Helping a friend CV joints

[1-3-2-4]

A friend from work his wife has a 2001 Forester he called me to tell me that the CV joint boots where open.. So today I stopped by and took a look and the interesting thing was both inner boots were ripped open and the grease flung around and out. I thought that was odd because I know about the side with the cat and heat..

 

Anyways no sounds yet.. I'm guessing because the grease has flung out it's no good anymore and the whole axle needs to be replaced?

[Legacy777]

Yes, I'd definitely replace the whole axle.

 

I had my old axles repacked with grease back in 98 or so, not knowing how long the boot had been torn. They were fine....but several years later, 2004 or so I had a weird vibration that occurred intermittantly. Turned out to be the CV axle.

 

So my recommendation is to always replace the axle if the boot has been torn and open for an undertermined amount of time.

[GeneralDisorder]

I dissagree - the inner joints are much less of a concern than the outers and if the outer boots are good and the CV joints are OEM (green painted cups, NTN brand) then just do the boots and grease. Chances are good they will last a lot longer.

 

Also swap the joints - left for right. This will change the load on the joint when the car is moving forward and give them a little longer life.

 

If this were the outer joint boots, or they were making clicking noises, etc..... I would say replace them. But inner joint boot failure on an EJ axle is rarely a serious problem and the EJ axles are so easy to remove compared to the EA stuff that I don't mind doing it a second time if it turns out they do have a problem. But I've rebooted a lot of OEM inner's and never had a problem yet.

 

GD

Edited September 10, 2010 by GeneralDisorder

[1-3-2-4]

They have green painted cups so since I've never removed the boot before how would the replacement go on anyways? Is it a hassle to get it local or should I do rockauto? If I'm right the inner is held in by a single dowel pin? and the outer but the axle nut with the depression?

[snowscooby]

The inner is held in by a roll pin and yes the outer is held by the axle nut and depression. If that system has never been apart you should beware. I just did a 2000 forester cv and we ran into some problems with rust and such. Granted the forester had spent several years in alaska where they salt the roads every winter....

[Fairtax4me]

I just rebooted one of my outers.

 

You can do the inners under the car if you can get the ball joint apart or loosen the strut bolts. Remove the top strut bolt and the knuckle rotates away giving you enough clearance to get the inner joint off of the drive stub.

 

You may need a cv boot clamp tool to tighten the new clamps with.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/catalog/accessories/accProductDetails.jsp?itemIdentifier=555441_0_0_&skuDescription=OEM+/+CVClampTool&brandName=OEM&displayName=CVClampTool&skuDisplayName=OEM&categoryNValue=10199999&navValue=101228&categoryDisplayName=CVClampTool&parentId=01-10&itemId=1228-10&store=970&productId=555441

 

The one I just did had some other weird kind of clamp with it. I couldn't get it to work so I bent the old back one out and reused it.

[avk]

To do an inner joint on the car, one can follow an old TSB and unbolt the control arm at the forward pivot, and the sway bar link from the arm. This will give enough swinging room to slide the joint housing off the stub shaft. The suspension bolts will have to be re-tightened at normal ride height.

[1-3-2-4]

ah forget it.. I spoke to the guy today I guess he was doubting me so he asked another guy and he said you should just replaced the whole axle so he ran to Autozone and picked up two axles for $59 each..

 

Any guesses on how long they will last for?

 

having said that will his axles on his 02 Forester S work on my 95 Legacy? His forester is a AT and my car is a MT I can't remember is something changed as far as the stubs.. I want to say yes but I can't remember 100%

[snowscooby]

I don't think that they will work. When I did the 2000 forester there was some weird stuff with the parts store where they ended up needing the actual manufacture date because they were different between 99-00. I went through 3 cv's until I got one that fit right. The problem I was running into with the different cv's was the different dust shield designs. You could probably just knock off the dust shield and put the one from your cv on and it may work.

[johnceggleston]

the 00 - 04 axles are different, but only in that the tone ring is on the axle. this is different from the 90 - 99 axles.

 

BUT, you can knock the tone ring off of the axle and still use them.

i have done it. and when buying axles from a parts yard, younger model years may be in better shape.

 

so if you remove the tone ring you can use those forester axles on your 95 - 99 car.

[1-3-2-4]

tone ring on the axle? you are not talking about the ABS tone ring are you?

[johnceggleston]

tone ring on the axle? you are not talking about the ABS tone ring are you?

