Hi everyone,
When I was changing the oil last week in my 96 Maxima, I noticed that the rack and pinion boot on the pass side was ripped and torn. I have no idea how long it has been like this. Is it possible to just replace the boot? When the boot goes bad, does that usually mean that the entire rack is bad or on it's way out? Is there much labor involved in changing the boot?


Thanks,
Zack

 

have the same prob on our infiniti. passenger's side as well to take the boot off, you'll have to remove the outer tie rod and slide the boot off, and put the new one on. make sure you mark where the old one came off (tie rod, not the boot lol).
if you don't have any ps leaks, it's safe to say the damage hasn't been done yet.

 

I agree with 99. Make sure you check, very closely, the sensitive areas, inner tie rod ball-joint and the area of the shaft that has to go through the seals. If you have gotten crap on the inner tie rod joint, you could try flushing it with brake cleaner, toweling it off and regreasing with some moly filled grease. The FSM even has torque values the joint should be able to endure if you wish to know if it's been worn out. It's also possible it was worn out anyway and so now would be the time to replace it.

 

Yeah just make sure is not leaking and clean it if its dirty before putting a new boot. I did my inner tie rods today and replaced the boot that was broken. It was pretty simple. Just remember how many turns you did to take of the tie rod end so you can put it back on. I did but its always good to get a alignment after messing with it.

 

It's probably the one job on a Max that requires a front end alignment after you're done. I did both sides in one shot and since I didn't really trust the manufacturings tolerances of the parts I was using, I didn't make any effort to count turns. What I did do, that seemed to work like a charm, was to use a staightedge along the tire sidewalls and long enough to reach the rockers. Using the rockers as a zero degree reference I was able to get the toe-in to within 1/2 degree and probably only 5 degrees off on wheel centering.
I, of course, had an alignment done within a couple days, which is why I know these numbers.