CV BOOT REPLACED IN 30 MINUTES

[kevinkay]

Another believer in the "inside out" method!

I have in the past be able to release the clip on the outside (with much finagling).
Since I am a proponent of changing both inside and outside boots if your going through the trouble and since I caught my rip early, (mine ripped close to the narrow end and a zip tie bought be a couple of days). I dropped the lower control arm, cut the straps and pulled out the triple roller. Hardest part was finding the holes in the retaining ring.

Re-read this whole post before starting, VERY confused - I dropped the LOWER control arm (the straight one) I understand Bentley as saying this can be torqued on the jack and that its the UPPER, curved control arm that needs to be torqued on the ground????

outer boot fail at 60K and almost to the date 4 years.

[craigsx5]

After 160,000klm, I have finally experienced my first torn outer CV boots. There was no clicking noises on hard lock, so I figured I could get away with just replacing the outer boots.

After reading all these posts, I thought it might be a bit too time consuming and difficult to do this myself.
If something didn't work right, I may have had to try the inside out method and buy new parts (inside boots/grease); or have to buy a new hub puller and 12 point/36mm socket etc., and hope for the best.

So I decided to take a leap of faith in my independent mechanic and get him to do it, instead.
To be on the safe side, I copied Post No. 36 from "dville" of this thread on page 4, and gave it to the mechanic!

How lucky was that........he followed the instructions (he didn't have to remove the brakes or sensors, the 12 point 36mm bolt, the outside of the hub, the strut bolts, any ball joints or the inner CV joint). The whole procedure went perfectly, took about 1 hour for both sides of the car and cost only $80.00 plus parts!
He said that without those instructions, he would have done it the conventional and slower way.......probably would have added another 2 hours labour to the procedure, and maybe extra parts.

Here are those instructions for your information, below:

"Nothing to remove really....
1) unbolt the control arm (the straight arm) at the end closer to the engine.
2) swing out the whole assembly by hand and afix with something firmly
3) remove outer boot clamps and cut off the outer boot.
4) grab the drive axle firmly with vice grips and pry the shaft out of the CV joint against the force of the retaining C-clip. [Use a large pry bar and/or piece of timber to lever it out. If hard to shift, use some sharp blows to the shaft or CV joint, whilst prying]
5) wipe off grease, install new clamp, boot, clamp and C-clip.
6) while applying pressure to push axle back into CV joint, use a good sized screwdriver and poke at the C-clip until it snaps in.
7) Apply the grease from the packet and then tighten clamps.
8) put on the control arm (tie rod) and only tighten it once vehicle weight is on the front wheels."

Just give these instructions to your independent mechanic, and you should save $heaps, too!

[StephenVA]

Congrats!

[squidzilla]

Is it possible this method will work on any BMW AWD car? The reason I ask is my e46 XI is now showing grease on the passenger side front wheel. I am certain it is the boot that is torn.

Being new, I am thinking "sure it will work on an xi as well", but what the hell do I know. My mechanics resume is shorter than this post.

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by squidzilla

Is it possible this method will work on any BMW AWD car? The reason I ask is my e46 XI is now showing grease on the passenger side front wheel. I am certain it is the boot that is torn.

Being new, I am thinking "sure it will work on an xi as well", but what the hell do I know. My mechanics resume is shorter than this post.

I haven't looked at how the e46 axle hangs together but I have used variations on this quick method on at least a dozen cars over the years; VW Golfs, Toyotas, Mazdas and my E53. There's a "quick" method for nearly every vehicle. but as always, the devil is in the detail.

Study how the axle fits together and you'll see how you can get the new boot on with a minimum of work. The biggest factor will be clearance for removing the shaft from the CV or the axle from the hub; on the E53, simply removing the rear lower control arm gives you enough clearance to do either but this is not true for all vehicle, due to differing front arm arrangements.

[docnabimmer]

I did it with my e46 ,released the outer tie rod end so I can swing the entire hub away, but in my case as, i did it the same way i did it in my E53 by unclamping the inner boot and thereby releasing the tripod from the inner hub? then unclamped the outer CV boot, gave the tripod a good whack with a crowbar and the outer CV joint came off from the outer hub.Cleaned inserted big inner clamp ,inner boot, inner boot clamp then outer clamp, outer boot ,outer clamp thru the outer "free" end .Installed free end into outer hub ,packed with grease,burped and tightened clamps.Then packed inner hub with grease installed adapter ,then the tripod,into inner hub,pushed inner boot to over inner hub,burped,clamped and tightened. Installed the outer tie rod end tightened to spec...so there all this without taking the entire outer cv joint out of the wheel assembly,and without taking the tripod off the axle rod? itself.
Some folks have done it differently but this works for me,...took me an hour taking my time compared to the whole afternoon that it took when i did both inner and outer boots both passenger and driver side for the E53, it was my first time.

[squidzilla]

Originally Posted by docnabimmer

I did it with my e46 ,released the outer tie rod end so I can swing the entire hub away, but in my case as, i did it the same way i did it in my E53 by unclamping the inner boot and thereby releasing the tripod from the inner hub? then unclamped the outer CV boot, gave the tripod a good whack with a crowbar and the outer CV joint came off from the outer hub.Cleaned inserted big inner clamp ,inner boot, inner boot clamp then outer clamp, outer boot ,outer clamp thru the outer "free" end .Installed free end into outer hub ,packed with grease,burped and tightened clamps.Then packed inner hub with grease installed adapter ,then the tripod,into inner hub,pushed inner boot to over inner hub,burped,clamped and tightened. Installed the outer tie rod end tightened to spec...so there all this without taking the entire outer cv joint out of the wheel assembly,and without taking the tripod off the axle rod? itself.
Some folks have done it differently but this works for me,...took me an hour taking my time compared to the whole afternoon that it took when i did both inner and outer boots both passenger and driver side for the E53, it was my first time.

Thanks for this. An hour sounds good to me. I think it has been spewing grease for about 50 miles, since it is pretty fresh and not coated with any dirt. Do you suggest doing both boots? I was only going to do the outer one ( it is the one on the right when sitting in the passenger seat facing forward)

[docnabimmer]

Since this procedure requires separating the outboard and inboard boots from their respective joints , would be prudent to replace both with new and not worry about it later. I used GKN outer and Rein inner boots, reused the inner adapter, used new inner and outer spring clips.For less than $35 and a weekend, bought myself piece of mind that I have new boots on that hopefully will equal my last one at (E53) 5 years....(E46) 6yrs....

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by docnabimmer

Since this procedure requires separating the outboard and inboard boots from their respective joints , would be prudent to replace both with new and not worry about it later.

At least one of the variations on this procedure doesn't require touching the inner boot if changing the outer one. In this case, if the inner boot looks OK (and they last a long time anyway) you can save some time/cash by leaving it alone. YMMV (literally!)

[docnabimmer]

Whatever works since labor is not an issue at this point and thanks to this thread if the inner goes, just "wash and repeat" lol.....