My pass side inner boot ripped today. The tear is about 2" long, it just happened. I am going to replace the axle with a reman in the near future, but my question is; is it ok to drive for now ~1 week in the rain, highway, etc...?? Biggest question - Highway 4hrs in the rain?

Yah that should be alright. I drove for a couple weeks on mine when it ripped. You probably won't want to just replace the boot on yours if you do drive it in the rain and stuff.

 

MWE axles remanufactured are pretty well respected on the boards. http://www.ccrengines.com/mwe/index.html

 

Yes you can get remans less expensive at autozone, napa, etc., some people use those types fine; others have issues. Some people are having good results with GCK is it all new axles from the autoparts store.

FWIW, I replaced an inner boot with the axle still attached to the hub, but this doesn't seem to be a preferred repair method even though it's described in a factory TSB. You're OK to drive several hundred miles because there's still plenty of grease in the joint housing, the round metal part. If you caught the torn boot early, replacing just the boot might be a good idea because you'd end up with a good-as-new original factory axle. The right inner boot seems to last shorter than the rest, likely because it's next to the cat. converter.

+1 for boot replacement, especially if you discover the tear in the early stages. I replaced both boths on the driver's side with the halfshaft still in the hub. Just make sure you put reassemble the inboard joint exactly the way it came out.