CV BOOT REPLACED IN 30 MINUTES

[ake53]

Originally Posted by stevekat

Try this:

2003 BMW X5 CV Half Shaft Assembly

thank you stevekat!

[Mistere311]

Thanks for the post and information here. Swapped out the drivers side shaft, and replaced the passenger outer boot while changing into some Meryle HD thrust arms and ball joints. Once you have one side done, its like half the time to do the other because you know exactly what to do!

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by bakersx5

I have called a couple of more places today and both said they wouldnt re-boot the CV joint, the would only replace the half shaft. Said i would be back getting it replaced anyway. anybody have a problem with just replacing the boot???

Had both of my boots replaced when I brought my X, that was 12 months ago and 8,000 miles. If the CV is clicking you better off replacing the axle instead of rebooting. I test drove my truck and listen for any clicking noise and didn't hear any so I just rebooted both CV joints.

[jdudjak]

I just did this job this weekend and it was a hard one. I went to an Auto Hobby shop on a military base where I have access to a lift, air impact wrench, large impact sockets, a puller for the hub, etc. At first I tried the method to remove the shaft from the cv joint while it was still installed in the hub. That was a no go. The c-clip would just not release. Then I realized I had to remove the shaft from the hub to get at the outer CV joint and replace the boot. The good news is that I did not have to take the caliper, ABS sensor, wheel, or strut apart. All I had to do was disconnect one end of the control arm from the body of the car. I have copied a picture from tspeed and I drew a box around which control arm to remove to create enough room to remove the shaft from the wheel.

Removing the shaft was tough, and it requires a lot of torque to remove the indents on the nut. You can either do this with an impact wrench, or a long breaker bar with a pipe. The nut comes off relatively easy. Once the nut is off, then the hard part begins. Removing the shaft from the wheel can be done by using a puller. The puller will bolt into the rotor using lug nuts, and then push on the center of the hub pushing the shaft out of the wheel. Even with this puller, it took a lot of hammering on the CV joint at the same time to jar the shaft loose from the hub. Eventually with a LOT of force, the shaft was pushed out of the wheel. Then you can rotate the wheel assembly out of the way to expose the shaft and CV joint. Then just put a vice grip on the shaft, and hammer the exposed edge of the CV joint away from the middle of the shaft and the c-clip will release with relative ease. Then you pack the CV joint with new grease, and put the CV joint back together. Put the new boot on the shaft, but do not install it on the CV joint yet. When you put the CV joint back together, put the shaft with the C-clip into the cv joint by hand and push it as far as you can. Then use a hammer with a small blow to the outer shaft and the C-clip will seat and you won't be able to take the shaft and CV joint apart again. Then you can install the CV joint back into the wheel (this is the splined shaft on the outer edge of the CV joint that enters the wheel). Hammer softly on the exposed edge of the CV joint to get it to seat into ths splines of the hub. Once it is seated enough so you have threads that the axle nut can grab on to, then you can install the boot all the way onto the CV joint. Use special pliers to install the new clamps on the rubber boot.

Put your impact wrench or breaker bar and socket on the new axle nut that came with the kit and seat the CV joint all the way into the wheel. Torque it to BMW specs and then detent the nut. Install the control arm back into the body of the car, clean the brakes, install the tire and you are done! You don't even have to get an alignment when you are done because all you did was unbolt one end of a control arm that was not adjustable. This job took me 4 hours with the help of a buddy and I was done. I could probably do it again in 2 hours.

[stevekat]

Make sure to put the vehicle on the ground with its full weight before you torque the bolt and nut holding the control arm into the body.

