the boot off, clean out the grease, then put it all back together. When you go to put it all back together I highly suggest wrapping the end with teflon tape and adding a bit of grease, this protects the boots and makes it much easier to install.
The inboard end is a bit more technical to put back together but its really not hard. Do the reverse of above making sure to line up your match marks and add a bit of grease to the bearings to help hold them in place. I filled up the tulip with grease and dipped the bearings in the tulip to coat them then added a bit of pressure to hold them in place while inserting the end into the tulip....get your mind out of the gutter...
Once its all back together you are left with:
A good as new CV! I was able to use the Toyota supplied band on the larger end of the inside boot, it simply fold over and locks tightly in place, I was not able to use any of the other supplied bands. The bands that came with the kit are no longer the same as the stock bands. The outer boot bands require a SST to crimp in place so I used some hose clamps that I found at West Marine. I don't mind keeping the smaller bands on, they do a good job at keeping the grease in the boot when it flexes. I am gong to look for a tool to properly crimp the larger band on the outer boot. If I find one that works I will post up about it. Fact is I just don't like the screw drive protruding on the outside of the large band.
I did remove the old snap ring that locks the CV in the diff and replaced it with the new one that comes with the boot kit. To do this I took two thin screw drivers and pushed the old one off, the new on pops on easily.
Word of caution, the OP did mention that the bearing cage has sharp edges and my thumb is proof! Be careful with that cage, it will bite ya!
About to tackle this in the next day or two. Gottagetone, thanks for adding your notes and pictures to this already great thread. BTW, pfran42 has found an ideal solution to the CV boot clamp dilemma. I'm ordering his CV10.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/pfran-leds/521348-100-series-cv-boot-clamps-bands-mcmaster-carr.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/pfran-leds/521348-100-series-cv-boot-clamps-bands-mcmaster-carr.html
Those are basically the same clamps that they sell at WM for $1.99 each. They have smooth edges and work well, I just would rather not have this sticking out:
The outers are not where boots usually leak, that why I am good with leaving the hose clamps on the inners.
Note, the ones I bought maxed out at 5" so I cut the end off.
The outers are not where boots usually leak, that why I am good with leaving the hose clamps on the inners.
Note, the ones I bought maxed out at 5" so I cut the end off.
I just replaced my other CV and wanted to add a couple of thoughts.
1st, You dont need a pitman puller to separate the UCA ball joint, a BFH on the flat spot works just fine.
2nd, If you are having an issue getting the CV locked into place then undo the lower control arm bolt and remove the whole hub/rotor/knuckle assembly, this gives you much more room and a straight shot to push it into place.
1st, You dont need a pitman puller to separate the UCA ball joint, a BFH on the flat spot works just fine.
2nd, If you are having an issue getting the CV locked into place then undo the lower control arm bolt and remove the whole hub/rotor/knuckle assembly, this gives you much more room and a straight shot to push it into place.
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