Can you please give me advice on CV Boot issue on front wheels? Toyota Dealer says the clasps have come undone on both axles. Have to take the entire axle assembly off (5 hours) to redo correctly. Estimate $600 plus.

Can you sure your experience with me? Do I need to have this done quickly and is the price in line? Etc.

Thanks for your help.

 

Is the price per axle or for both? Are they just doing the boots or replacing theentire assembly. I just recently did both sides on my LX. I bought aftermarket Axle assemblies from Empi for around 100.00 each. Then paid a local shop my friend owns 90.00 per side and have new parts. I will be getting the OEM axles rebuilt by a shop that just does cv axles for 80.00 each. Then I will put them back on the truck.

 

Both axels. Includes taking everything off and replacing.

 

That's a pretty reasonable price. The toyota dealer charged me $300-350 to reboot a single boot (torn boot from age) on my 4Runner. Regardless if you're just replacing the boots (boots, clamps, and grease come in a kit) or installing a new CV joint, you have to remove the wheel, brake caliper, hub, plus the steering knuckle connections, etc. for each side. If you haven't had the front wheel bearings repacked, now is a good time to have it done, as it's only a few minutes more work since you'll have the hub removed (and the inner bearing is on the back side of the hub). Or if you need to replace front rotors/pads, same deal...you have to remove the hub. On difference is 6 bolts to remove the rotor from the hub.

Now there is a quickie DIY method using band-it clamps. There is a special tool you use to install the clamps. You can use this method if the OEM clamps aren't holding and you haven't lost much grease. See Tinkerer's posts at http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...ht=band+clamps

 

That is a good method.

A few weeks back, my uncle and I took off my passenger side front axle on my RX300 due to some looseness and to take care of a torn boot. The clamps we were using kept coming off so I headed over to Home Depot and just got some basic clamps and attached them. Worked like a charm and no leaking.

 

lol... i guess the cheapest = the fastest

but the question is, Is it safe?

 

Hopefully you got the stainless clamps.

 

Yeah I did get stainless steel (my uncle was checking the Spanish on the ones that we looked at to make sure).

My uncle has done this before and he has never had an issue with it, as long as it is tight, it works like a charm. Only issue that has happened (and would happen with any clamp) is the rubber on the cv boot getting frayed over time and the clamp getting loose.

Actually, those clamps like the one on the left in the photo, I see a few every other week when I go down my 1/4 mile track to do an inspection for items (we found a wrench last night).

 

toyota dealership replaced axles and cv boots on my 2005 lx 470 at 110,000 miles. I now have 157,000miles, 47,000 miles later, and another toyota dealership says they are leaking. How long should they last? By the way there no good indys or Lexus dealerships where I live. Help.

 

I know this post is a bit old, I did a search for "how to" replace right side CV. Aftermarket CV axle is $50 shipped through ebay. I would never pay to re-boot. Often once boot splits, grease pukes out and ball bearings get moisture and pit/wear out. Also, labor to re-boot is ridiculous when you get complete new inner & outer joints for $50-100.

as for the Q about boot leakage.... they can split many different ways from stuff on road catching them and splitting rubber boot. so how long it should last varies.

 

Canucklehe is right, don't reboot, just buy an entire replacement axle. I have done this with numerous vehicles over the years. This is one of those jobs that seems like it should be much more difficult than it really is. Any shade-tree mechanic can replace the axle in his or her driveway with a pair of jack stands and common tools.

 

hey Juancho, when you remove the 6 allen/hex head nuts and pull it off, the inner cage and ball bearings fall out. how do you re-assemble?

thnx

 

I had my wife's 2003 LX470 rebooted recently. After some rough offroading in CO over the summer, I noticed grease splattered all around the boot. No tears in the rubber. Dealer said they usually require rebooting at about 105K mi. The rig had 113K mi at the time. Since they pull the entire CV joint and replace the inner and outer boots (they come in a pack of inner/outer for each side), the front has to be realigned. IIRC, it was around 6 hrs labor (@ $110/hr) +100-150 in parts+$100 for the alignment for about $1K+tax. I used a 15% off service coupon and Lexus visa points, so it was under $500 out the door.

 

YIKES!! what bothers me is that after grease got out, other contaminants can get in and cause pitting, wear. An entire new axle was $51 for me, shipped to my door. local mechanic should charge you a lot less to re & re, if you feel uncomfortable doing it yourself. I can't believe dealers do this stuff when they can re& re cheaper than a re-boot. same for a caliper rebuild or rotor turning. cheaper to just replace.

because the 2 bolts on the strut are removed to help move hub/knuckle away, it should be re-aligned.

 

A Lexus dealer in NJ quote me $624*2=1248+tax to rebuild front axle boots. Is this a reasonable price? Thanks.
My car is 2005 GX470.