cv boot or cv joint

My hus band went and got new tire and they said we need a new cv boot. How
much do they cost and how much would it be to get the joint and boot
together? Also on the paper it says R&I Axle Shaft what does that mean.
It's Pepboys where we got the tires so I don't know how well they do
working on cars other than tires

 

Pepboys? Sorry for you/....

 

Back in 2003 I paid $168 (Northern California) to have the outer left cv
boot replaced on my '94 Civic. If you catch a torn boot early, i.e.
before much of the grease comes out and before any dirt gets in,
replacing the boot only is a good solution. If you have driven the car
for some time with a torn boot, replacing the CV joint and boot is
advisable. As a practical matter, most mechanics will replace the entire
half-shaft (= axle) with a rebuilt one. A little higher parts cost and a
little less labor.

By R&I they mean "Remove & Install". If it were my car, I'd probably not
let Pep Boys or any of the other big franchises do the work. If you post
where you are located, someone in this group might recommend a good
mechanic in your area.

 

How many miles on the car? Many places sell the entire assembly for $100
with lifetime warranty...but you sill have to pay for the installation if it
fails.

I'd go somewhere other the PB. Where R U located?

G-Man

 

If the torn boot was discovered in the process of replacing the tire,
chances are the lubrication in the CV joint is bad and the joint itself may
already be on the way out. Most shops won't replace just the boot (split
boots are available for DIYers) because the joint is too likely to go bad,
and guess who pays then?

Replacement of the axle is usually the way to go. It is a tough DIY job
without air tools because of the tight axle nut and the *$^&! taper pin on
the ball joint. Prices of parts and labor vary widely. When I was lazy and
farmed out the axle replacement on my daughter's '93 Accord, Honda wanted
$300 parts and labor. I got the replacement part at NAPA for about $90 and
took it to an independent who quoted me $68 labor (I wouldn't do it for that
little, air tools or no!). Unfortunately the independent also tacked on a
4-wheel alignment for $40. An alignment is not needed when replacing the
axle. Phooey. Now I do it myself.

Mike

 

Thanks for the advise. I have a good mechanic who told me he could replace
the axle for $190.00 including labor. The thing is we bought the car 2
years ago used but we knew the owner and they gave us all the maintaince
paperwork and the axles were just replaced right befire we bought the car
in 2003 the car had 115,530 miles on it then and its only got 121,171
miles on it now whuy would it be bad already?

 

In that case, it is worth a quick peek yourself to be sure Pep Boys was
giving you the straight scoop. The boots should last 5 years in a hot
climate or 10 years in a cool climate.

Bad CV joint boots are very obvious. If you look under the car, where the
axles are a couple inches away from the wheels, you will see a large black
bellows-like rubber covering over the end of the axle. That is the boot, and
the outer CV joint is inside. (The outer boots almost always go before the
inner ones because they have to put up with the steering.) When they fail,
they tear at the bottom of one of the corrugations with the tear extending a
few inches at first and quickly extending most or all the way around the
axle. Large amounts of black grease are thrown out of the tear and the
grease is slung around the whole area.

$190 is a good price for parts & labor.

Mike

 

The price $190 is only for one is that still a good price?

 

'Fraid so. The part is about half that amount at the chain parts stores, and
$100 is a decent price for the work involved. It isn't a huge amount of
work, but it is still a bit of a chore even with a lift and the proper
tools.

Since they were both apparently new only a couple years ago I wouldn't
recommend doing both sides. Normally it is better to bite the bullet and do
both since the other should be about ready to rip, but in your case the
mystery is why this one tore at all. (It's all about age and heat - I've
never heard of any being torn by road debris... although I suppose it could
happen.)

BTW - have the mechanic look the brake rotor over when he is in there. I
don't know about your car, but my daughter's '93 Accord is made so replacing
the brake rotor takes 90% of the work to replace the axle. If that's the
case and the rotor is headed for replacement soon, better to do it at the
same time.

Mike

 

I don't know what car you have but on a '95 Accord the dealer charged me
$290 to do one and my mechanic charged me $145 to do the other. I replaced
my own on a '90 Civic and it wasn't a tough job other than I had to do the
right one four times due to crappy parts. I do have rust free cars, though,
so they come apart relatively easily.

