I have a 1987 GL Wagon. This is my fourth Soob. My '90 Legacy recently died. I miss the cruise control during my commute to/from work.

 

Has anyone discovered an aftermarket cruise control for a carbureted ea 82?

 

ALSO... I have a torn inner boot on one half-shaft. It isn't clicking yet. Should I dismantle the axle and replace the boot for $10 or spend $70 on a new axle? I've always just replaced the entire axle in the past but maybe that's not being very thrifty.

 

Has anyone had decent luck with the $15 split boot repair kits? They look like a band-aid fix to me but easy since the axle stays in the car.

 

Advice?

 

TIA

 

Tracy

Well, I decided to get rebuilt axles for both sides because my outer boots are torn. $50 each vs $7 each for the boots, but I figure if I'm putting in 3 or 4 hours of work to change them, I might as well not have something else on the axle fail in another 10,000 miles.... don't know if that's a good theory or not, but that was my thinking as of yesterday when I ordered the new axles... never tried the split boots, but I almost bought them instead this time.

 

On the cruise control, my old '85 GL came with factory cruise control -- perhaps a junkyard would have one you could get? The other thing you could do is get a vernier throttle so you can hold the gas pedal at a certain position. A friend of mine has done that to a couple of 70's pickups that didn't come with cruise control, and to my '84 diesel truck. Doesn't repond to changes in grade like real cruise control, but nice on flat highway. Just remember to hit the big red button before putting the clutch in

 

Zeke

ALSO... I have a torn inner boot on one half-shaft. It isn't clicking yet. Should I dismantle the axle and replace the boot for $10 or spend $70 on a new axle? I've always just replaced the entire axle in the past but maybe that's not being very thrifty.

 

Has anyone had decent luck with the $15 split boot repair kits? They look like a band-aid fix to me but easy since the axle stays in the car.

 

The inner boots are nowhere near as tormented as the outer ones. They're reasonably well protected, and don't have the wide range of angles that the outer ones do.

 

I'd go with the split boot. Pull the old one off, clean out any old dirty grease, add new grease, seal it up, and don't worry about it.

 

-=Russ=-

Where you getting $50 rebuilt axles from?

 

Not a bad idea on the throttle control. I do this on my '68 Landcruiser.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Tracy

 

Well, I decided to get rebuilt axles for both sides because my outer boots are torn. $50 each vs $7 each for the boots, but I figure if I'm putting in 3 or 4 hours of work to change them, I might as well not have something else on the axle fail in another 10,000 miles.... don't know if that's a good theory or not, but that was my thinking as of yesterday when I ordered the new axles... never tried the split boots, but I almost bought them instead this time.

 

On the cruise control, my old '85 GL came with factory cruise control -- perhaps a junkyard would have one you could get? The other thing you could do is get a vernier throttle so you can hold the gas pedal at a certain position. A friend of mine has done that to a couple of 70's pickups that didn't come with cruise control, and to my '84 diesel truck. Doesn't repond to changes in grade like real cruise control, but nice on flat highway. Just remember to hit the big red button before putting the clutch in

 

Zeke

Has anyone personally used a split boot repair kit? I'm thinking that for $15 I may give it a whirl.

 

Tracy

 

 

The inner boots are nowhere near as tormented as the outer ones. They're reasonably well protected, and don't have the wide range of angles that the outer ones do.

 

I'd go with the split boot. Pull the old one off, clean out any old dirty grease, add new grease, seal it up, and don't worry about it.

 

-=Russ=-

Where you getting $50 rebuilt axles from?

 

Not a bad idea on the throttle control. I do this on my '68 Landcruiser.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Tracy

 

Rockauto.com Actually, $46.99 each, plus $30 core. Plus shipping of course. The quality is probalby not as good as oem, but I've been fairly happy with parts I've ordered from them for my Mitsubishi truck, so I decided to see how their Subaru parts are. The subaru parts place here wants $100 each for oem rebuilt axles....

i have used the split boot repair kit with no problems, but a year later i had to replace the axle due to contimantion. Its hard to clean the joint without pulling it apart.

 

There are many good aftermarket cruise controls out there. I do recomned though that you get the either an optional vaccum pump or the fatory vacume pump, otherwise the cruise control will keep disconnecting going up hills.

 

 

nipper