CV Joint Boots

[jennajaymes310]

My CV joint boots are torn (all 4) and need to be replaced. The joints themselves seem to be ok (no noises from them), but i need some advice on which products to buy to complete this project. Would i just need the boot kits with grease or am i missing something?

[bedfordd]

Do you know how long they've been ripped? If not I imagine the bearings could have ground some dirt on those bearings for a while.

In the last year I replaced my bearings/boot and the boot ripped w/i 6 weeks. I caught them within 2 days of them ripping so I just bought new boots & grease. I'd recommend doing boot/bearings if you've never done them before but just boots is much easier...
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1977 Westy with a '79 CA FI 2L

[Desertbusman]

Jenna, get out your Bentley service manual, you will need it. You will need boot kits at the minimum. And take apart, clean, inspect, reassemble, and lube the 4 joints like the book shows. With shot boots the joints chances are have been contaminated so you need to go thru them. Walt probably has boot kits.
P.S., siblings are probably at Whiskytown now. Or they just were there or will be soon. Too far for me to drive from AZ.
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71 Superbug
71 Westy

[grandpa pete]

when i priced them for my 69 it was cheaper $115 per side to replace the whole axle...new cv's... new boots ...new grease....new axle one suggestion;I made a cardboard holder out of part of the box to hold the cv joints perpendicular to the axles while i attatched the other end,if you let it flop around and fall out you have to put them back together found a good car show in san antonio last night

[Desertbusman]

That would be the easiest way to go.

Gramps, when you swing by here if it's on any Saturday we can do the car show here also.
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71 Superbug
71 Westy

[BusterBrown]

[rockerarm]

Repacking the CV's is a maintenance item. Boot replacement follows as they don't last forever. But I've driven bay window bus' since 1975 and have never had to replace a cv joint because of wear. As a dealer tech we don't always maintain our own rides as well as our customers. But as a dealer tech we were told to replace cv joints that showed any wear in the area where the ball contacted. Thus, I was able to collect a number of vanagon cv joints that, with the proper moly grease, will last a long time.
So, if the cv's don't show an unusual wear, I would be confident in saying as long as the cv joint has a good boot and the proper grease, one should be able to use the original joints a long time.
Hope this helps, Bill.

[Randy in Maine]

I found this read to be pretty handy.

http://www.type2.com/bartnik/cvjoints.htm

Long term you are better off repacking the joints you have now as opposed to buying cheap half shafts.

I have used those repack kits with good success....

http://www.busdepot.com/catalog.jsp?model=57&category=24&group=51&prodgroup=846

A couple of things that are handy to have are the correct 8mm triple square socket, a decent pair of circlip pliers, 4 plastic coffee cans (to keep each joint separate in their own degreaser can), and a 2 or 3 jaw gear puller from Sears. While a bench vise is handy here, a Black and Decker "Work Mate" or a picnic table will do as something to hold the half shaft up as you work on it.

[bugger101]

My boots are not cracked yet and my bus has been sitting since 1985 . I believe they are oem boots.
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75 west deluxe http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5270450#5270450

2010 ford focus

[nodrenim]

You can't beat good OG boots, only problem is where are they hiding? I replace both boots on the drivers side of my bay 2 1/2 months before it touched pavement, they were showing signs of cracking when it rolled out of my garage. Last week I saw definite signs of them both going south with less than 8,000 miles. Will probably be replacing them before winter. I have seen factory boots that lasted for more than 10 years. Any one got any ideas on who has the best?

[bigbore]

I have had soooooooooo many new boots go bad in just a few miles or months so I have been pulling axles off my bus's in my yard and finding the good stock boots cleaning them and reusing them. even with small weather checking they have been lasting for years not bad for recycling. I would get some from Scott at german supply if I were buy them now. just going to your flaps is just to much of a gamble.
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where its cold and snowy

[bugger101]

I have heard at shows that people have been lucky with empi boot from cip1
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75 west deluxe http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5270450#5270450

2010 ford focus

[SGKent]

I suspect that the main reason these boot crack are the particulates in the air. We used to see it in LA from the smog. What I noticed is that rubber that had Cosmoline or paint on it did not crack. I have been wondereing is keeping wax or Cosmoline on them (WaxOyl etc) will extend their lives.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[cool karmann collected]

CV boots for buses are available in a wide variety of qualities and you'll need to check with whoever you buy from exactly which brand they are selling. My own personal experience (other than the OG boots which lasted 39 years) is that MEYLE brand boots are poor quality. I fitted 4 of these early last year and they showed surface cracking within 500 miles, by May of this year, at least one had split completely and the others were well on their way to tearing also. This time around I've fitted a set of FEBI branded boots, they're made in Germany (really) and so far, after around 1200 miles they look fine.

One-year old MEYLE brand boot

It was installed correctly but I thought it looked too stretched...

With the latest set, I didn't push the small end of the boot over the location 'hump' on the axle, my reasoning being that it will reduce the strain on the ribs of the boot, especially the last one where the last boot split, not 'correct' I know, but that's how I'm rollin'.

A bit blurred, but proof that German made boots are still available new

[danfromsyr]

they need to be stretched out a little
I had made the same presumption, but the rubber touches itself while it's rotating and any dirt/grit on the surface wears out the rubber of the boot PDQ...
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[nodrenim]

I don't know about the Empi bus boots, but I got a set for my type three a couple of years ago and one of them completely disentigrated in about 3 months and the others went shortly after.

[lost&out]

[Desertbusman]

We've already beat this topic to death a few times in the past. Probably about every 6 months. Although if I said nothing changes in 6 months that would be wrong. What we've (Samba folks) have found that a particular brand or supplier might be good but their next shipment might not be. What was good a year or 5 years ago might be junk now. And the junk brand in the past might be great now. There is no consistancy.

Jenna, just go next door and get what Bus Boys has. Tell him that if they don't hold up and you wasted your labor time that you will ram your bus through the front of his shop. It's about time that the suppliers started getting concerned and started standing behind their products. And I don't mean just giving you a new replacement if you walk in with a rotted one they sold.

A while back our gal had a local shop do her axles. A couple years later the boots were ripped. She went back and they redid the axles. I don't remember the boot brands but the replacements held up. So the shop ate some big labor costs. I hope they turned around and put big pressure on the supplier or the manufacturer. It's about time they start taking responsability unstead of being wimps.
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71 Superbug
71 Westy

[SGKent]

[greenbus pilot]

I have been down the Rotten CV Boot Path a few times. Some lasted a month. My last set was from BusBoys. Still good after about 5 years. They are a stiffer plastic than the nice German ones.
How come my domestic American vehicles' boots last so long? ten years and still look fine. Maybe a better grade of material; some aftermarket stuff is made of the same material.
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Sent from a white van down the street.