Well I was just under my car replacing my rear heated o2 sensor, when I noticed that driver side CV joint had ripped. There is grease all over the inside part of my wheel and bottom part of my strut.

The question is, can I simply replace the boot? Is it worth it? Should I stop driving the car immediately? What kind of grease to use?



Thanks

Replace the whole shaft; too messy to replace just the boot, esp. if those joints were OE 1998.

You should get it replaced asap, if you start to hear clicking while turning, than it's too late, you would have to get a new axle. How many miles do you have? Mine busted around 80k and I got both replaced around $150, it's a messy job. If you do it yourself the boot should have the grease with it.

Its probably already too late given oil sprayed everywhere ... that oil round the boot will attract dirt like a magnet

Does anyone here have a link to a write up for replacing the driveshaft? The motorvate.ca write up is only to replace the CV boot which I am not doing.

Go get the FSM from phatg20.net and go from there. It's a relatively easy install. Good luck with the passenger side axle bracket, I've heard some horror stories lately about seized brackets, but hopefully you won't have that problem.

The install in a nutshell:

Jack the car up (don't forget the ebrake)
Take the wheels off
Break the axle nut loose
Take off the strut bolts (2)
Take off the tie rod bolt
Push the axle in and snap it out.
Repeat for both sides.

The only difference on the passenger side is the 3 bolts that hold the axle bracket in. That's it.

I've had the same thing happen to my 95 SE and me and mechanic (Nissan Master Tech) replaced the boot with the grease that came with it...and it was fine for quite awile unitl I heard the clicking noice while turning..but it won't be your axle you will be hearing it will be you hub bearing that you will have to replace...if the grease is that fresh it may have just happened...and you might get lucky with just replacing the boot, and the crack in the boot looks really small so that would lead me to believe that it is even newer...if you look at your passenger side chances are that it will be happening soon as well...do the same to passenger side. Good luck in whatever you do

I agree that the grease does look pretty fresh. People have driven for months and months on their blown CV's. I tend to drive pretty spirited so I replaced mine within the week I discovered it (twice).

Perfect way to explain it, only thing is easier said then done, This **** took me almost 2 days to do, cuz I replaced both front CV boots.. I say just replace the boots, it'll be 1000 times chaeper, unless you hear the clicking when you turn, then you have to get the new axel. oh yeah, don't cheap yourself out on this replacement with those $19 split boot replacement, get the full boot. these should be the originals your replacing and they lasted this long, so it will be worth replacing them with some new OEM's. Trust me the new ones will probably outlast the car this time..

It's a hell of a lot easier to just replace the axles all together, especially if the axles have a lifetime warranty on them. Anything happens to it, bring it back with the reciept, and viola, new axle (Napa does this, as well as Advance). I wouldn't trust regreasing them and putting new boots on, I'd rather have a whole remanufactured unit. But that's just me.


Oh and by the way, don't forget some PB blaster for those axle nuts. They're a PITA if they've never been taken off before.

getting a whole new axel would be way easier, and its only 60 bucks after you return your old axel.

Do I really have to remove the tie rods? Because if I do, that means I will need an alignment again, right? I just got a damn alignment a week ago. Damnit.

I know it sucks but yes you do have to take it off

So that means I need another alignment??

I would think you would, but I not sure cuz i had to do an alignment b4 I even changed the Boots so I did it right after. I would just to be safe. Once your done with this you really won't ever have to deal with it again...

no need for another allingment. get a replacment axle from raxles.com

no need even though I have to remove the tie rod??

no allingment needed because you will put it back in the same location. but if you want an allingment again loosen the nut on the tie rod and turn the tie rod either way and your allingment will be out of whack.

less money = replace grease/boot
more money = replace axle

Of the fwd nissan sedans I've worked on, replacing boots on a fresh rip was more economical (esp since I do my own work.) Around here, mechanics will charge about $60 to replace a boot. With proper tools, changing the boot is pretty quick. After u get the axle out, cut out the old boot and band, whack off the joint, clean the bearings as best u can, pack grease (comes w/the boot kit), slip on the boot, slip on the joint, and put the axle back.

I find that aftermarket boots seem pretty durable. I've never had to replace a cv boot 2x.

Jae

yes thats another way of doing it. nissan sells a rebuild kit as well. i have used that before when rebuilding the dust boots. it comes with everything you need to do the job. it is cheaper but require more work and the job will get messy due to all the grease. the more simple way is to replace the axle because all you do is pull the old one out and pop the new one in. in this situation replacing the axle seems like the way for him to go but i may be wrong.

napa has rebuild kits for $15 or so. i did one on a camry and one on a civic. both were less then $15 each.

