rear axle shafts

[TRAVIS75]

I've only really ever driven one subaru, but for the last few months I've been putting another back together piece by piece. The one I currently drive is an 89 DL wagon, 4x4 mt d/r. I know its notorious for the front cv axles to go out, especially in my circumstance where when I pull out of my drive way, I HAVE to turn it all the way right to avoid ending up in oncoming traffic (drive way is angled funky), anyways, I'm on about my 3rd used right axle shaft, I'm okay with that, its expected.

 

However I've never in 180k had a rear axle shaft boot rip on this thing. So the one I'm putting together now, only has 121k on it, but both rear axle boots are torn, is there something I should look at that may have caused this, or is it possible its just due to the way the previous owner drove it.

 

This car from what I can tell was very well maintained (of course the exception being these axle shafts) interior is immaculate, had a rebuilt motor in it that ended up with a hole in the block, hence me getting it.

[TRAVIS75]

I'm not suggesting that something has to be out of whack for this to happen, I just want to make sure before I replace both of them (since i've never done it, and I'm not sure how hard it is) that I'm not throwing money into something thats going to do it again in 5,000 miles. I would just as soon fix the cause while I'm at it. If the general consensus is that its just one of those things that needs to be done with no known reason for why its tore both boots on both sides, then I'll do it and not worry about it and just do it.

 

It just struck me as weird for them both to have torn boots on both sides, on a vehicle with such low mileage, when the current one I'm driving has had the living %$&* driven out of it and both of them are still good.

[LPGsuperchargedBrumby]

i'd put new grease and boots on it an keep an eye on it....my Brumby/Brat is pushing 200'000 miles and is still on its original rear boots.

 

as for replacing the boot its easy...the hardest part is getting the axles out of the vehicle as they can be a prat to get off the spline stubs on the diff an hubs

[Markus56]

The easy way to do this is to jack up the car (and use jackstands!!!) and disconnect the lower strut mount. then drive out the roll pins on both sides of the CV. get a long skinny prybar and wedge it between the trailing arm and the doj cup. then hammer the cup off of the stub shaft.

[TRAVIS75]

We have lifts up in our dismantling shop, so that won't be a problem. I'm not even gonna mess with changing the boots, who knows how much dirt and crap is in the existing grease, we've got other used axles shafts out in the yard, I'm just gonna find some with good boots on it and replace both sides.

[Markus56]

still gonna need to pry on the trailing arm to get that extra distance to slide the axle off the shaft

[zyewdall]

Is it possible that the previous owner used it for deep mud bogging or pushing through ice deep enough to cut the boots? The ice is the only thing I've seen destroy boots that weren't old (and even that was only the front ones)... deep icey ruts where the vehicle was just bashing against ice the whole way up the hill. And, that was a legacy as well. I've never had a rear axle go out on a loyale, though I've gone through lots of fronts. Aftermarket ones are crap (vibrating so bad I could barely drive the car after 15k, even though the boots weren't ripped)... go for dealer ones.

 

Z

[TRAVIS75]

Haven't check the price of new ones, I can't say much about what type of things the previous driver may have done with this car. I would speculate that it was well maintained, based on the condition and mileage of the car. Theres not a single stain on the interior and body is A+. But obviously torn rear boots contradict perfect maintanence LOL!