CV Boot Replacement

I picked mine up from Partsource in Maine. They are not every expensive. Ricambi America and T. Rutland also carry them. The afternmarket variety are not very expensive. If you check the parts cross-reference sticky in this section, there is probably a parts number listed the for them from NAPA.

Do yourself a favor -- when you are changing the boot, since you'll have the shafts out anyway, be sure to clean the CV joints up really well and repack them with some good, synthetic CV joint grease. Buy one of those bearing packing cone sets. They are cheap, but make repacking the bearings so much easier. I bought the grease cartridges that fit into my grease gun, and it made the job a lot easier, though it is still one of those PITA messy jobs.

 

So what would you use, like a SWEPCO Moly Lube???

JIM

 

Do a search on "LOBRO Porsche" should get you ~10 threads (like this one) with the information that you seek:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43052

 

I did mine on my 328 last winter....wasn't too bad, just messy.

There is a great link that I'll try to dig up with pictures and hints.

I purchased a full package with boots, grease and the metal ties to secure the boot (can't remember their exact name) from Dennis McCann ferrari parts.

 

Here da link...

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78188&referrerid=35266

 

and this one.....

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141724

 

Hi Ross,

There are a lot of threads out there, sharing the agony of "the boot replacement". Many good tips and helpfull suggestions from guys that have done that.

I bought a kit from Dennis McCann for about $60, boots, grease and straps. Good price back then.

Subsequently, while doing the job, i bought a great steel band installing tool from Napa, along with new stainless straps, much superior to the stock stuff.

I recall nearly all posters mentioning that the allen bolts are likely to be seriously difficult to remove, and they were. I got like 90 degrees of twist on a 3/8 extension while trying to break some bolts loose. This winds up often causes some blood letting when things let go, so I recommend getting a good 1/2 extension, so you can stand outside the fender to use the breaker bar to bust them loose, Further, it is important to clean all of the accumulated crud out of the in hex recess, so you can get a goood bite on the cv bolt. Others have suggested that you buy a really good quality hex bit, (like Snapon), so you don't round off the tool or bugger the bolt, which can lead to more difficult removal.

Once broken loose, you can use various extendions, universals and ratchets to remove the bolt.

I would recommend having a couple of replacemnet bolts at hand, some of them are hard to get out some inhex ware. The porper size is 10 MM bolt with 1.25 thread pitch and 65 MM long.

A screwdriver stuffed in the brake disc vent passages does a great job locking the rotation of the axle assembly and allows you to easily rotate the assembly while you are lying comfortably on your back, under the car.

Once you have assembled the boot and greasy cv joint, it is a good idea to slip a plastic sandwich baggie over the units so you can maneuver it into place with a minimum of greasing everything else and avoiding contamination of the greased joint. Just prior to installing the joint, slip the baggie off and you are all set to mate up the cv to the flange.

This proceedure is at best messy and anything we can do to avoid the spread of the moly is a good thing.

Double check the final tightnesss of all bolts. This is a very higly stressed bit of the power train.

Do a thread search for CV joints and you will pick up a lot of helpfull tips.

hth,
chris

 

What he said, I bought a 3/8 allen at Harbor Freight, it broke on the first bolt, I didn't have access to a Snap-On dealer and bought one at Sears, it worked well. One other note, if you have or damage one of the bolts, I had one bad one, you will need a pnumatic grinder with a cutoff wheel to get it out of there.

Doug

 

Yeah, the CV bolts were tough at first....but I prepped them with a bit of liquid wrench for a few days and no problems. I also replaced all of them during the rebuild. Found replacements reasonably at Tacoma Nut & Bolt.

 

I don't know about your car, but mine had sufficient oils all over them.
Not saying I have any leaks, but the bolts were well lubricated

 

Damn, Doug,

You are alucky guy, now they won't rust.

best,
chris

ps, sometimes, i think i ran over an oil well

 

In some areas they call it "Rust Preventitive"

Unless the car is a Jag, then it's "the external lubricating system"

 

I HIGHLY, highly, highly recommend using latex or nitrile gloves and change them often.

For weeks after the rebuild I was finding smudges of the CV joint grease ALL over my house and garage even with frequent glove changes....that stuff is tenacious.

Keyboard....refrigerator....lightswitches...doorknobs...

It never failed, to be on the way out the door in the morning, find a hidden bit o' grease and immediately add it to my wardrobe for the day.

 

A question about the bolts. The size and thread was listed but is there a hardness rating these bolts should meet?

 

It's not called a "hardness rating", but rather a "grade" -- the markings on the head indicate the grade of the bolt:

http://store.nutsandbolts.com/bolt-grade-head-markings-2-5-8.html

 

Perhaps this is a little better (they mangled the metric stuff by losing the units in that other link):

http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/Materials-and-Grades/Bolt-Grade-Chart.aspx

 

I had to buy 3 or 4 replacements and got them from Rutlands. The price wasn't that bad, and it beat having to locate something that was close enough to work and then the fear of a failure.

Doug

 

Hahahahahahahahaha. Describes my car perfectly.

 

Sometimes I think I NEED an oil well to keep the Ferrari running.

 

Make sure to use the correct lube. My 85 QV calls for this type.
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Also, don't "overstuff" them with grease. There is documentation around that suggest they need 140g each. Its wrong, it should be 100G (as documented elsewhere!)