That looks really fresh. so there is still a chance.

The alignment shouldn't be out of whack, but if you had it done last week and you get your CV boot done this week, shouldn't you be able to bring it back for a re-alignment. Honestly you shouldn't need it, as the other guy said your not adjusting the toe at all, just bolt and unbolt. There is a small chance that you might not put it back in the same spot but not enough to cause a pull.

there is no other "spot" and there is no "small chance". It goes back in the same location you removed it. if you dont touch the toe, the allingment will stay in place.

just go to autozone and replace it... not worth all the work to replace the boot... its only 60$ from autozone and it takes literly 15 minutes to replace

There's a substantial amount of play where the strut bolts to the knuckle. You can affect toe and camber there. Eibach's camber bolts are based off that free play.

Jae

where the struts bolts to the knuckle the holes are round so there is no play there. however on coilovers those holes are ovel not round so there is play there. you can move the whole assembly in or out but you cant do that on struts. the camber bolts are not based on that. you ever take a look at the bolt? and this is not the part aht he is worried about. he is worried about the tie rod.

No need to remove tie rod.....

also true because there is enough room to pull the axle out of the knuckle.

I drove 6 months on my blown drivers side CV, no clicking or anything, it functioned like perfect until I found a good price on a new axle. I replaced it myself in roughly a day's work.

My passenger side blew about a month ago, i figured it was due soon after the drivers side. I dont plan on fixing it anytime soon unless something big comes up.

mines been blown for something like 9 months. no clicking while turning yet.

i just cant afford to have a shop do it and i dont have the time skills or tool sto do it myself. $600+ quoted from 2 shops. $450 for labor from a third if i bought my own axels... so weaksauce..

OK here is my write up for dummies to replace a CV Shaft. Please correct me if you feel that my steps are wrong. I stole most of this from motorvate.ca

1) Remove and discard the cotter pin from the CV shaft.
2) Remove the sheet metal castle nut.
3) Use 36mm Deep socket with breaker bar to remove axle nut
4) Remove the 2 large bolts that connect the strut to the steering knuckle.
5) Remove the clip that holds the brake line
6) Using a large screw driver, pry the steering knuckle from the strut.
7) Pull the steering knuckle away from the car
8) Pull CV shaft from steering knuckle
9) Use a large screw driver to pry out the inner CV
10) Place the new CV shaft in the transmission, and push it in until you hear and feel the click of the retaining clip.
11) do steps 9 through 1 backwards


Now my main concern is removing the inner CV from the transmission. How did you guys do this effectively without damaging the inner axle/cv seal? Also any other tips to remove the inner portion from the tranny?

same here....i replaced my drvier side in about 1/2 hour....then i found out my passenger is ripped.....i might do it friday only because i am going to Toronto on saturday

Everyone says to remove the tie rod end and not the strut-knuckle bolts (even Mitchell) but entirely unnecessary. Of course now my camber is all kinds of screwed up, but nothing a set of cambolts or a camber plate can't fix.

Hey has anyone ever had to remove the ball joint and drop the control arm in the process?

I drove mien for 4k befor i replaced it, no cliks! I rember someoen saying he got to 10k with a few cliks, the boot is replacable and cheap ($10 napa/advanced), however a real pain to install, if your doign it yourself. its cheaper to let a garage just replace the whol axel, as installing a boot takes more time and = more money out of youre pocket, if you got the time nand tools for for the boot, theres a great rightup on google (mabey in stickies) by some canidaian

I had one axle replaced and the other side boot replaced all for $200.

In theory, I agree, the bolts in the strut/knuckle and tie-rods should be snug w/no play. In practice, there is. To illustrate: take the nuts off, and you'll get wiggle.

Jae

I did the axle, and I regret not going through the ball joint instead of the strut bolts. It would have been easier to get the axle out that way with more room to spare.

I would advise everyone to remove the ball joint instead of the strut.

speak of the devil.. i noticed mine was torn and ooozin today...

so im guessing it wasnt that bad kingrukus?

Are you referring to the install? If so, no it wasn't bad at all. The 2 hardest parts were removing the axle nut and bending the axle to come out of the wheel bearing/hub assembly. I broke the breaker bar when trying to remove the axle nut!

holy $hit! wut kinda tools??? craftsman?