I had a boot blow on me today, at least I think it was today, took a right hand turn a little hard and the wheel jumped a couple of times, pavement was   uneven as well to aggravate the issue.  Got to my destination and looked at the boot which was on the inside of my turn and sure enough split open.  Got the joint pulled apart and I am wondering about whether I can use the axel/bearing or not.

 

The race has this rub mark all the way around.

 

 

 

 

Would I be safe in continuing to use this axel and bearing?

Edited June 15, 201411 yr by Dinky26

Can't say for sure on the rub mark, too hard to tell from the picture. But the ball bearings look all dimpled, so it is time for a replacement on that alone.  The rub mark just further justifies it.

Yeah, you could probably repack it and reinstall it and it'll run for a bit, but a replacement is def. due.

I just replaced an axle I did that with looked pretty much in the same state of decay as the one you photographed. It was planned on only being used for about 1,000 miles but wound up staying on the car for about 5 to 6 thousand miles. By the end of that run it was starting to click pretty badly on left hand turns again (driver's front) but for those first 1,000 miles it was pretty quiet.

If you want to use it again just keep in mind it's just a band-aid.

Yeah, I went ahead and rebooted / packed it put it back on.

 

I now have one on the way from RockAuto.

 

I repacked the other side about a month ago, except I didn't pull the balls out and disassemble it, there was not the shinny surface around the exterior like this.

 

I'm thinking I might just get another to have on hand, I have an extra axel to use for a core.