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-   -   CV BOOT REPLACED IN 30 MINUTES (https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x5-e53-forum/73878-cv-boot-replaced-30-minutes.html)

Weasel 01-10-2011 09:12 AM

It could be a mix of wearing parts and alignment a bit off... maybe get it checked out, or if you have the funds change the lot of it then align and don't have to worry about it for the next few years.

blktoptrvl 02-20-2011 03:47 PM

Time for me to do this job.

Question:

I don't have anyone around I would trust under the car with me...

For those of you who have been able to do the passenger side boot (US Vehicle), where you able to do it single handed or is an assistant needed?

1024X5 02-20-2011 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blktoptrvl (Post 806394)
Time for me to do this job.

Question:

I don't have anyone around I would trust under the car with me...

For those of you who have been able to do the passenger side boot (US Vehicle), where you able to do it single handed or is an assistant needed?

It doesn't take long...maybe a couple of hours.
I did it alone

P.S. It was the driver side that I did.

blktoptrvl 02-20-2011 06:08 PM

A couple of hours I can spare... Just don't want to get stuck in the middle and find I need another hand.

Thanks.

Peter D 02-23-2011 08:13 PM

Guys,

I had been reading this thread and was planning to do the outer front CV boots on my '04 E53 when the weather warmed, at 118k they looked like they were ready to pop...
Enter "Murphy's Law", I had both outer boots fail this week, given the cold I had to have a local (German only) indy shop do the outer boots today.

After reading this thread I was sure they had to do this the long way by following the DIY outlined in the sticky or pull the inner boot via the 30 minute method and re boot the outer CV joint that way.

They did neither......, the inner boot bands are original and the spindle nut was not removed. To my surprize it appears they cut the damaged outer boots off, and disassebled the outer CV joint to seperate the shaft, re booted and reassembled. 4.2 hours labor for the total job.

Anyone heard of this method, it seems logical??

Weasel 02-23-2011 09:51 PM

That is one of the ways I do it, and that is a pretty good labor time for that job in a shop actually.

fp997 02-28-2011 02:56 AM

Here are the instructions for the "simpler" CV boot replacement. Hopefully people can learn from this and get it done faster than what it took me (about 6 hours). Much of the time was spent removing the axle nut and seperating the CV joint from the axle shaft.
Thanks to amacman, Weasel, nigelrfoster, hayaku, etc.

Step 1:
Apply parking brake. Put blocks behind rear wheel, etc.
Jack the car partway up using the jackpoint.
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/1760/image001gad.jpg

Step 2:

Loosen the lug nuts

Step 3:
Jack the car up enough so that you can remove the wheel. Remove the wheel and pop out the centercap.
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/787/image003uu.jpg

Step 4:
Put the wheel back on. Use a flat screwdriver to unbend the bits of the axle nut which were bent in (the bent portions prevent the nut from turning -- so we need to bend those out). You may be able to reuse the axle nut, but mine seems have been reused once before, so I bought a new one.
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/2878/image005uv.jpg

The socket you need is a 36mm 12 point socket.
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7086/image007ei.jpg

At this point, if you have an impact wrench, then it would be good to use it to remove the axle nut. It took me quite a while to remove this using the breaker bar. Part of the reason is that the axle nut is very shallow. As a result, it is hard to use a bar on it since the bar applies torque a distance away from the nut, and also applies downward pressure.
I used a floor jack and a breaker bar to loosen this nut. It took a couple tries as the joint in the bar would flex. The contraption I used is below. Note I also used a piece of wood to apply pressure to the socket while using the jack.
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/3531/image009pn.jpg

Step 5:
After the nut has been removed, the wheel may be removed and set aside. At the point, I rotated the steering wheel. This will make it easier to remove the joint. When doing the passenger side, i rotated the wheel to the left.

Step 6:
Remove the caliper. There are two 16mm bolts at the rear. Once removed, the caliper slides out. I used a bent coathanger (4 wires thick) to hang it off the spring.
(bolt 1)
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2835/image011y.png

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7007/image013zy.jpg

Step 7:
Set a jack underneath the rotor as shown. This is to prevent the assembly from falling. It will allow the hub to be tilted in and out.
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/7861/image015f.png


Step 8:
There are two bolts on the lower portion of the strut. One upper one, and one lower one. In order to access the upper one, the ABS sensor must be unplugged and the wire moved out of the way to allow access to the bolt. Remove the two bolts, and swing the top of the hub assembly outward just to make sure it moves the way it should.

Below shows the two bolts (the wire is running in front of them) which need to be removed.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2138/image017v.png
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3251/image019r.jpg

(below you can see the wire is detached from the holder, giving access to the upper bolt )
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/4027/image021hq.jpg

Step 9:
Use a flat screwdriver to release both clamps on the CV boot. Slide the boot back as much as you can. You could cut and remove it, but I didn't want to create a larger mess than necessary.

