Leak points up. The axle or CV joint boot has torn, no idea how, but its spitting grease all over my wheel and fender. So my suspension is put on hold although I did get to loosen up the 19mm and 17mm bolts that hold the shocks. They were rusted and stuck to hell, borrowed a shops impact wrench and loosened them up for next saturday, which is when my shock boots should come in.


What am I looking at here?($) Do it yourself or take to a shop?








brb searching. Will delete if i find answer.

 

replace the whole axle for under 100 bucks, Pretty easy to do depending on what side of the car. Sometimes the axle bolt can be a pain to get off as well.

 

I did mine (sorry I wasnt there for your IM)... They weren't too hard really, you can do it yourself. Hardest part for me was getting the axle in with the ring on the axle.

 

you did the whole axle or just the boot? And sorry but i didnt understand that last part.

 

I think he's saying it is hard to seat it in the tranny with the coock ring on the end of it

Im sure he just replaced the whole axle considering he has raxles(which is probley the best axle's for the max)

IMHO it is easier just to replace the whole axle. You would have to take it out anyways to redo the boot anyways.

 

Exactly what he said. There is a ring that "seats" the axle properly. Took a RUBBER RUBBER RUBBER mallet hammer to get it in. DO NOT use metal

Raxles. Ftw.

 

my drivers side boot it ripped, do i do just the one side or the whole thing at once??? how much time, and anyone have a link to " raxles" and the place to get them?? overall cost to do axle??? thanks>>>

 

Just get a new axle @ raxle.com You have to call, marty i believe, and i hear great things from it. You do the same work to replace the axle than to replace the boot. Plus, Raxles has lifetime guarantee.

Im gonna order one tomorrow.

 

$119.99 for the driver side and $149.99
for the passenger side. 97 Non LSD

 

I decided to get generic Autozone / Pepboys axles for 3 reason:

1) I dont have time to get the Raxles in by Saturday, when i plan on doing the axle/suspension overhaul. Takes 5 days according to their website, and i can't order until monday.

2) I don't want a Automatic Raxle Axle... Waste of money IMO. Ill wait until i swap a manual tans in to get a raxle axle. I doubt anyone would buy a used auto raxle axle anyways even if i did get the auto.

3) Autozone also has warranty on their axles. And even if it does rip again, i dont mind replacing.

 

I understand the time constraint but I don't get the "I don't want a Automatic Raxle Axle... Waste of money IMO"

If Jime thought that way he wouldn't be so damn fast... 10's NA on an Auto.

There's a pretty decent number of Supercharged autos on the forum as well.

 

Well what I meant is, if im going to change my trans 1-2 years down the road, what am I going to do with Raxles Auto axle and a lifetime warranty? Let it sit in my garage? I mean, do people buy used Raxles here?

Besides, isn't jime VLSD auto? Im open-diff. Even more of a waste.

 

Actually if I recall he's open diff, he broke VLSD's.

I'm not trying to argue, I'm just saying, I replaced the passenger side "New" autozone axle in a friends car three times in two weeks before we got one that held together. That's in a manual with suspension but no power bolt on's.

Now if I don't have to replace it for the next two years great, if I have to replace it even one more time, I'm losing more time which always has a worth and I peg my time right around $25 an hour.

It's easy to get to the difference in cost.

 

i have the one from orilley's(drivers) and that thing has lasted though two cars, three trannies,two engines,nitrous,really bad struts,really bad sway bar end link, minnesota roads, probley 4-5 winters and is still all together to this day.

Not to bad for 65 bucks....

 

pics, definitely worse than I thought.
Driver side CV joint




How do my Ball joints look?

Driver


Passenger






Product, do you have to order them at autozone? Or are they in stock?

 

Those aren't your ball joints. Those are your swaybar endlinks. They look fine but the rubber is old and crappy, typical for a 10+ year old vehicle. You could replace it with some poly bushings if you wanted to, or just leave it. It will be fine.

Your ball joints are underneath your hub at the tip of the lower control arm. The attach the spindle/hub to the lower control arm.

 

IIRC they had them at oriellys had to order them. (only took 4 hours IIRC)

But im not sure about autozone.


Also those are not ball joints, those are sway bar end links. And depending on how old your car is i would just change them out(since your putting in new suspension anyways) If your front end is squeeking then those are most likely your culprit

But as far as i can see your driverside ball joint looks good.

 

Here you go.

 

thanks guys.


Im can't decide whether to go to AutoZone or Napa...i hear both good and bad stories from both. Does Napa have warranty also?


Edit: nvm, Napa does NOT have warranty.

 

well i just searched napa real quick and it doesnt seem like they have a warranty on them(least as far as i can see)

 

Where your O'reilys Cardone or Master Pro?

http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductD...pe=945&PTSet=A
http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductD...pe=945&PTSet=A

 

i belive it was master pro(reman)

 

Got a axle from Kragen/O'Reilly. They only had master pro in the computer but they gave me a Cardone axle. Anyways here are the pics. Im contemplating doing it right now, its 4pm... wonder how much trouble those nuts will give me.

Do i need anything else for install? besides tools?

 

You will need a new cotter pin for the end of the axle, if your axle didn't come with one in the package. I bought a small bag of stainless steel cotter pins from the local tool shop and used those just to make sure I never have any problems removing them in the future.

You should also grease the splines on the axles with some nice synthetic grease before inserting them into the tranny and the wheel hub. The transmission side isn't as critical, the ATF will lubricate the spline once you start up the engine, but having it greased will make it a bit easier to seat it into the gear.

 

Oh, and if this is the very first time that axle nut has ever been removed, make sure you get yourself an air compressor and an impact gun. That, or the biggest breaker bar you can find. There's a good chance you will wreck your ratchet if you try and use a plain old 1/2" ratchet, or possibly hurt yourself in the process.

You will also need a 36mm deep impact socket. I bought a "Front Wheel Drive Axle Kit" for $50 which had a 37,36,34,32,30 & 29mm deep impact sockets in it. You could probably find the same type of kit at Harbor Freight.

 

Can't use the old cotter pin?

Im gonna go to a shop and have the guy loosen it up with impact wrench.

 

Is this too much play on the ring? Seems kinda loose, should i press it in?

 

no it needs the slack in there.

This is the **** ring kyle and i were talking about

 

and +1 on cotter pins

You will probley need ATF or some gear lube to top off the tranny after the whole process since you will loose some when you pull the axle.

 

Haha I ghetto fixed the ripped boot by gluing it with CEMENTO DE CONTACTO (contact cement) and then over the damn thing again with GORILLA TAPE, now I can't get the boot off again...

But contact cement is surprisingly flexible after it dries, I mean my boot still flexed up and down just fine without the gorilla tape.

 

All done. New axle Popped right in using the "slide-hammer" ram in. Everything went well; Axle nut wasnt even that tought with a breaker bar. One good turn and it slipped right out and was hand turn-able.


Thanks for all your help guys. lets hope this sucker doesnt pop out like some of the stories i've heard regarding axle replacement. brb. test driving

 

Lol yeah Ive had that bolt come loose. Thank god i had a cotter pin there