the tiniest of slits in that boot will cause problems. it holds in all the grease for the cv joint. if there is a hole, the centripidal force caused by the spinning axle will throw all the grease right out of there.

your axle is not broken. you would not be moving if it was broken. the cv joint is just lacking grease. that is whats causing the noise. that slit could have been caused by something on the new hubs that was sticking out, or by something sharp getting flung up and cutting it. a pothole wont do that without cracking your rim in two.

get them to check the end of the axle. if the spline isnt all chewed up its fine. just get a new boot, clean up everything inside, and throw some fresh grease in there.

 

Ok, I'll go ahead and try that and see if it helps. I also know that when I'm making U-turns to the left side, the steering wheel stays in place. So let's say if you were in a parking lot, and you turned left in circles, you could actually get out of the car and it would still be making circles. It's not the same with the right side.

But thanks for the help guys. The roads here are like /\/\/\/\/\__/\/\ so it was just concerning me if perhaps I should have gone with 16's instead, and I made this thread because I wouldn't want the community buying big rims for our small hubs and wasting their time and money.

Thanks again.

 

Sure they do! They take the same amount of wear, so why wouldn't they break around the same time? Both of my axles went bad at the same time. It's no different than brake pads, or struts, or any other part where you should replace both at the same time. Because if one has gone bad, the other is sure to follow within a short period of time.

 

Yeah, axles are heavy metal man, but they do wear out bro.

It's just a coincidence, and a LOT of miles. Just get it fixed bro. It has NOTHING to do with 17's.

 

Everytime you change oil, inspect your CV boots for cracks. If there are signes of cracking - simply change boot, this way your CV joint will work ok for a long time.

 

way back when I had my excel, I had a rear wheel bearing go.. had to cold chisel it off of the axle.. I got it replaced, drove the car ten miles, and the other side did the same thing. Like was said above, unless you drive in circles all day, your axles more or less both take the same amount of stress.

 

i just don't like the idea of cleaning everything and replacing the boot. mainly cuz i work for a nationwide automotive service company, they've trained me to say, "replace." anything bigger than a pinhole in the boot isn't good and should be replaced, not repaired. pretty sure MAP guidelanes say to replace, and thats what we use.

or we just say replace cuz its more $$ in commission. wink1.gif ... and you can't gaurentee you cleaned it out thoroughly

 

I'm reviving/adding to this thread instead of starting a new one.

I found this post by Agarwal to be very helpful in removing my axle.

I recently noticed this tear in my driver's side inner CV boot:



I cut off the boot. Notice the grease inside is fine, stilll buttery smooth. Er, lard smooth anyway.



I wanted to buy a standard boot, but Advance Auto only had split ones. The sales guy was really pushing it too. DO NOT BUY A SPLIT BOOT! What shite. Advance is doing a great disservice even carrying these.



Yes, those bands are farking tight, and there is still a huge gap on either end. The band is not folded all the way because I was trying over and over to get it tighter. In short, it was much worse than my torn boot. It doesn't fit the axle at all, and didn't seal.

So I bought a real boot from Napa. Beware that the smaller band included with the Napa boot IS TOO BIG. I had to go out yet again and buy the right bands. Also, the little wire retainer ring that goes on the tip of the axle on the tranny side does not fit. You can't even get the axle back in the tranny with it on. Use the stock one. Anyway. . .

Following Agarwal's advice instead of webtech's directions, you only have to remove the two bolts holding the knuckle to the strut. I had to cut both of mine off, as they were rusted solid:



Once the axle is out, it's easy peasy.





Put a lot of excess grease behind the bearing before reinstalling, and it will push the last of the old grease out, no need to use solvents:





One final note. You don't have to drain the tranny fluid before removing the axle. You will only lose about half a quart. I decided to, however, since I wanted to try Royal Purple. It's a good thing too. Even though my gear oil was only 1.5 years old, changed when I had a new clutch put in, there was a lot of fine metal powder:



It looks almost like liquid graphite. The oil itself was still really clear, believe it or not. I've done some reading, and supposedly this is normal and not an indication of problems. The drain plug magnet was covered as well.

Anyway, you certainly can just change a torn boot if you catch it in time. No need for a new axle.