DIY Axle Boot Replacement (Lots of pictures)

[Provocateur]

Background: The main focus of this walkthrough is to show that it is much better and cheaper to replace the boot on a good axle instead of going to Autozone, handing over your good axles, and getting a pair of shit axles in return. The main problem with all remanufactured axles is the CV joints. They typically will not even check the CV joints and just slap another set of fresh boots on and resell them to the uninformed consumer. You have been warned…remanufactured axles are garbage. I have been through 4 sets of axles since I purchased my car almost 3 years ago. After replacing each shit set with another shit set from Autozone for several pairs of axles, I couldn't take it anymore, so I bent over and bought a pair of Gator Stage 2 racing axles for $450. About 6 months ago, I noticed a nice pinhole leak out of the outboard boot of my passenger axle. Since I can't replace these axles, I have to replace the boot. This walkthrough shows my struggle to replace the boot and hopefully, in turn, it will show you the proper way to do it. This was all done on my 96 Integra GSR. If you don’t own an Integra, you may have to modify some steps to do this correctly. What you will need: --Floor jack --Jackstands --Breaker bar (bigger the better) --32mm socket --BFH (Big Fucking Hammer) --3/8" socket wrench --14 and 17mm sockets --Tiny and large flathead screwdriver --17mm box wrench --Snap ring pliers --Boot band pliers (available at any autoparts store) --Dikes --CV Boot kit from Acura/Honda (should come with 2 bands, boot, new axle nut, and new axle set ring) --2 additional CV boot bands (only if you are replacing the outboard boot) --Another package of grease (only if you are replacing the outboard boot) --Medium cotter pin --A 6 pack of beer Click here for part numbers Let’s get started: First step is to find a good place to work. You will want a workbench to do the axle disassembly and a nice flat place to remove and reinstall the axle. With a view like this out my driveway, you won’t hear any complaints from me. The next step is to lay out all the tools you will need. I am missing a few that I realized I needed later in the project. Just use the above checklist and not the picture for reference on what you will need for the project. You now need to break your lug nuts loose so that you can remove them when the car is lifted in the air. Place the jack under the front jacking point and start jacking the car up. For your safety, make sure you securely place your jackstands under the passenger and driver support point anytime you will be working underneath the car. In this case, you will briefly be underneath the car. Remove the wheel. It will look like this: Now, have someone stand on the brakes while you work your magic with your 32mm socket and breaker bar on the axle nut. If you don’t have anyone to help you by standing on the brakes, take your big screwdriver and lodge it between the ventilation vanes in between the rotor (I highly recommend against this and am not liable in any way for any resulting damages to your rotor). If you are having trouble getting it off, maybe you should be spending more time at the gym. Mine came off with just a quick hop on the 24” breaker bar. When you finally get it off, it should look like this. If it doesn’t, stick a longer piece of pipe on the end of the breaker bar for more leverage. If your weak ass still can’t get it off, take your car to a shop and see if they can buzz it off with power tools. The next step is to remove the castle nut from the lower ball joint. I have circled it for your convenience. You need to remove the cotter pin with your dikes and then get the castle nut off with your 17mm socket wrench. Once you have the castle nut off, you need to find some way to separate the ball joint from the hub. There are three methods: the shitty way, the proper way, and Steve’s easy as fuck method. The shitty way is to take a pickle fork that you can find at any local auto parts store and jam it between the hub and ball joint and then hit it with your BFH. This method will most likely sever the boot and you will probably have to replace the ball joint in the very near future. I don’t recommend you go this method unless you are weak and can’t use my other great methods. The proper way is to take your BFH and whack at the little nub above the castle nut, which I circled in yellow below. If you are having trouble getting it to separate, try lifting the hub with your floor jack and whacking on the nub some more. It should come if you are persistent enough. Here is a handy trick. You need to have a 1/2" drive old-school craftsman wrench (the one with the rectangular handle) to do this properly. Firstly, jack up the entire suspension assembly as far as it can go. Then, insert your wrench like shown in the picture. Then, lower the jack and viola…the ball joint should pop out….at least mine did.  