Rebuild this CV Joint or replace?
 

Did a major service today on my 80 SC. While under the car noticed that the port side CV joint to the wheel has 1/2 a boot. I've seen torn boots, but the outboard half is simply totally missing. It has been like this for a while, I'm thinking. I haven't been under the car for a year. Interestingly, there was never any indication of "thrown" grease so I never spotted a problem.

Where I live, there's little rain (rinsing of an open joint) but there is a lot of dirt and grit that could easily get in there. I scooped my finger around and can feel grease, but not grit. But still.... it could have been circulating with grease/grit for quite some time and I put about 15,000 miles a year on the car. I added 1/4 cup of fresh grease but will be driving it throughout the week. It's my daily driver.

With 300K on the car, replacing both is not a bad approach. Question is, would you tear it down and inspect it and re-pack it with a new boot or not even bother and just replace both and settle in for the next decade? I can do either next weekend.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1403490964.jpg

No way to tell until you pull it apart and wash it out. Torn boot is not good. Dirt in the join is the enemy.
-C

I just replace the boot and repack the joint. I do clean everything and inspect all the bearing surfaces. Small pitting and scoring I ignore. Use the proper grease for wheel bearings and cv joints. I tend to put in a lot of grease in the boot but you don't want to fill it. You need to have an air pocket in there. I also don't bother with keeping the balls mated to the original bearing surfaces.

What caused it to rip away, is it hitting the chassis on bigger bumps?

Do you loathe grease?

Taking apart and inspecting the joint is not hard, but it takes some time and is messy. I repacked a joint and replaced the CV assembly on another joint. It was cheaper than buying a whole half-axle, and I learned a lot about my car. I suggest getting some exam gloves from Walgreens to keep too much grease from getting into your hands. Use a cardboard box to protect your work surface.

Here is my joint that was deemed OK and just repacked: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/754256-cv-bearing-ok.html
Here is my joint that was totally shot. I bought a new joint and put it on the axle and packed it: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/773058-bad-noise-back-now-video.html

Since it's not making noise I'll order a new boot and get the right grease and clean and re-pack it and mount it with new bolts. If it looks shot, I'll re-pack it and mount it anyway and order a new one to replace it.

I don't know how the boot got destroyed. In that photo, the car is jacked and resting on the torsion tube cover, so the trailing arm is at full extension.