 

yes, they moved the abs tone ring from the hub to the axle. the abs sensor is still mounted in the knuckle, but it must be "turned" the other way. i haven't played with an 00 - 04 knuckle yet.

[1-3-2-4]

I only have a factory service manual for my 95 but putting swapping axles from the forester to my car aside I still need to remove the tone ring from the forester just for new axles? At least the car is not rusty.

 

I think the spec for the axle nut is like something 130-135 ft.lbs?

[bstone]

Both of my rear CVs went out- boots ruptured, slinging grease everywhere.

 

I pulled them and had them rebuild at a local rebuilder. Good as new!

 

The problem was pulling them. DARN was it hard! Had to remove the strut bolts and a million other things.

[brus brother]

ah forget it.. I spoke to the guy today I guess he was doubting me so he asked another guy and he said you should just replaced the whole axle so he ran to Autozone and picked up two axles for $59 each..

 

Any guesses on how long they will last for?

 

having said that will his axles on his 02 Forester S work on my 95 Legacy? His forester is a AT and my car is a MT I can't remember is something changed as far as the stubs.. I want to say yes but I can't remember 100%

From what I've read many many times on this site, you're friend may have made a very poor choice going with Autozone. If you do a search, there is one other manufacturer other than original SOA that gets thumbs up for replacement axles. Otherwise, there seems to be a fair number of vibration problems encountered with aftermarkets. It must be true, I read it on the internet...

[1-3-2-4]

From what I've read many many times on this site, you're friend may have made a very poor choice going with Autozone. If you do a search, there is one other manufacturer other than original SOA that gets thumbs up for replacement axles. Otherwise, there seems to be a fair number of vibration problems encountered with aftermarkets. It must be true, I read it on the internet...

 

Thats why I suggested that he stick with the OEM that was already on the car.. at least it was only the inners that ripped.

 

I know both stores sell nothing but those A1 Cardone CV's

[Fairtax4me]

It must be true, I read it on the internet...

I have a friend who says that all the time! Mockingly of course.

 

But there are multiple sources and thousands upon thousands of (somewhat) documented cases of after market axles causing problems on all makes and models of cars. This phenomenon is by no means limited to Subaru.

[StructEngineer]

There is a high probability that you have to go through several sets of autozones axles until you finally land a set that lasts more than 6 months.

 

If dont want to rebuild your OEM axles with the kit (which is messy and time consuming) the next best thing is http://www.raxles.com.

 

I never got why people so willingly gave up their expensive OEM axles as a core charge for cheapos. Of course unless you've driven them for 5000 miles with torn boots making a rebuild a bad idea...

[1-3-2-4]

There is a high probability that you have to go through several sets of autozones axles until you finally land a set that lasts more than 6 months.

 

If dont want to rebuild your OEM axles with the kit (which is messy and time consuming) the next best thing is http://www.raxles.com.

 

I never got why people so willingly gave up their expensive OEM axles as a core charge for cheapos. Of course unless you've driven them for 5000 miles with torn boots making a rebuild a bad idea...

 

He did not have to pay a core charge on the axles and He does not know for sure how long it was torn he said he went to check the oil one day and he noticed it.

 

I said to him wow you did not smell anything burning from the side with the cat? he was like no not at all.

[GeneralDisorder]

You should direct him here so he can ask these questions of the forum himself - he obviously fails to understand the quality differences between OEM and aftermarket axles and is making a really poor choice.

 

GD

[1-3-2-4]

I will send him the link and hopefully he will respond.

[GeneralDisorder]

I will send him the link and hopefully he will respond.

 

Yes - it should be made clear to him that he's throwing away $200 axles in favor of $59 chinese garbage. While there is a time and a place for $59 chinese axles, it doesn't sound as if his blown inner boot that he only "noticed" after lifting the hood is the right choice.

 

GD

[1-3-2-4]

Well I don't know if he is going to respond here as he was at work, He asked me where should he get the axles from.. He was hoping to have this done on Saturday.

 

I'm still in favor of new boot and grease packed in the splatter was not bad at all so it must of just happened.

[GeneralDisorder]

Absolutely - boot kits are about $25 per axle. Do them both and drive on. That's what he should do. Otherwise he should go to the dealer and get reman axles if they can get them.

 

GD

[bgambino]

anyone have experience with these people?

http://www.ccrengines.com/mwe/index.html