Step 10:
Pay attention to how much of the splines is visible outside of the CV joint. That is about how much should be there after you put it back on!
I used a set of vice grips in the narrower channel of the half shaft. I then used a piece of wood and a pry bar to push against the metal joint cup. I didn't use THAT much force, and it popped out.
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6136/image023eu.jpg

Step 11:
I actually pulled the hub assembly (where we removed the top two bolts) out. Be careful. When you do this, the strut will swivel as the tension is released. This gave me more room to play. I then used a combination of pushing the shaft in, combined with tilting the hub out in order to release the shaft from the CV joint.
(the below is what it looks like after doing that. Note that the shock assembly will twist perpendicular)
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2914/image025fk.jpg
I suppose at this point you could slide out the old boot and put in the new one. However, I wanted to ensure my CV joint was clean.

Step 12: (Don't need to do this if you're not interested in cleaning the joint):
Use a hub puller to push the end of the axle in. When you do this, you should see it move inward (and if you look from the back, you will see the splines revealed). I had to use a socket extension since the center of my puller wasn't long enough. It will just fall off -- so be careful.
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4654/image027pf.jpg
You could use a 3 claw puller, but I heard it will rip off the dust shield. Didn't want to damage things.

Step 13: (Don't need to do this if you're not interested in cleaning the joint):
I took out all the balls out of the CV joint. You do this by just tilting the insides to allow the balls to be picked out one by one (adjusting the angle each time). Pay attention to the inner ring here. That inner ring piece is actually thicker on one side than the other. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but mine was the thinner ring on the outer part. http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4814/image029ri.jpghttp://img541.imageshack.us/img541/3447/image031d.jpg

You can remove the inner and outer ring by angling it as shown (basically so its perpendicular and sticking out), and sorta playing with it to release it.
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/8762/image033z.jpg
The inside part comes out the same way. Pay attention to which side is facing the outside as well (the two sides are not the same).



http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/8326/image037tt.jpg





Step 14: (Don't need to do this if you're not interested in cleaning the joint):
Clean all the pieces, and put it together. Put in some grease (not all), and just move the joint around to lubricate all of it. It was 23oF at the time, and the metal pieces were all, so it wasn't very comfortable working on this for a long time. I did a few rounds with the joint until the grease looked it moved around sufficiently. I put about 1/2 of the grease in here.

Step 15: Slide the inner, and then the outer metal bands on the shaft. Then slide the CV boot on. Push it inward so you have room to work.

Step 16: Install the C clip on the shaft. I used the hose clamp thing to compress C clip. This is nigelfoster's idea. I basically tightened it so that it compresses the clip, and then taht way when inserted into the joint, the joint will push the clamp away, and hopefully allow the c clip to expand inside the CV joint.
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/848/image039n.jpg



Step 17: Carefully put the CV joint back onto the shaft. Push it in as much as you can with your strength, then hold it while somebody hammers it in the end. It didn't take that much hammering. Just used a regular hammer. Look at the exposed spline and make sure its similar to what was seen in Step 10. You can also test the fit. You know the C clip has expanded inside the channel because you can actually slide the CV joint in and out like 1 mm or so -- because the clip is a bit smaller than the channel (so the movement is possible as the clip hits the front and back of the channel).

Step 18: mangle the CV joint shaft back through the hub assembly. While holding the rotor, use a mallet (hopefully plastic/hard rubber) and whack the edge of the CV joint cup till the CV joint axle is showing through the hub assembly.

Step 19: Grab the strut (if you pulled out the hub assembly in Step 11), and twist it so that you line up the strut bolts again. Stick in a bolt just to make sure it stays in place.

Step 20: Hammer the edge of the CV joint cup a few more times until you can see the treads of the CV joint axle out of the hub.

Step 21: Slide the boot on. I started with the bottom part first. Theres a little ridge where the inner ring of the CV boot will slide into. Once I had the bottom half of the boot on, I squeezed the rest of the grease inside, and put the rings on. I use an "ear type" of boot plier.

The rest shouldn't be difficult. Basically:
- Tighten the axle nut as much as you reasonably can right now.
- Put back the strut bolts.
- Put back the caliper
- Put wheel back on
- Lower car a little
- Tighten axle nut. (300ft lb).
- Use a chisel to dent the sides of the axle nut so that it fits within the grove in the CV joint axle
- Put wheel cap back on.

... note, I took a picture of the old boot. The new boot was made by REIN. I suspect the old one was as well, as they have the same numbers (925-9 vs 925-10). However In noticed the old one has these rings in the around each section (sort of a line). It was along one of these lines where it broke (after like 5k miles). The new one did NOT have these rings. We'll see how it holds up.

