CV Axle boot replacement
 

I have a torn the outer boot on my 1988 Carrera not sure how long it has been like this but I can't see any leaking grease - it seems to turn ok without any clunking or noise. Should I replace the CV joint or risk it.
Do I need to take the whole axle off or could I just take off the inner joint completely and slide the new boot on to the outer after regreasing the joint? This would save me having to remove the large nut and stub axle.

cheers
Ken

I can't help with how to replace (not familiar with your car) but I would say remove and replace the boot for sure. Eventually gravel and sand will get into the joint and eat it up. Replacing boots is usually easy and pretty inexpensive. I have done it many times on other cars... "Some"people in my house hold like to lower their cars and.... abuse the undercarriage boots included.



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If you don't know how long it's been like that, it would be good to remove and inspect the CV joint. Messy job, but would be better than reassembling and getting bad CV joint noises a few hundred miles later because of some sand or grit in the joint itself.

My opinion, this job, even if just replacing the boot, is 10x easier with the whole axle off the car. It's really not difficult to get to the outboard bolts, just have to be flexible.

I ended up just replacing my axles with the GKN units at $200/axle when I found a sale on some earlier this year.

you want to do this on a table.
for your 88 you will have to pull it to reach the outer boot.
start by removing the large outer lock nut.

Had to replace both outer boots on my '88. My sister, the PO had it parked in her garage so long the rubber just dry rotted. When I jacked the car up, the rubber just split. Didn't do any driving after it split, so I just added a bit more grease when I replaced the boots (do inner and outer as long as the axle is off the car). You definitely want to take the axles off. Once on the bench, examine the joints to see if you have any contamination. That will answer your question as to whether or not to replace or just repack the joints.

Take the axles off, disassemble, clean them out thoroughly, and install new boots with clean grease.

I agree, remove the axle completely. And in this day and age of Covid, you can leave your mask aside but make sure you have an ample supply of latex/nitrile gloves and about 5 rolls of paper towels per CV joint. :D

You would be crazy to try this with the axle in the car. Ain't gonna happen.

Ok Ok I think the message is strong - the axle has to come out - thanks all for the advice :)

.....

The last couple times I did a Porsche CV boot thingy, it took a press to get the CV joint to come off the shaft.

The beauty of having bad CV joints, they just fall off once the bolts are loose :).

When you take the joint off of the stub axle, if the bearings fall out, probably need to rehab the whole thing.

I did this on my 88'. It's been a few years ago:)

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/306184-carrera-cv-boot-replacement.html

On 851/2 to 89 there are no outer bolts, just a cv unit and stubaxel
You need to drop the bottom of the shock to clear the cv and stub axel
The outer nut has lots of torque so get it early
Bruce

Thats a great link - thank you :)

My arsenal:

one to get it off, and the other one to torque it back on.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1617233023.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1617233004.jpg

Excellent write-up. In my case the outer boots seem fine. Both my inner (next to the transmission) boots are rotted with one splitting and "spraying" grease.
It seems if I get new inner CV joints and boots it should be possible to keep the axles in the car and replace the inner CVs and their boots. Also how are the new boot clamps installed? Are they Oteiker with the ear to squeeze? Thanks much for any guidance.

Zip lock bags!!!
 

As soon as a joint is seperated from a flange or hub, put a zip lock bag around it and a zip tie. This will go a long way to preventing greasing you, your tools and probably the dog - it also keeps trash out of the joint, in the event that you are not going to repack that joint.

I just bought a set of boot kits from our host and am going to repack some relatively new joints with good synthetic grease, install slightly longer bolts and Nordlock washers.
Grady's comments about retorquing after a few miles is good advice too.

Gloves and lots of rolls of paper towels
:-)
chris

I could be forgetting something but....
If you knock the spindle out of the hub one half of the bearing inner race will/may come with it. This means you should probably put in a new bearing. Is that correct?

Not a difficult job. A bit messy.

Chris
89 Carrera