Split CV boot question

[michaelbteam]

Started to replace a rear axle because of a torn boot. Long control arm bolt is a bear so I'd like to replace the boot in place. Any advice on a specific split boot brand that's easy to install and works? Thanks.[95 outback]

[idosubaru]

i'd leave the boot. the rears never fail. maybe they do if you run a lifted off-road rig. i have never replaced a rear split boot on my own soobs. i've put 100,000 miles on a split rear boot and they've never even clicked or made any noise. mine are split now and i never plan on replacing them. only 115,000 on that vehicle. i'll see 200,000 and will never replace those axles or boots, i can almost garuantee it. if they ever start making noise (which they won't), i'll think about it. i drive off road a fair amount too, have had my car buried to the point where mud pours in when i open the door, drive in snow all the time.....i'd leave it, it's not worth the trouble.

 

splits boots are low percentage. they're good for passing an inspection....if you get there quick before it comes apart! i've never installed one, but my friends have and they didn't last very long at all. a couple months at best. your best bet if you really want to do this is just buy a used axle for $25 and install it. but the you have the bolt issue to deal with again....so i go back to point number one...it's really a pointless job.

[WoodsWagon]

Split boots leak the grease out, so plan on repacking them every couple of months. I'd put one on, just because it helps keep mud out of the joint. No sense risking breaking one on an AWD car where the center diff will eat it's self if you do.

[idosubaru]

No sense risking breaking one on an AWD car where the center diff will eat it's self if you do.

that's highly unlikely to happen, and i don't think it's a good idea to use scare tactics in an open forum. if you know CV's and you know how well built subaru CV axlea are, it will be a rare case for a CV to fail without any prior warning to your ears (if you don't believe me, use the search function on this forum, i doubt you'll find one instance of a cv failure like this). i've been around subaru's and various online groups for going on a decade now and have never even heard of that happening. CV's will begin to make noise as they wear...and there again they will take many tens of thousands of miles of noise making to fail. i've driven front CV's that were clicking for 20,000+ miles (closer to 50,000 in reality, but i don't know the exact number), i just wait until i have to replace somethign else before doing it. aftermarket CV axle quality is so poor that i'd keep my broken boot, clicking joints or install a used axle before ever installing an aftermarket.

 

statistically speaking the chances of a wheel bearing failing are more likely than your broken boot axle failing...or even making a noise for that matter. if you're that concerned about a rear axle completely failing, you better replace your wheel bearings and timing pulley bearings too. they are also gradually loosing grease over time as well and statistically just as likely to "go" and further damage something. do a search on timing belts, timing pulleys, water pumps, wheel bearings. you'll see multiple threads about those failing..many more of those than failing CV's (which you wont' find any of except in the off-road lifted rig forum and that doesn't count, those dudes are nuts!).

 

one exception ill make is if you're driving on sand...if you do beach driving and flinging sand and salt water all up under your car, that's not good for many things, including a broken CV. i've done it. they get loud. but i still drove from Florida to Maryland clicknig madly that way (900 + miles) and continued driving it until i got around to replacing it. (that's the time i installed a new axle that blew to pieces within a weeK!). so even still....you get thousands of miles of warning and noise to let you know you need to think about changing it.

[WoodsWagon]

I happen to be running RWD right now on my loyale because of a torn CV boot. Less than 1,000 miles between boot rip and joint blowing apart. The boot is there for a reason. The timing belt tensioners and wheel bearings all have grease seals on them. The CV joints have boots as grease seals. If you have ever torn a boot on a good CV, the amount of grease that gets flung over everything is impressive. All that grease was being kept in there for a reason.

 

You break a CV on a manual AWD subie, the tranny will die if you drive it. Not a scare story, the truth. If you drive a subie with no oil in the engine, it will die. It's not a fantastic stretch.

[idosubaru]

Less than 1,000 miles between boot rip and joint blowing apart. The boot is there for a reason.

i'd wonder if that wasn't a previously replaced aftermarket axle. subaru axles rarely blow (on stock subaru's). if you've done a few subaru' timing belts, the timing pulleys loose grease, even with the seals. i have a write-up posted on here about how to repack them. i've seen seized pulleys, broken pulleys, etc. there are threads with failed pulleys on the forums here, but CV failures comparable to this guys situation are very rare.

 

don't you have an EJ22 engine swapped into your loyale, so the axles and CV's are seeing more than %50 more power than the car came with stock? also, do you drive off road with a lifted vehicle? that is far from tyipcal. i mentioned a disclamier about that. i believe your car is lifted? if this is the same vehicle we're talking about, i don't know that this is really comparing apples to apples. from another thread:

Figured there should be a thread outlining just why we spend the time to swap in EJ22's.

 

My car: Loyale wagon, D/R 5spd. 225/75r15 tires.

Holds 80mph on highway anywhere without complaint at less than half throttle.

