After 325,000 Miles, my Subaru’s Front CV Boots Cracked. New Axles or Replace Boots?
 

First off, I’m keeping this car long term. I also plan to get a teardrop camper and do some light off road camping. No extreme off road stuff, just dirt, snow, mud, etc.

Debating on which route to go. Just refresh the boots/grease myself or go ahead and get new axles?

My axles don’t make a sound at all...but they do have a lot of miles on them.

Cardone axles would be about $200 for all 4.
Boot kits and grease would probably be $75-100 or more.

What say ye?

Two Benjamins ... done ;)

Two new ones. You can buy them pretty cheap.

I hear you. Easy peasy.

Oh yeah, I’ll install new set of King Springs to gain about an inch at the same time.

I had a 95 Legacy Brighton that I put Outback springs on. Redneck lift kit.

I’d say with that mileage you already had this car long term!

As another note, I always bring mine to a drivetrain shop and have them do OEM rebuilds on them. We put Cardone axles on Audi's at the shop I worked at and they were alright, but I just prefer OEM when I can get it.

Hey! Why is that in green? That's pretty much exactly what I did with my redneck lift kit. They still stood tall the day I sold that car.... may it rest in piece :(
The guy that bought it had it impounded and they sent it off to the crusher :(

After 370,000 miles the yoke on the driveshaft of my El Camino had a grove worn in it and required replacement with a new one. It would chew up the transmission seal, so had to pay 45 bucks for a new yoke.

I recommend replacing the yoke every 350,000 miles now.

At least through the 90's, the Legacys with the front axles that use a roll pin to secure the inner end of the shaft to the gearbox stub axle---the one way to tell if they were the OEM Subaru part is that the housing of the inner CV axle was always painted green. So if yours are green, they might be the OEM axles. And if they aren't clicking I would certainly go the boot and grease route before I bought one of the aftermarket axles. Last boots I bought were through the local Napa. Found a local front wheel drive specialty shop to fit the bands on the boots for a few bucks. The outer joint really doesn't come apart so you'll just have to either wash it out good in a parts washer---then use something to neutralize the parts washer fluid before greasing, why I don't know but remember reading that in the service manual----- or throw the dice with a wipe out of the old grease and in with the new grease.

I'd replace them at this point in my life, but sometimes you have better luck rebuilding old ones. I'd probably stick the old ones on a shelf, ''for later'', and then throw them away when I retire the car.

I put chinesium CVs on my truck a few years ago. One of the boots is already split. But they were cheap enough. If you contrast the cost of new boots with teh cost of OEM replacements, the cost contrast is much greater. My expectation though is that you will find some wear on at least one joint, probably all. I never cared, as long as it was smooth wear.

I put Autozone Lifetime Warrantee axles in my 98 K1500. The boots last about 2 years, so I get free replacements every two years. Easy to change in that truck, but it still sucks.

I rarely change just boots any more, but I go out of my way to get better replacements than Duralast/Cardone.

Anyone remember the JC Whitney two piece boots?
Five minute job to replace. :D

I'd do the boots.

I got a rebuilt Cardone out of the box one time with the hub splines ground off.

I bought the car with 300,000 on it, but it's been maintained very well.
It's my first Subaru, I opened a thread about it went I bought it.


I know it can be a crap shoot buying manufactured CVs. That's why I'm considering just rebooting the original ones.

What about these guys? https://www.raxles.com/

That's why I pointed out above, that the OEM Subaru axles always had an inner joint that the outer housing was painted green. If the ones on your car are green, chances are they are the OEM part. I'd certainly reboot original shafts vs. aftermarket. Now if the ones on your car aren't green, then they've probably already been replaced with an aftermarket part. In that case all bets are off the table. In the past and in a time bind, I'd put an aftermarket axle on my Subaru but I damn sure never traded in an OEM one that wasn't clicking as the core when I bought the aftermarket one.

Spend a lifetime replacing them

The trick there is to install a new tranny seal and not seat it all the way.

Just heard that trick last week from a 944 nut. Not seating the seal fully allows it to mate with a "virgin" spot on the shaft.