You should now be able to remove the axle from the hub. You may need a punch to hammer it out, but it will come out and the hub will just hang there. Now, you need to remove the shock support. Take your 17mm socket and 17mm box wrench and make quick work of the circled bolt. Then, you need to take your 14mm socket and remove the pinch bolt in the back to pull the entire support off and out of the way. Now that the axle is only held in at the transmission, you can rest it on top of the brake hub while you drink a beer. To get the axle out of the transmission, you need to use your large screwdriver or a small crowbar to pry on it. If you are removing the drivers side axle, there will be a separation between the intermediate shaft bearing and the inboard joint that will allow you to either hit the inboard joint with a hammer or use something to pry the axle from the intermediate shaft. <<I will try to get pics of the drivers side>> When it separates, it will look like this and you can finally stop cussing at the bastard. Pull the axle out of the transmission and remove from car completely. This what it looks like: And here is the reason I am going through this ordeal: Now take your axle and place it on your workbench. Also make sure the boot you are replacing matches the new boot you are going to replace it with. Take your small screwdriver and bend up the tabs holding the boot bands securely. If you are just replacing the inboard boot, you only need to do this to the two boot bands holding down that boot. If you are doing the outboard or both boots, you need to bend the tabs up on all four boot bands. Now that the tabs are bent up, you can flatten out the band and pull it through to remove it. Now, you can remove all the boot bands you need and it should look like the picture below. I suggest you put on a set of gloves for this next part…it is going to get very messy. Now for the messy part. Make sure you put a shop towel or a few layers of paper towel underneath each joint as you will have about 80 grams of grease come out when the boot is removed. Separate the outboard boot (only if you are replacing both or the outboard boot) from the joint. If you take a look at the way the joint is built, you will realize that it isn’t going anywhere. The only way to remove the boot and replace it is to remove everything on the inboard side. Needless to say, start by separating the inboard boot from the joint This joint will come completely out and you will be looking at the joint assembly. This consists of three ball bearing looking rollers connected to a three prong holder called a spider connected to the axle shaft. The rollers will come right off. Make sure you keep these safe from harm…new CV joints aren’t cheap. In the picture below, you will see what the spider looks like. To remove the spider, you need to remove the snap ring holding it down. Do this and the spider should slide right off the shaft. Now, you are left with a much stronger snap ring that must be removed in order to remove either the inboard boot or both boots. Remove it. Now you can slide the boot(s) off and it will look like this: Slide the new boot on and squeeze all of the grease supplied with it into the boot. The outboard joint takes 90-100 g of grease. After the joint is packed with grease, you can slide the boot over it. To attach the bands, loop the end through the hole and attach it to your boot band pliers. Mine fed through a cutter and then fed into a crank that tightened the band. After it was sufficiently tight, one quick flip of the handle and it was cut. Fold it over and secure it with the locking tabs, if applicable. Now, slide the inboard boot over the shaft and reassemble the spider assembly exactly how it was disassembled. The inboard joint only slides in one way. Make sure it is correct before continuing. Once you have confirmed it is correct, load that joint with grease (the inboard joint takes 120-130 g of grease) and slide the boot over it. Repeat the boot band process with this side. Clean up your axle and workplace and you have successfully replaced your CV boot(s). To reinstall it on the car, it is the reverse order of removal. Torque specs: Axle nut: 134 ft/lbs (use the new supplied axle nut and make sure you stake it against the axle with a punch and hammer) 14mm pinch bolt: 32 ft/lbs (should be tightened with the suspension preloaded) 17mm lower control arm bolt/nut: 47 ft/lbs (should be tightened with the suspension preloaded) Ball joint castle nut: 36-43 ft/lbs and replace the cotter pin with a fresh one. Lug nuts: 80 ft/lbs If you need any clarification or have further questions, let me know and I will update the DIY as necessary.

