If I had no bad luck...

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BlackSheepRebel

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More proof I can never gamble. If there is a 50/50 chance of something going wrong... :)

As mentioned in a few other threads, I've leveled with the Bilstein 5100's and RC UCAs. One of the RC UCAs had a torn grease boot I didn't notice until after install when I greased it. Not calling RC, because there's a chance I blew it out... anything's possible in my garage. However, I just puffed up the boot and stopped. Same on the other side w/o any issues. Only way to replace that is replacing the ball joint (I guess) -- for now it's wrapped in self sealing tape to prevent a mess.

Onto the bigger issue... when I installed the 5100's everything looked fine, but got a clunk on first test drive. Thanks to this forum, figured out it was likely top nuts needing tightened a bit more. Took the risk and hit both sides with an impact for a few seconds, but couldn't let it rest. Reassembled the driver side to compare how many threads were exposed vs the impact-only side (turns out it was the same so I could have prevented this fiasco by calling it done).

After reassembling, the clunk was gone... but I noticed some grease slung around. My first thought was I'd let some drop from the upper ball joint, so cleaned it up and moved on. Next drive, same thing. Wait a minute? Again? Oh and it's black not red and tacky. Sure enough, cleaned it up and looked around and found a small gouge in my outer CV boot. Amazing luck. I must have got into it while prying the strut back into place.

Been watching videos, and when you search "torn CV boot" you get a lot of "replace the axle" videos which makes sense because they assume it's old. Being a new-ish truck, I'm trying to figure out if it's worth cheating a bit and just replacing the boot. I did an axle replacement with my Dad on his power wagon, but given my luck I'd like to avoid tearing thigns apart any more than necessary. Is something like this a good idea? Other easy ways to just replace the boot?


Thanks for any advice!
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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The more I think about this, the less I want to replace the boot at all.

Since the hole is tiny, I'm thinking of going full redneck and using super glue, rtv silicon or maybe urethane sealant to patch the small holes. Maybe a few rounds of self sealing tape or flexiseal for reinforcement (though I doubt anything more than the urethane would be necessary for the pinhole). Obviously going to town with some degreaser and a toothbrush first to get it pristine.

My thinking is even the split-boot solutions end up with a massive glued seam...why not just have a smaller glue hack job? If/when it starts leaking again, I can replace the whole boot.

Leaning toward the urethane, since it's proven in windshields, waterproof, temp/corosion resistant, sticky as hell and more flexible than super glue... I'm afraid the super glue would be more likely to crack overf time.

I'm sure everyone has better things to do than read about my mishaps, but for anyone wondering...that's what I've decied to try.
 

British Bulldog

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I have used the black weatherstrip adhesive before on just this issue……my issue was a lot bigger than a pin hole too! Lasted as long as I owned the car.

I find it faintly amusing I can’t write pinPr!c& here? What happens when you poke yourself with a pin????
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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I have used the black weatherstrip adhesive before on just this issue……my issue was a lot bigger than a pin hole too! Lasted as long as I owned the car.

I find it faintly amusing I can’t write pinPr!c& here? What happens when you poke yourself with a pin????
Thanks for sharing real world experience, and proving yet again why any form of censorship (but especially those automated through technology) is bound to fail. At least here it is entertaining, more often catastrophic (how often unknown algorithms affect our lives and perceptions is an interesting rabbit hole).
 

British Bulldog

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No problem! I was a bodge it and fix it mechanic in a Ford dealership for years in U.K. I learnt some interesting short cuts to earn bonus.
 

Quick_Shifter

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More proof I can never gamble. If there is a 50/50 chance of something going wrong... :)

As mentioned in a few other threads, I've leveled with the Bilstein 5100's and RC UCAs. One of the RC UCAs had a torn grease boot I didn't notice until after install when I greased it. Not calling RC, because there's a chance I blew it out... anything's possible in my garage. However, I just puffed up the boot and stopped. Same on the other side w/o any issues. Only way to replace that is replacing the ball joint (I guess) -- for now it's wrapped in self sealing tape to prevent a mess.

Onto the bigger issue... when I installed the 5100's everything looked fine, but got a clunk on first test drive. Thanks to this forum, figured out it was likely top nuts needing tightened a bit more. Took the risk and hit both sides with an impact for a few seconds, but couldn't let it rest. Reassembled the driver side to compare how many threads were exposed vs the impact-only side (turns out it was the same so I could have prevented this fiasco by calling it done).

After reassembling, the clunk was gone... but I noticed some grease slung around. My first thought was I'd let some drop from the upper ball joint, so cleaned it up and moved on. Next drive, same thing. Wait a minute? Again? Oh and it's black not red and tacky. Sure enough, cleaned it up and looked around and found a small gouge in my outer CV boot. Amazing luck. I must have got into it while prying the strut back into place.

Been watching videos, and when you search "torn CV boot" you get a lot of "replace the axle" videos which makes sense because they assume it's old. Being a new-ish truck, I'm trying to figure out if it's worth cheating a bit and just replacing the boot. I did an axle replacement with my Dad on his power wagon, but given my luck I'd like to avoid tearing thigns apart any more than necessary. Is something like this a good idea? Other easy ways to just replace the boot?


Thanks for any advice!
Dude living in the Matrix can't you rewind?


Just change the axle its not worth the mess of changing the boot its $200ish out the window but a lot less work and a lot less aggravation
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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The way the real world is going, I wish I could take the blue pill.

In reality, I live in Kentucky... poor enough to need to try and do things myself, which leads to a lot of mistakes. At least I know what mistakes have been made, how I've fixed them, and learn a little something along the way.
 

