While changing my oil and trans lube, I noticed some small grease "flings" on the inside of my RF wheel. It seems to have come from the outer CV boot where it is clamped to the axle. It doesn't appear to be enough to deplete the boot, but I am somewhat concerned.

Anyone have this problem or know if it should be fixed? Can I just put a new clamp on?

Car is a 99 5-spd with ~30K.

 

My passenger's side CV axle (boot) was leaking when I first purchased the car. I had it replaced and all for 175.00, pretty expensive stuff. I didn't try fixing it becasue it was a major component of the car and wasn't worth the cost if it did fail. Hope this helps.

 

If only a little grease has spilled then yes, you can try a new clamp. I don't remember if the clamp allows you to install it w/o taking the end of the axle off or not. Try Napa and take a look at thier clamps. If you lost quite a bit of grease, you probably need to at least re-grease them or if you have dirt inside(probably not from your description), get a new axle.

 

Depending on what type of clamp you get will depend on whether or not you need to seperate the axle shaft from the spindle. The only problem I ran into was getting a special tool to install the clamp. And yes it is a good idea to check to see if there is enough grease to keep the cv joint lubed.

 

Go get it replace with firestone for less than 100 bucks.
Your CV axle is pretty rugged says my nissan tech
but if you let the grease out for too long..then they will die.
Nissan charges 175 for boot replace
250 for cv axle replace
hehehe
they are very cheap for cv replace...but boot replace is expensive...they probably know some marketing trick there..or maybe replacing cv axle is easier than the boot
hehehe

 

ya replacing the axle is much easier then replacing the boot, unless you get the split boot style but i HIGHLY STRONGLY DO NOT recommend the split boot style. They simply suck. Id prefer to replace the whole axle anyday over replacing juss the boot. Axles arent that expensive.

 

I think I'll just try replacing the clamp first. It doesn't look like much grease came out at all, so it should be all right.

I'll check the better parts stores in my area.

 

Replacing the boot or the axle still requires the axle shaft to be removed which is why there is only a 75 dollar difference. The extra covers the cost of the shaft.

 

Some shops refuse to install the split boot because they aren't durable. A come-back kills the profit in the job and erodes customer trust.

I tried a split boot only once and it was a hassle. Didn't really save much time compared to installing a factory-type one-piece boot. I won't bother with a split boot again.