Im into off road racing buggies and 4x4's an as a scruitneer for cams i get a good look at all the different vehicles and most of not all buggies use canvas for their cv boots, now this got me thinking why cant/dont we use canvas instead of the rubber?

 

Unfortunatly i have no pics to explain but im sure all if not most of you get the picture

I made leather boots for a steering rack once. Lasted longer than the car (Opel)

I think this would work better than canvas for longevity.

porsche 930 cv's have a leather boot.not to mention killer operation angles....

Sure - it could be done. The older military trucks used a canvas boot on the front axles. Actually it's not regular canvas - it's a treated oil cloth. It was a BIG sucker tho, and it had a zipper to facilitate instalation. We would silicone the zipper to keep them from leaking. Pretty cool since it required no dissasembly to install.

 

GD

oh well i thought they were canvas but yea i spose leather would make more sense

I know the old Ford jeeps with full independant suspension (can't think of the model right now) used oilcloth for the cv boots. I'm sure you could have something similar made up at a sailshop, but expect it to cost a bit.

What about kevlar?

 

Still, I don't see the point, I haven't ever ripped a boot before, they do get old and crack, but it's only like 40mins work to change the boots on an axle.

Yeah, but it's getting into the axel to put new boots on it that sucks. Plan lots of time if the car's rusty.

Yeah, I have to admit my driveshafts aren't rusty, and they come out easy. So its not a problem. I had a stuburn one on a wreck, 3 mins of bashing it to hell and it came out.. Bit of a grind one the angle grinder and it works great...

One thing I have found on mine, if you liberally coat the axle stub with MagnaLube (high heat teflon lube, get your mind out of the gutter), it won't stick. Good luck finding the stuff in a store, though, I can only get it through my industrial maintenance connections-

I just use a silver antiseize crayon on the stubs; I've never had a problem with stuckness..