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[1turbodc2]

that is one awsome DIY great job Steve!!! i am sure this will help out a lot of people!

[jdmeg6hatchy]

WOW! great job on the DIY. this is great info.

...so how dirty is your camera now?

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by jdmeg6hatchy

WOW! great job on the DIY. this is great info.

...so how dirty is your camera now?

Thanks.

I got all the grease off, but I think it will remain greasy for the rest of its life. Fortunately, it isn't that great of a camera and is easily replaceable.

[pnthr30]

Nice write up, thanks!

[ADRONICUS]

Good write up for sure. And I agree w/rebuilds from autozone being shit hole buys. But what about factory re-man? I bought some of those for my old Integra and they worked great. Came in the air sucked packing and everything.

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by centerforce99

Good write up for sure. And I agree w/rebuilds from autozone being shit hole buys. But what about factory re-man? I bought some of those for my old Integra and they worked great. Came in the air sucked packing and everything.

Anything remanufactured isn't going to be as good as brand new but Acura offers some decent remanufactured axles. They are one of the best alternatives to replace stock axles with assuming that is what is required to fix the problem. I don't know how much they usually cost, so I couldn't tell you if they were a cost effective replacement.

In this case, replacing the axle is obviously overkill. Even if I were replacing the axles with autozone axles, I just saved $50 and still had a good axle.

[ADRONICUS]

Originally Posted by Provocateur

Anything remanufactured isn't going to be as good as brand new but Acura offers some decent remanufactured axles. They are one of the best alternatives to replace stock axles with assuming that is what is required to fix the problem. I don't know how much they usually cost, so I couldn't tell you if they were a cost effective replacement.

In this case, replacing the axle is obviously overkill. Even if I were replacing the axles with autozone axles, I just saved $50 and still had a good axle.

If my memory serves me correctly, the factory re-mans. were about 100-125 bucks a piece. I want to say $125.00.

[tuchinitomiguel]

wow man!!! ns DIY

[12yearhondatech]

I agree nice write up. But you dont have to remove the inboard cv. All you need to do is remove the outboard boot and tap the outboard cv with a brass hammer and the joint will come off.

[Provocateur]

According to 12yearhondatech, the removal of the inner CV joint isn't necessary. The outboard boot should come off and here is the procedure:

Originally Posted by 12yearhondatech

Sorry im now just getting back to you. Yes there is something holding it on, its a clip thats 3/4 round about 1/2 inch away from the end of the shaft and on the inside of the cv joint splines about 1 inch in there is a groove for the clip to lock in. All you have to do is grab the outer cv joint with one hand and the other hand wack the joint with a brass hammer I say use a brass hammer until you get use to the amount of force you need to get it off then you can use a small sledge. Now when putting it back on slide the joint on until it comes in contact with the clip some joints will stop at the clip and others willl slide over the clip a little bit on these ones all you need to do is tap the joint back on until you cant pull it off anymore. On the one were the it stops at the clip hold the joint with one hand with a little pressure pushing towards the clip and take a pocket screw driver with the other hand and get the clip to colapse into the joint, still keep pressure on the joint with your other hand now with the same hand you had the screw driver in grab a hammer and tap the joint on at the end of the joint until it wont come off anymore. Before you seperate the joint from the axle cut the old boot off first and clean all of the grease out of the way and take a look at how far the joint is on the axle splines it will go back on the same disstance. Once the joint is seperated from the axle clean it out real good with solvent or brake spray. Now you can pack the joint with fresh grease before you put it back on the axle. Sorry I didnt say this first but its best to put the axle in a vise. Once you get use to doing it this way its a heck of alot easier, faster and a lot less messey.

I don't plan on replacing another boot anytime soon to confirm the validity of this, but it may be worth a try to save the hassle and mess of removing both boots.

[mana1122Si]

this is a damn good DIY guide

[mycb7com]

Its easier to leave the car on the ground when trying to brake the axle nut loose, then you don't need someone on the brakes. Good write up though

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by mana1122Si

this is a damn good DIY guide

Thanks.

Originally Posted by mycb7com

Its easier to leave the car on the ground when trying to brake the axle nut loose, then you don't need someone on the brakes. Good write up though

I don't think my socket would fit through the center cap. Some wheels will allow it easily, though.

