DIY front cv axle & boot replacement

[Brucey]

I disagree.

It takes no special tools, its more of a trouble to get the axle off than it is to repair the boot because of the cotter pin and finding a punch that will fit it. Really all you need that wouldn't be needed for replacing the axle is a pair of needle nose pliers and something to cut the boot with.

It's not a clean job, getting underneath the car that has 50K+ (Earliest I remember seeing them tear) real world miles is going to be filthy. Even if you spray off the undercarriage first, you're still going to need a shower after. The grease in the boot is sticky yes, but if the boot is torn (why you're replacing it) its mostly everywhere but inside the boot. Its all over the engine bay and you might as well clean that up too while you're in there.

There's no real servicing needed of the axle itself. As long as its not clicking it shouldn't be a problem. My axle boot was torn for 3000 miles at least and the bearings were all good, no marks or anything broken otherwise.

It only ads about an extra hour of time versus replacing the entire axle. And thats if you don't know what you're doing. But it saves roughly 100$. (Assuming MWE axles, which seem to be the cheapest option that don't have vibration issues. 75$+ shipping + core, assuming you get the core charge back too.) I dont make 100$ an hour so it seems the best route.

I guess to each his own, but the big thing I worry about when replacing an entire axle is the wheel vibration most people seem to get. I've known 3 people with Subaru's who replaced their axle with a cheap one and all 3 of them have had wheel vibrations ever since.

I do agree with the recycling though. I keep all my nasty junk in a weatherproof container in the garage and bring it to the recyclers when its full.

Cheers

[subiesailor]

Originally Posted by Brucey

Why is everyone replacing the entire axle for a torn boot? It seems kinda over kill to me. You have to also consider unless you get a very good axle there is a good chance its going to have vibration problems.

Because they don't know any better. Unless the joint is showing obvious signs of problems clicking when turning etc chances are its fine and just needs a new boot. Not to mention replacing your known drive line with an unknown recycled drive line is sort of like playing the lotto you might get a true drive line or you might get someone elses problem drive line and you just swapped your good one for a bad one because a rubber boot failed :-) oops

[dpraetorius]

I went for a replacement driveshaft because I'm at 160k now with everything stock, and I believe the boot had also been split for a while before I noticed it. I also just got an OEM reman, since this car is only 8 years/160k miles young, and I have no plans to rid myself of it anytime soon.

I digress, though. Not a quick job if you live in the Northeast or somewhere similar! Everything is completely rusted solid, and that broken bolt is a huge PITA. Drilling it out didn't go so well, so I'm going to try to throw it on a mill and use an end mill to try to take the bolt out. Then comes the problem of the ball joint that's rusted in there. Brute force should solve that one though.

[driveby]

Originally Posted by Brucey

I guess to each his own...

Exactly. Like I said in post #1:

Originally Posted by driveby

If you're considering a reboot only, first read these End Wrench articles on Drive Axle Service and Subaru Remanufactured Axles. If you can afford (time & money) to reboot your own axles, go for it!

Each of us has to make his/her own decision about the acceptable level of maintenance on our vehicles. Just me...I want everything done to factory standards. And there are several dozen steps & gotchas to inspect & reboot an axle to factory standards...specific types & amounts of grease, amount of air in the boots, torque on the bands, matching of each free-ring with its own slot in the outer race, etc, etc. It would take me far too long to do all this stuff myself. I'd rather leave this to the experts who rebuild axles every day, with ISO quality assurance procedures.

Also...rebooting is not free. You still have to buy the boot(s), special grease(s), band(s), solvent, a new axle nut, perhaps a new roll pin, and perhaps a banding tool (unless you can evenly tighten a band to 100+ ft-lbs with your pliers). When you add it all up, an MWE reman doesn't cost much more.

I do agree about the "recycled axle lotto" though. You have to consider the source of the axle, and the timing wrt your model year and mileage. In my case and dpraetorius's case, the OEM remans that we used were almost certainly newer and better than our old axles.

The OEM remans come from Subarus only and are refinished/rebooted just once. Chances are, these axles came from cars that went to a dealership for 60K maintenance, or just an oil change, and they were swapped because of a tiny hole or leak. Not a monster gash like the one I had.


-Jeff

p.s. The roll pin does not require a pin punch. You can tap it out with a 3/16" drill bit or a #6 (20p) nail. A pin punch is handy b/c you can also use it to unstake/stake the axle nut...but a chisel does that job just as well.

[Brucey]

Really? I had such a pain of a time with a drill bit. And a nail.

They kept going through the center and getting lodged. Did they change them to non hollow ones at some point?

[driveby]

Originally Posted by Brucey

Really? I had such a pain of a time with a drill bit. And a nail.

They kept going through the center and getting lodged. Did they change them to non hollow ones at some point?

I love your style Brucey. You know I know you know.

For everyone else: Use the flat end of the drill bit. Or a #6 nail with the head or tail cut off.

Or just buy a 3/16" pin punch. I got mine at Sears for less than $2. Not Craftsman, not a set, just some loose no-name punch on the bottom shelf. Even cheaper than Harborfreight, wow. And it did double-duty for the roll-pin removal and axle-nut peening.


-Jeff

[dprice]

just did both fronts on my wife's 05 LL Bean. Used MWE axels, great axels and great to deal with too! only trick/trouble I ran into was getting the lower ball joint disconnected. No rust problems with the pinch bolt, but I had to remove the castle nut on the bottom to get it all separated. Also, for those of you who have a male end on both sides of the axel, it is $100 more per axel from MWE ($195 ea).

[Brucey]

Haha, I was using the flat end of the drill bit. It was still going through it. Maybe my drill bit set was mislabeled though, I have several and I'm sure over the years the main one has had mismatched sets put together.

[driveby]

Hehe. My advice, the next $20 you spend on tools should be for a dial caliper.

Never again will you have to guess the size of a bit, bolt, screw, pin, washer, o-ring, shim, pipe, tube, disc, etc etc. Just whack the caliper on it and you have your answer.


-Jeff

[skinheaddave]

Originally Posted by dpraetorius

GAH! The head of the @&$#ing pinch bolt broke off, and eight hours of attempting to drill it out led to the extractor breaking. Gonna try to get a machine shop to drill it out for me tomorrow, as well as pull out the ball joint from the knuckle. Everything is just completely rusted solid.

I'm now in a similar position. I haven't broken the bolt head yet but no combonation of heat/penetrating oil/hammering/wrenching etc. seems to be able to budge it.

Question: Is it possible to remove the nut underneath the ball joint and remove the entire post from the suspension arm without removing it from the pinch joint?

Cheers,
Dave