Has torque to climb over anything I want it to.

Does 170' RWD burnout.

Holds with 2005 chipped Duramax on power level 5 through 3rd gear.

Holeshot's nearly anything at stoplights.

Returns 24mpg with all this kind of driving.

 

if this is the vehicle you're talking about then there might be some other explanations to why your CV exploded other than just the boot was broken.

[michaelbteam]

Thanks for the good spirited discussion about torn CV boots. I think I'll let it ride for awhile and stuff some more good grease in there occasionally and maybe replace the axle in the spring. Usually I replace them right away if they tear, just to be safe, but I'll experiment this time. It should warn me when it gets bad.

I had dry clicking joints on a VW bus once, and hypodermic-ed grease back into the boots and they quieted right down.

[GeneralDisorder]

You break a CV on a manual AWD subie, the tranny will die if you drive it. Not a scare story, the truth. If you drive a subie with no oil in the engine, it will die. It's not a fantastic stretch.

 

Break a CV and the car will stop moving (or with the VC style it will move, but *slowly* - undrivably slow). AWD will not work if any single wheel loses traction completely (broken CV is equivelent). Where you got this "bad cv wrecks manual AWD tranny" business is beyond me. You will have a crappy day, and it's true the car won't move, but all that's required is an axle replacement. Your arguement is a non-sequitor really - you can't drive a manual AWD with a broken axle...

 

Auto's are different, and I won't comment on that mess, but for a standard 5 speed AWD (no LSD's) that's completely wrong.

 

GD

[john in KY]

Back in the late 70s I lived in VA and had a 69 Austin American (English FWD) with clicking CV joints. Didn't at the time know anything about CV axles and just thought it was normal. Drove the car for several years around VA. Made numerous trips to Ohio. One trip to Chicago and another from VA to LA and back. When I finally scrapped the car it still had the original clicking axles.

[idosubaru]

you will be fine to wait until spring. a rear boot won't be making any noise by then unless you go bury the car in mud....even then mine never do and i've done that on multiple occassions as well. i always wait until a brake job, or installing an LSD..some other major work before wasting my time on an axle. it'll give you time to source a good Subaru axle as well. don't buy an aftermarket POS. i'm headed to Denver in two days and im' taking two XT6 axles with me to MWE, they're listed in the Vendor Forum and rebuild Subaru axles if you want to check them out.

 

Auto's are different, and I won't comment

me either, that is an interesting experiment to do though, the TCU gets very confused in an XT6.

[WoodsWagon]

"(or with the VC style it will move, but *slowly* - undrivably slow). AWD will not work if any single wheel loses traction completely (broken CV is equivelent). "

 

Yes it will. Next time you have a junk subi AWD, pull the driveshaft to the back. Put it in first, it will barely move, but stay on the gas. It will move more and more and finally the center will lock.... permanently. You'd be a moron to do it, but hey.

Also see: towing with one set of wheels on ground, driveshaft in.

The center diff turns to charcoal and locks.

 

 

It's a 1995 outback. Not yet a winter beater. Why not do preventative maintenence and do the minimum to protect the joint? I think any of us can agree an aftermarket split boot is better than no boot.

"EJ22 engine swapped into your loyale, so the axles and CV's are seeing more than %50 more power than the car came with stock? also, do you drive off road with a lifted vehicle?"

 

Yes... But the axel is an OEM one out of a 1986 3-door with 93k miles. The boot ripped somewhere on the way home from Wyoming, between Ohio and home and the joint seized coming into albany NY. Seized and roasting, it melted what remained of the boot. 50% over power doesn't affect highway driving.

I repacked the joint with wheel bearing grease and forced the thing back on the highway. The violent shaking backed down as the joint freed up again. Pulled another 500 miles out of it before it broke... going into second on the street.

[johnceggleston]

"

 

 

It's a 1995 outback. Not yet a winter beater. Why not do preventative maintenence and do the minimum to protect the joint? I think any of us can agree an aftermarket split boot is better than no boot.

 

i liked the thread that talked about making your own split boot. get a regular boot, slice open neatly with a new blade, razor or exacto knife. wrap it around the axel and then SUPER GLUE it back together. my other thought was what if you did this over top of the existing boot. it may still leak but the grease would have to work twice as hard to get out.

[michaelbteam]

Good stuff everybody. I'd like to try to make my own boot, suits my stubborn cheapskate nature...but may just see what happens since the commute is just 20 miles one way up Little Cottonwood Canyon to 8000 ft., snow but no mud.

Last winter I drove a 99 Outback with HG problems all winter, just recycled the coolant out of the overflow every day! Having an imminent problem keeps me awake!

[Phizinza]

don't know if it has been said already but if it's just a small ish crack you can just clean it up and use silicon onthe boot. It will hold the grease in and the dirt out for a while at least