(you can see the rings near the folds on the rubber. The split in the boot was along these rings). My indie claimed he used a factory BMW boot. Turns out he didn’t!
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/8914/image041o.jpg

Vs this one. Note no rings by the folds: (this one is a Rein -- I presume above is a Rein as well (since both the above broken one and my new one both had 2X925 on it -- but the older one had rings near the folds, and the one I replaced it with didn't).

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/6994/image043.png


Also, I bought an inner boot just to be safe. I noticed my inner boot (also made by REIN) was a different material from the outer boot. It was a shinier harder/stiffer material. Not sure if thats good or not. I ended up not changing the inner boot since I was sort of suspicious of the material it was made of. I'll just see how long the factory boot lasts.

Another note: Apparently there are two types of CV boots. Ones for 27mm shafts, and one for 29mm shafts. I think there is a date cutoff (later E53.1 have the 29mm shafts). However, I measured my half shaft with a caliper prior to ordering to make sure I have the right one.


Thanks again for the help along the way. Cheers


mfiver 03-10-2011 03:36 PM

latest thinking on this procedure
 
OK guys, whats the latest thinking on this?

I have to replace the outer drivers side boot. Local indy says 3 hours min to replace boot and recommends replacing entire axle for $166 parts + 2 hours labor.
I'm plan on having the X for many years and I'm concerned how long the aftermarket CV's and boots are going to last.

So I guess it's DIY time.....

• Has anyone really done an outer CV in 30 minutes or even an hour?

• What's the recommended approach....unbolt control arm at frame, per dville

• In dville's method, don't you have to remove the outer c-clip before you can pull the axle out of the outer cv? removing outer c-clip is not mentioned:

I found another thread from a BMW dealer employee.
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 driveaxle firmy with vice grips and pry the shaft out of the CV joint against the force of the retaining C-clip.
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 tie rod and only tighten it once vehicle weight is on the front wheels.


• If you pull the axle out of the outer CV per above, are you still able to clean and re-grease outer CV?

• As long as I'm doing the outer boot, should I do the inner? (2004 4.4 w/65K)

Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks guys!

fp997 03-10-2011 05:39 PM

It took me a few hours to do my CV boot (method described in the pics above). However, I think I can do it faster the second time around.

The method I did worked quite well. However, I'm thinking whether I really had to remove the axle Nut and CV joint. I think you still can clean it and stuff with it on, but you won't be able to do as good of a job.

If you can replace the axle, its not much more work to take apart the joint and repack it. I don't know about those $166 axles -- I like to use the BMW parts on a beefy car like this (rather than some noname -- hopefully its not from China). The CV joint is pretty tough. Very high quality and strong metal, so its usually pretty good if you just clean it out and repack it.

I didn't do the inner boot. I figure by the time it fails I need to do the outer again anyway. Having said that, its not difficult to do once the outer is out.

I opted to do the procedure myself so that I can do it again if need be. When my indie changed it last time (ex BMW dealer service guy), it broke shortly after. I think the boot was sort of twisted when it was put on... either that or poor quality boot (see the pics). Anyway, I don't want a repeat show so I did it myself.

amacman 03-11-2011 01:15 AM

mfiver , any garage / mechanic pricing any job is going to want to make money .
most job rates quoted allow more time for rusted / stubborn bolts or inexperienced mechanics . or just simply to make a lot of money .
the thread title says 30 minutes which is reasonable for any experienced mechanic , neither of us had ever replaced a cv boot on an X5 . the procedure is similar on most front wheel drive boots .
the time taken went like this -
drive X5 into workshop noting time on wall clock
shunt X5 back and forth between clutter and a recent delivery of tyres to turn sharp 90 degrees onto lift .
exit X5 , raise lift , position tall axle stand , lower lift enough to get wheel in air , remove wheel .
fetch tools from opposite side of workshop , carry out procedure shown at the beginning of this thread whist taking photos , shunt X5 back out of workshop noting time on wall clock as I drove out the door .

TOTAL TIME TAKEN WAS 27 MINUTES .
only use cv boot from BMW dealer , anything else is of inferior quality .
the procedure you suggest is the easiest way to do the job and you will be able to clean the cv joint easily whist the cup is still attached to the hub .
take your time to study everything written on this and you will be able to do the job .
if anyone quoted me 3 hours for this job I would be sure to watch for 3 hours because they woud need to do the same procedure as hayaku .
killcrap claims 15 minutes doing the procedure you mention and I have no doubt this can be done if you are experienced .

big thanks to fp997 and others for your contributions to this thread
keep them coming .
good luck .


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