Axle Question

[karrkrazzie]

Okay, so look under my car today and saw that the rubber covering on the side of my axle by the wheel is loose/ coming off. The grease is coming out of it. It is still kind of on there, bu not seeled... I am supposed to be driving my car up to minnesota in 1.5 days... about 400 miles both ways... Is it okay for the trip, just replace it when I get back or do I have to do it before I go?

[Brian P]

Is it loose, or split somewhere?

 

Do anything you can to keep that boot in place... maybe a worm clamp or HD zip tie if it's just loose.

[Andrew]

if the boot is trashed, get a replacement, and grease the hell out of the joint before you install the new one. CV's dont do well with zero grease, and being open to the elements.

[1990lumina]

If it's torn open I would fix it NOW, or repalce the whole axle assembly when you get home. Any little bit of dirt that gets in the joint will fuck it up right away.

[Crazy K]

this the new one? It should be warrentied.

 

if you are just driving it... I believe it will last reasonably long enough.... hell might go years... but it might start developing vibrations...

[Hairdo12]

I consider drive axles on our cars throw away (unless there is a core charge). They cost about $60 at Advance Auto and take about 30 minutes to replace. A torn boot is enough for me to consider it compromised and needing to be replaced, its simply not worth saving on an automatic.

 

As long as its not raining too much, you should get away with driving with it. I wouldn't really care if it gets destroyed because as I said, its better it just gets replaced. Quick boots should get you nothing but a punch in the head and replacing the boot with a solid one takes probably five times longer and you still have an axle that could still go to crap in 2 days because you don't know whats already found its way inside.