WW

 

Thanks guys,I am getting it fixed tomorrow but before my mechanic orders
anything he is going to look just to make sure pepboys is rght about it
needing to be fixed,because you never know with them,also like he said
they could of just repacked the old one and said its new.

 

I've recently done one on a '93 Accord (and then had to do rotors on both
sides, which is essentially the same job... curse me) and both on a '94
Integra. The tough parts are the same on both - unstake the dog on the axle
nut and get the axle nut off (easy with air tools, a devil with hand tools)
and separate the taper pin on the lower ball joint (tough to do without
tearing the ball joint boot even with air tools, unless you have "the
touch"). The first one I ever did was on a Dodge that was a maintenance
nightmare, but the axle was easy. There was no taper pin on the ball joint,
just a straight pin with a pinch clamp.

I think most of the dealer price is the part - you know they aren't using a
rebuilt from the local parts store.

Mike

 

Hey guys i need one more thing,how much is a wheel bearing and wheel hub ,
i am trying to figure how much money i need.i just looked at the axles the
one is completely leaking grease all over my wheel and i am afraid that it
ruined my bearing or hub,and the other one is cracking so i dont know why
after 2 years they are already going bad,my mechanic said they might of
painted them and said they were replaced.

 

another thing can the leaking boots cause the bearing or hub to go bad? one
person i talked to said yes and another one said no.please help i dont want
to put more money out than i have to

 

No - definitely not. The hub is designed to deal with the very common
problem of bad CV joint boots. It will have to be wiped more-or-less clean
(out of general tidiness) but that is a normal part of axle replacement and
is certainly included in the price.

Mike

 

wonder why they told me they hope my hub or bearing isnt bad because of the
grease leaking from the boot

 

Well, I hope they aren't bad, either But I'm certain they aren't. I've
seen a bunch of bad CV joint boots but I've never even seen the grease get
on the brake disc, much less damage the hub. Don't worry about it.

Maybe they have seen a hub that was damaged when the axle was replaced and
the axle nut not torqued enough afterward. (The fit doesn't slack off when
the axle fails - it has to be when it is disassembled.) The guilty mechanic
may have tried to pass off the damage to the hub as being from the axle, but
what happens is that the spline fit of the axle to the hub starts wallowing
out if the nut isn't properly torqued... proper torque is somewhere over 100
ft-lbs; very tight. If so, that mechanic deserves coal in his stocking (why
wait 'til Christmas for that?) for not owning up to his mistake. The failure
shows up initially as creaking from the wheel, progressing to loss of drive
as the axle starts spinning in the hub. The only fix then is to replace both
parts.

Mike

 

"> I've recently done one on a '93 Accord (and then had to do rotors on both

The "touch" with the ball joint is using a big hammer on it. Just hit it on
the front after loosening the bolt a few turns. I was leery of doing this
until a mechanic at my dealer told me he did them this way. If the dealer
tech does it, it should be OK for a DIY job. Since the ball joint stud is
tapered, hitting the part it goes through causes it to pop out. At least it
did for me. Also, I had no problem with the axle nut on my Civic using a
cheater bar on a 1/2" ratchet. YMMV.

WW

 

alright guys wish me luck,its getting fixed today i will let you all know
how it went.

 

I didn't see room to swing a hammer in a direction that would do any good,
but I tried an air hammer with a 4 lb hammer as an anvil. No joy. Eventually
I used an air chisel as a pickle fork type wedge on the area where the two
pieces overlapped beside the ball joint boot and that got it. The impact
wrench made the axle nut easy, especially after using the air chisel to
unstake the nut Usually a humungous cheater bar will get the axle nut
loose okay, but the first time it's done on a Honda can bring tears to your
eyes. I swear the factory must put Superglue in all their threads.

I suppose the tight nut is better than the alternatives. My older son's
first car was an old Subaru that had the hub destruction I described to
"rynniki". (That's how I knew so much about it!) The wheel creaked when we
bought the car and it took a while to figure out what was going on. The axle
nut didn't resist when we removed it, and the worn splines inside told the
rest of the story. We tried greasing the splines to slow the destruction
process but it didn't help much.

Mike