GTyankee

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Are those axles actually 1/2 shafts ?

If they are, you may find that attempting a repair, may work out to about the same amount of work as replacing the half shaft.
all because of a leaking boot

VW dune buggy companies made a great replacement boot to keep the sand out
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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Yep, and I agree in general it's easier to just replace the whole unit vs dealing with the boots. The main reasons I didn't jump to replacing the axle was the truck is only ~1 year old, it's a minor hole w/ only one trip on it (didn't loose too much lubrication, no sound from the axle), and perhaps most of all (given my luck) I've read about some real horror stories getting the axle apart.

Sure, 90% of the time it just pulls off. The other 10% people report going to all kinds of shenanigans to get it apart. Chains, torches, BFHs. Usually on older trucks where corrosion is more of an issue... but again, given my luck I'd get into an edge case. Even where it looks easy, it's usually a Bob Villa moment (setup, cut, all done it was so easy!). :)

Keeping with my luck... my core end links showed up today. In purple. My order clearly says red. Working with sales to get 'em swapped out. Rest easy knowing a few of us have all the bad luck to spare the rest of you lol.
 

Quick_Shifter

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Yep, and I agree in general it's easier to just replace the whole unit vs dealing with the boots. The main reasons I didn't jump to replacing the axle was the truck is only ~1 year old, it's a minor hole w/ only one trip on it (didn't loose too much lubrication, no sound from the axle), and perhaps most of all (given my luck) I've read about some real horror stories getting the axle apart.

Sure, 90% of the time it just pulls off. The other 10% people report going to all kinds of shenanigans to get it apart. Chains, torches, BFHs. Usually on older trucks where corrosion is more of an issue... but again, given my luck I'd get into an edge case. Even where it looks easy, it's usually a Bob Villa moment (setup, cut, all done it was so easy!). :)

Keeping with my luck... my core end links showed up today. In purple. My order clearly says red. Working with sales to get 'em swapped out. Rest easy knowing a few of us have all the bad luck to spare the rest of you lol.
LOL your luck may be catching up to mine.
Can’t learn without making mistakes did you order your core 4x4 stuff through @Nick@GotExhaust?
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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I should have. I went direct through their website. When I pick up the panhard bar and control arms I’ll give him a shout.
 
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I had the outboard boot get torn when my upper ball joint broke. I went ahead and ordered the mopar replacement boot and swapped it out myself. It was an easy swap and the new boot comes with new grease and the clamps. A $50 fix instead of the $200-250 new cv axle. Mine had about 40k miles and came apart pretty easily. If your persistent you can get it out without popping a ball joint.
 
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BlackSheepRebel

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Thanks! If this gasket adhesive hack doesn't hold, I'll try that. Really don't want to replace a new CV axle!

Granted, with my luck, "just swapping the boot" will turn into another comedy hour.
 
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BlackSheepRebel

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A couple patch attempts have opened back up. I think it’s because despite being a small hole it is right on the “ridge” where it flexes a lot.

This is going to bother me if I don’t just replace it. Looking at doing the half shaft, thought it was weird this site said this PN matches but was discontinued. Is there a new and improved PN? Is this something Nick would stock as an OEM part?

 
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BlackSheepRebel

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Just to follow up on this in case anyone else has the same luck…

Did some more research and the above part is fine. Like many places OEM is out of stock due to globalist-induced “supply chain” shortages. Many sites list the OEM part as unable to order with notes to this effect.

Meanwhile the dealer that was already overpriced appears to have doubled. What was a 250 part has $500 price now lol.

So I tried another patch. A three part kit on Amazon which looked like epoxy, self fusing tape and silicone. Cleaned off all the weather strip adhesive, patched, waited a few days. Don’t waste your money on this crap, it opened up again.

So I’m looking at after market half shafts wondering how bad they are. Not really happy, but not going to pay molar $500. If I can’t find a replacement in the 200 range that isn’t crap I’ll try to replace the boot.
 

Oliver Closehauf

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poor enough to need to try and do things myself
Ummm, I have two possible responses to that statement:

1. You might want to change your signature if you want us to believe that

2. after reading your signature, no wonder you're poor

:)

You get this fixed? Have you tried a bicycle inner tube repair kit? Some of the vulcanizing patches might work.
 
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BlackSheepRebel

BlackSheepRebel

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Ummm, I have two possible responses to that statement:

1. You might want to change your signature if you want us to believe that

2. after reading your signature, no wonder you're poor

:)

You get this fixed? Have you tried a bicycle inner tube repair kit? Some of the vulcanizing patches might work.
ha yeah doing labor myself saves more dough for the toys.

i tried a few different patch techniques discussed here or found on youtube. weatherstrip adhesive, superglue/bike patch, and finally a combination of epoxy (fill the small hole) + self adhesive tape + silicone. each one worked slightly better, but eventually opened back up again. i do some long trips so decided to pay the stupid tax (for putting a hole in it in the first palce) and buy a new cv shaft.

hoping to have time to swap it soon. i have the cv shaft, new axle nut, and new tie rod nut (nyloc)...the only thing i didn't get is the stub shaft, and i'm wondering if i should just replace that too. i skipped it initially because it's all pretty new, but not sure how hard it'll be to separate those.
 

Oliver Closehauf

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Not sure how I ended up here as this thread is so old, but I want to suggest "Flex Seal" as seen on TV. My house is over 100 years old with a slate roof and box gutters. I tried patching a leaky gutter section with 3 different kinds of stuff. In the end I gave a can of flex seal a try and it worked great. Unlike everything else I tried before it, it stayed supple after it dried and didn't crack. Might be worth a try for the next guy.
 
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