sorry, another CV boot ?

[bnhcooper]

I've done some searching and I seem to be finding conflicting stuff, so I wanted to ask my question directly. The inner CV boot on my wife's 99 Forester has cracked and is flinging grease, which I've read is common. I replaced the CV boot on my Jeep in less than an hour, but it seems to be more complicated on this. I've read that I need to remove the entire axle, or that there is a way to simply remove the inner part from the front diff. If so, can somebody detail it out as to how I can replace this? Do I have to disassemble the joint to slip the new boot on? Or is it just easier to get a new axle? If so, can somebody break down for me how to replace the half-shaft so I don't miss anything that isn't straightforward? Thanks!

[tubaman]

I just did the boot on my 02 Forester last week. It is not that hard.

Here is my method:

Raise the front side on jackstands.

Cut away old boot.

There is a ring just inside the housing for the joint where the large end of the boot clamp is, a flathead screwdriver will remove it.

I took off the lower strut bolts to get enough play to slide the axle shaft out of the housing. There are three bearings that will fall off when you remove the axle, be ready to catch them. I marked them, kept track of them to make sure they got put back in the same place.

On the end of the axle is a snap ring, once removed you can get the piece off the end of the axle, again marked so it gets installed the same way.

After this, I just cleaned everything, re-greased and put back together. The dealer was nice enough to give me the clamp/grease kit with the boot.

So far so good....

I put back one of the strut bolts to hold the axle up after removal to hold it.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Ralph