Inner CV Boot

[Ekapol]

That time of the year again that I need the CV boot.

This time is the left inner one. Ripped open pretty nicely. That little boot shouldn't have that much greasy thingy.
You know the rest of the story

A little while back, I had changed both outter boots.

Please let me know where I could order them or the part number. I might need to change the outter one again with the inner one correct?

Appreciate your help. Thank you.

[algirdas]

Dear Ekapol:

I just did my inside right CV boot before coming up to the LOG. I originally changed out all four using the Bailcast boot kits from Nitoma. You can get them from Keiko Sakate, Nitoma, Inc., 12524 McCann Drive, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670. Tel. (562) 946-8827. If I recall correctly, you turned us onto them in an earlier thread. I think each boot kit is around $10.50. DBC100 (for the Cavalier) is the one to get (I think).

Plus, I did the inner CV boot the way you suggested (remove the caliper and disc, undo the lower ball joint, drop down the lower wishbone and swing the axle down and out toward the front). Once the end of the axle was free, I cut away the old boot, slipped the boot fitting cone over the outer CV, sprayed it with cone spray and slid the boot on over the cone and onto the axle past the outer CV.

Other Points to Ponder-In doing this be careful that the inner CV joint does not pull out. Don't manhandle it.

Related to the foregoing, once you have fitted the new boot, you may notice that the cone does not come off of the axle. This is due to the fact that there is now a vacuum infront of the outboard CV joint inside the cone. Just take out the bolt on the end of the cone and the vacuum should be relieved.

You may recall that I recently replaced all four of my CV boots and be wondering why I am doing this again. The two boots on the right side leaked grease. I replaced the straps securing the boots on the outboard right and that seems to have solved the problem.

The inboard continued to leak despite my putting straps on tighter and tighter. Then I noticed that the rubber boot itself had developed a series of pinholes out of which the grease would get flung. After removing the old boot, I noticed that the boot rubber was almost paper thin in those areas. I concluded that it was a defective boot. My outboard one seems to have a few "paper thin" areas as well but they are not leaking at the moment.

Doing it your way resulted in my changing out that boot in less than two hours.

Sinceely,

Algirdas

[tweetdriver63]

According to the parts cross-reference list at the golden gate lotus club's site, they are the same boots as the '91 Isuzu Impulse, which doesn't surprise me since the engine and transmission are the same. That might make it a lot easier to find them. They even have them at Autozone. The same part numbers show up at their website for the Isuzu and the Cavalier.

[Ekapol]

Thank you all for the replies. This time it will be the inner boot which I think I will need to change the outter boot again at the same time.

[Ekapol]

I managed to change the inner boot with out draining the transmission fluid by pulling out the bearing section and undoing the bearing clip.

Now I'm facing another problem. At that very last step. How do you actually tighten the lower ball joint nut (19 mm)? It just keeps spinning around itself.

I made some attempts to remove the bottom cap underneath the ball joint just that it might help if I can secure it from underneath but couldn't get it out. Don't know what to do now. I need to make it 1/8 of an inch tighter.

The rubber seal on the top the lower ball joint seems to leak some grease. Did you change that too?

[dapinky]

I've not done this job on an elan, so refuse to take any blame if it goes wrong.......

now the disclaimer is out of the way......

Normally, all ball joints are a taper fit into the housing, therefore you need to push the joint into the housing, so that it will grip and you can tighten up the nut with a spanner (wrench).

Easiest way to do this, in my experience, is to put a scissor or trolley jack under the bearing and raise it to push it home enough to grip (DO NOT ACTUALLY JACK UP THE CAR ON THE ARM) - it's just a bit of pressure to get the housing to grip the plain taper shaft enough to tighten the nut - the tighter it gets, the better it will grip, so do not overtighten or it will be a bugger to undo next time.

[Monty]

I tried what Da pinky says above and some times it works, but if u`r using new nylon nuts then a large G clamp is the way to go.

[Ekapol]

Thanks DaPinky. Thanks Monty.

Those are right at the spot answers.

At the shop, they had another stand pushing the lower wishbone up while another guy pushing down with his body weight hanging on the pry bar, just so that another guy can tighten up that lower ball joint nut.

Probably I have to try develop another technique next time. Undo the upper suspension instead

Monty, so the big G-clamp works for you correct? I might need to get one.

Heh.. It feels so nice knowing that your Elan is 100% again.