OT-Rubber boot is leaking grease on front whell drive OLds

Step-daughter's car had a stabilizer bolt break and it destroyed the boot and drive on the drivers side before she could get it fixed. Now the other side is showing grease on the tire. I'm assuming the boot is bad. How far can she drive it this way? She needs to get back to school Sunday. I just love it when they come home and need an oil change and I find more stuff that needs fixing. Thnaks Joe

If it's just the CV boot, she can drive it until the dust the hole lets in ruins the joint (she may never see it). If it comes to replacing it, you may check out Rock Auto and find that it is cheaper overall to buy a new axleshaft assembly and swap it.

Dave

they sometimes will run quite a while, when they start to click when turning, time is running out.

Replacing the axle with a reman is usually cheaper than screwing with replacing a boot.

How long a joint lasts with a split boot depends on how much grease is thrown out and if you're driving in a lot of dust and/or water.

What are Dads for?

Only thing is finding time. My truck the waterpump went out after buying my muzzleloader deer permit. Had to talk my wife into taking the Tahoe out of storage till I find time. I also leave for my job in CO....it's a 101/2 hour drive one way.....Didn't see a deer today. I was in my stands all day BUT I have a few eating apples right outside my door.

Murphy's at it again............. The CV shaft will probably last another couple of years at least (under normal conditions)..

Guess you forgot to pay the Pope, or else you WP would last until spring :roll:

Good Luck.

Dave

Goose, I guess you haven't dealt with this for a year or two... almost NO re-man CV shafts at the auto parts "stores" anymore, just NEW units made in "the land of almost right".

i've seen CVs run bone dry for YEARS doing nothing but clicking heavily when you turn under power.
If you shop around, you can find the whole axle ( both joints, both boots, etc) for as low as $79....makes the work much faster. Hardly any full blown garage mechanics just doing boots anymore.

dont know about you step daughters car but they do make a split boot to replace the torn one i havent done one in a long time its not that bad of a job

Replace a driveshaft for the price of a boot!!! Things must be going mad over the pond a boot is less than 10$ in UK & even a CV will cost at least $60 equivalent.

If it's a clean split, you can glue on a patch once you've cleaned all the Moly grease off well with brake cleaner or similar. Over here you can get stretch CV boots that you can fit from the outside of the CV without dismantling the shaft - you have to remove the hub though. You can also get split boots that glue together with no dismantling needed at all - as long as the grease doesn't get where the glue should be they work well.

If the hole is any size, I wouldn't drive the car far - back in the days when I did road rallies (mid 1970's) I once did a rally with a split boot on my Mini Cooper S. We were belting down a road with loose surface chippings & some got through the split & into the CV. Having turned a left corner, I found the steering didn't want to self centre & was mostly jammed, with the result that we hit the hedgebank on the INSIDE of the bend exit & rolled three times down the road. I found the gravel in the CV when dismantling the wreck for rebuild. Since then I always keep a close eye on CV boots & NEVER drive a car with one split (They are an MOT fail in UK in any case)