[powers1]

After replacing Front left wheel bearing at 72,000 kms .now with just 75,000 kms, I had to replace the outer cv boot.
About 1 hour job and didnt have to resort to any of my dealer special tools,but did use OE boot kit
*Removed wheel,
*unbolted the lower control arm
*removed wheel hub nut,
*tapped shaft out of hub,
*Pushed the wheel hub/suspension to the front of the car and held it by
securing it with a cable ,thus giving me room to remove CV joint and replace boot.
*Some of you may be reluctant to do this ,but it really is very easy.Put a vice grip on the shaft, tilts the cv joint down and hammer the outside edge of the CV joint away from the middle of the shaft and the c-clip will release with relative ease.
*Cut out torn cv boot ,check, clean,insert small clamp to shaft, then CV boot,then big clamp.
*Replace C clip on shaft with new one and push in Cv joint to shaft
*Fill Cv joint with grease (black ),put the cv boot in its
position,groove etc.Tighten the small inside clamp,tightly with my dealer supplied pincers.(yes,pincers!
*IMPORTANT!before you tighten the big clamp,insert a small screwdriver and
release vacuum from CV boot (failure to do this may shorten life of boot )
*Release hub/suspension from cable ,so its loose again and insert shaft into
hub.Shaft will go in nicely but never enough for you to tighten the nut,so
you need tp hold on shaft on the vice grip and tap evenly on the disc/rotor
to pull the shaft out suficiently to have a few threads for you thread the nut.
When you are confident ,you can thread the nut on the shaft ,DO NOT use
impact wrench YET!Do it manually until you pushed most of the shaft out
*Now you can use the impact wrench and tighten it fully (about 250-300Nms).Dont know why BMW recommend 420Nms when all the ones we have removed here,were removed at less than 300Nms!!!
*Tighten the lower control arm but not fully ,fit wheel ,lower vehicle ,tighten wheel to 100-120 Nms and then tighten control arm bolt fully.

Only advantage I had ,was using the lift at work ,but all the can be done on the ground with a car jack ,only awkward is doing the lower control arm bolt

[floydturbo]

I just replaced the drivers side outer boot in less than an hour. A year or two ago I did the front right outer boot using the method where you take off the axle nut. This method is so much easier. A few notes. Remove the suspension strut with a 16mm and 18mm socket. Use the vise grip and large screwdriver to take the play out of the system. I then used a brass 3/4" by 10" long drift with a 3lb hammer. After 2-3 hits, the joint came apart. The rest is just dirty work. The trick is the preload the joint and then hit with a hammer. Also, when putting the splined shaft back into the joint, use a small screw driver to compress the c clip in the groove.

[Multibeemer]

You're one of the lucky ones - go out and buy a lottery ticket. I pried and pounded on that outer axle connection for over an hour with practically every tool in my garage, and it wouldn't budge a micron. Many others have had the same experience, and were forced to remove the inside splined connection, which makes the job take five times as long.

[stevekat]

Before I'd go through the mess of removing the inside connection, I'd take off the axle nut and push the axle out of the hub. I used a rotary hammer from Harbor Freight with 20% off coupon. I believe it was $80 or $100. Used a bull nose chisel with it. Not too bad considering it can be used for future work (or the other side!)

[UKenGB]

I just did the Fr LH outer CV boot. I removed caliper and rotor and released the disc guard just because that was all very easy and made it easier to work on the rest. Overall, it's not complicated, however you choose to do it, but do NOT underestimate how hard it can be to get the shaft out of the CV joint.

As with many jobs like this, applying force in the correct place in the correct direction is of paramount importance. I found a hammer and drift to be a complete waste of time. I used a variety of tools to hold the shaft so I could lever off the CV joint. For a long time it just seemed impossible, then I got it just right and with no great force, off it popped. As I said, it's the correct application of the force that's important.

Getting the shaft back in the centre of the CV joint was easy. By hand get it started, then use a screwdriver to carefully centralise the C clip and a bit of a push and it's all together. Certainly no hammering required. I didn't hear any click, but once together it was once again easy to slide the shaft in and out a few mm (clearance of C clip in its groove) as before which confirms it's all in place.

Next time I might make a tool to clamp on the shaft and provide that perfect point for leverage and the job will be much quicker, but 30 mins? That just doesn't seem possible.