[menappi]

Sweet dude, I've always wanted to knwo how to do this , and actually need to. It's a lot easier to take the axel nut off witht he tires on and the car on the ground though. Super DIY! THanks.

[99y8]

awesome info... and great trick for popping out the ball joint!

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by 99y8

awesome info... and great trick for popping out the ball joint!

Thanks. That isn't my idea for popping out that ball joint, so I will not take credit for it. Just happy to pass it along to others that are frustrated by their lower ball joints.

Keep the comments coming.

[nonbox]

I have done this job on a 88 accord.

I would recommend getting an electric impact wrench to remove lug nuts when the car is up in the air and to remove the 32 mm spindle nut:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...108&pricetype=


I would also recommend snap ring pliers to remove the metal snap rings:

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...iers&Submit=Go

The metal snap rings are really hard to get out even with snap ring pliers.

Any one use an OTC slide hammer with CV joint puller attachment to pull the axle from the transmission? Plying it out with a pry bar can gouge or put dents on the transmission case?


I would buy honda acura remanufactured axles. They are probably higher quality than autozone ones but I did have one honda acura remanufactured axle come with a tiny tear in the boot and I installed it and the boot tear lengthened after driving on it. The tear lead me to do the Axle Boot Replacement.

[jackyfu]

That's an excellent DIY !!

[kevyt]

I agree.... That's a great write up !!!

Thanks

[dleccord]

you forgot to mention about staking the nut.

nice write-up/pics.

[96dxkyle]

thanks that was great info it helped me out alot.

[99y8]

tag!! (i've looked at this so many times in preparation of my own boot replacement... this will make it easier to find!!)

[99y8]

thats a great price! do you think it is strong enough for the spindle nut?

Originally Posted by nonbox

I have done this job on a 88 accord.

I would recommend getting an electric impact wrench to remove lug nuts when the car is up in the air and to remove the 32 mm spindle nut:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...108&pricetype=

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by dleccord

you forgot to mention about staking the nut.

nice write-up/pics.

No, I didn't. It is a bit hidden in there, though.

Originally Posted by Provocateur

Torque specs:

Axle nut: 134 ft/lbs (use the new supplied axle nut and make sure you stake it against the axle with a punch and hammer)
14mm pinch bolt: 32 ft/lbs (should be tightened with the suspension preloaded)
17mm lower control arm bolt/nut: 47 ft/lbs (should be tightened with the suspension preloaded)
Ball joint castle nut: 36-43 ft/lbs and replace the cotter pin with a fresh one.
Lug nuts: 80 ft/lbs

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by 99y8

thats a great price! do you think it is strong enough for the spindle nut?

If it is seized on there, I don't think it will help you. The nut should be torqued to 134 ft/lbs but if it hasn't been removed in a while, it will take a lot more force to remove it than 150 ft/lbs.

[dleccord]

oops reading>me.

btw... if certain shafts require c-clips, what kind of grease do you recommend to be put on the c-clip, if necessary?

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by dleccord

oops reading>me.

btw... if certain shafts require c-clips, what kind of grease do you recommend to be put on the c-clip, if necessary?

Like the c-clip that helps hold the axle in the transmission/half shaft?

Just any high temp grease will be sufficient, not for lubrication, but for protecting the machined surface of the axle splines from corrosion.

[nonbox]

I did not want to invest in an air tools set up. IR makes 1/2" electric impact wrenches that will take the spindle nut off but they are $400 and up. I bought a $400 1/2" electric impact wrench and it took it off easily.

[Provocateur]

Originally Posted by nonbox

I did not want to invest in an air tools set up. IR makes 1/2" electric impact wrenches that will take the spindle nut off but they are $400 and up. I bought a $400 1/2" electric impact wrench and it took it off easily.

That could be a good idea if you plan on using it regularly. I have found that my $15 2' breaker bar can do anything air/electric impact wrenches can.

But a big impact wrench is definitely handy for larger jobs like clutch installs and suspension work.