X5 CV Boot Replacement
 

;) Does anyone could give me any hints or guidance as to how to replace the front cv boot on my 2001 X5, what special tools do I need if any?

36 (?) mm 12 point socket for the hub nuts. BIG breaker bar. They are torqued to nearly 300 ft lbs. Don't forget to open the locking tab (staved) part of the old hub nut. KEEP EVERYTHING CLEAN once you clean it off. Dirt/grit in the CV joint equals very expensive replacement parts. Make sure you torque it up properly when you finish and stave the locking part down on the NEW hub nuts.

replacement (reman) half shafts are $500 each from the stealer!

I have not been able to find another source for half shafts yet.

list price is 380.00 from the dealer for the 609mm later shafts. made by loebro and should hit the aftermarket when the current X5 chassis is out of production.

After replacing the drive belt and radiator today at 61k miles. I found out my driver side front wheel boot had a crack, with all the mess around the wheel I thought i was a tar from the road. Unfortunately, it is not. With a little crack happened there after I had the car back from the steeler on Monday, with stereo replacement and a week before that I had an Inspection II done by the dealer. I was thinking that is it possible the dealer did it. I will post the picture later for you guy to see.
Does anyone have this problem at 60K miles? I am still under 100K miles warranty, does this cover the mechanical CV boot? I know my deductible is $100. I don't think it is worth to fix it myself on this one? Any suggestion what I should do before I drive this car to dealer where is 80 miles away with out having big mess when I get there? Thanks guys.

My boots were done at 38K. It's a common problem that the stealer should have spotted! If memory serves I remember other posts stating that the dealer will charge you $600 to fit a $39.95 part per side.

My front left boot spewed around 55k miles on my 00 4.4. These boots just don't seem to last as long as they should compared to other vehicles. Definitely a known bug on the X5.

Here is my left front driver side, the boot cracked at 61K miles

67k boots are fine, I dont think they generally go to soon, I see a lot of quattro Audi's have front boot failure around 50k.

Here's the question, if you go in to fix one, do you fix them both? once the shaft is out you might as well do the inside one also.

The inners boots do not go as often as they do not hae to flex as far as the outers as they have to follow the front (steering) wheels. It's the constant flexing that does them in. I remember reading about early failures on the Explorer site when people put lift kits in. Again the boots have more flexing to do because of the kit and it really chews them up.

I called the dealer services and they told me that they replace the whole half shaft, which means replacing the whole thing. But after called talk to service manager and he told me may be just the boot itself unless there is a problem with a cv joint start having some noise. There is advantage and disadvantage of replace partial or entire half shalf, cost more for the whole thing, waist more times if it's only replace partial. If the dealer replace just the boot I would rather replace them myself, but my car still under warranty I will spend $100.00 for deductible each times it get fix.

Just a thought on premature CV boot failure; it could be that the early failures occur on vehicles which the driver tends to park with the steering in a turned position thereby putting the boot in a constant streatched/stressed position for many hours/days until it finally yields.

I personally ALWAYS leave the vehicle steering straight when parked to preclude this potential stress. I currently have over 82,000 miles on my 2001 4.4i without failure.

You cant do that in San Francisco, you will get a ticket if your parked on a hill and dont curb your wheels, and if someone bumps you and you roll into the car in front of you because your wheels are not curbed, you will be required to pay for the damage to the car you hit.

I always park straight, garaged at night, etc. These boots never had it so good!! :-)

Regarding replacing both sides at once, my independent mechanic did do both sides at once, and my extended warranty covered it. But replacing halfshafts etc. was not necessary after he inspected them. I think we caught this pretty early after it cracked.