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Old 11-22-2011, 11:59 AM
Multibeemer Multibeemer is offline
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Austin, TX
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I agree with romeokc10's assessment. This was the first time I had dealt with Oetiker clamps, so it took me way longer than it would have if I had done this before. I spent a lot of time making sure I got the clamps as tight around the boots as I could before pinching the protruding crimping nub thingy. I was afraid that if I didn't get the clamps at their tightest possible position prior to the crimping step, I would run the risk of the crimping not having sufficient room to fully tighten the clamps. Doing this is very awkward, as you have to hold the clamp with one hand to keep it from turning on the boot while using the other hand to try to push the clamp to the next position. This wasn't an issue with the clamps taht came with the boots, because they were sized to fit perfectly to the boot. The clamps I ordered from the site romeokc10 mentioned were adjustable, so I wanted to make sure I got it right before crimping. In the end, it all worked out fine; as I said, I spent way too long on this.

I also had a little trouble breaking the old clamps open. It must have been just me. For some reason, this step went much faster on the drivers side. Having the right size wire cutters would be a big help here.

I also had no trouble whatsoever knocking the tripod joints off the axles. I just used a hammer and a blunt-ended punch. The positioning can be a little awkward, but once you get yourself into a comfortable position, it's pretty easy. I used a 27 mm socket to drive it back on. Make sure you drive it on all the way to allow the circlip to fit into its groove.

Romeokc10 - My outer boot clip did not come with a new collar nut, which greatly influenced my decision to go in through the inner joint.

Tspeed - Sounds like you may have found some suitable stuff to use as grease on the inner joint. In my case, I was careful to preserve as much of the existing stuff as possible. I used about a tube of the CRC stuff on top of the inner grease that was left. Very little dripped out, particularly on the passenger side. Good luck!
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Last edited by Multibeemer; 11-22-2011 at 01:25 PM.
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