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Inner Bearing Seal / Ball Joint Boot


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The heat up here (NJ) has gotten to my brain a bit, so I thought I would ask for a few opinions. My quick and easy axle replacement job took a turn for the worse (found a bad wheel bearing and then some), and I ended up needing to pick up a used knuckle/spindle assembly. The used part includes a ball joint that is good, only problem is a small ( 3-4mm ) tear near the bottom of the boot.

 

2 Questions: I have a good ball joint boot, is it worth it to clean everything out and swap the good boot over vs putting some silicone or something on the torn one? Also, most of the axle replacement write-ups say to replace the inside bearing seal (I'm keeping the bearing in it that came from the yard for now). This one seems in good shape (~70k miles according the the yard), is it worth it to risk getting crud into the bearing replacing the seal?

 

Thanks for the help, been a long day!

Edited by nickb21
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Yes, just clean and grease the ball joint and put the good boot on. The top retaining ring is hard to get on. I safety wire it instead.

 

I'd just clean the seal, lightly grease it and leave it as is. If its in good condition no reason to change it.

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what imdew said. they're usually in decent shape. clean it and the axle face it seals against up and lightly grease. if you're all for replacing it then there's nothing wrong with that but definitely not necessary, i've never done it...maybe once.

 

i've never heard of swapping ball joint boots, very interesting! i wouldn't install the torn one at all, i'd consider that one trashed.

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Thanks for the help! Yea, I didn't want to risk any flakes of rust sneaking under the seal into the bearing when I swapped it. I'll keep that one.

 

I would normally just replace the ball joint, but after a losing fight with the old knuckle, this one is staying. Any special grease to use, or will any multi-purpose stuff do?

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You could always just wrap the ball joint with a roll of duct tape, I kid you not I have seen guys do it with inner DOJ boots before, It was hilarious haha...But yea the dozens and dozens of subaru ball joints I have replaced I never considered re-booting one...Might be worth a shot in the future...

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Just to close this out... Cleaned, regreased, and rebooted the Ball Joint. Same with the inner seal. It's amazing how much easier things go back together vs being taken apart. "New" bearing sounds great, night and day really. Very slight sound is left, but I'm hoping that's just due to a bubble on a tire.

 

Duct tape. Hehe, I may possibly be guilty of a duct tape CV/DOJ "boot" offense.

 

In case anyone finds this thread in the future - the only reason I chose to keep the existing ball joint and not replace it was due to not being able to remove the ball joint in the old knuckle. After hours (days) of drilling, banging, torching, prying; 10 years of NJ salt and rust would not let her free. I was not interested in round 2. In case I ever have to go through something similiar again, I'll either get an assembly from a less rusty part of the country, or maybe even another used unit if this one is still good after a few thousand miles.

 

Cheers all.

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