Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle Driver's side inner CV Boot replacement?

I searched and found a few posts relevant to what I am going to do. I saw one that mentioned cutting the old boot completely off, and disassembling the CV joint, sliding the new boot on, reassembling, and wamma its done. That seems like it would be a lot easier/faster/entertaining than going through the whole remove everything and start from scratch scenario. I was wondering if anyone had any helpful pointers, as I will be doing this tomorrow
Thanks in advance!

Unless the current CV boot has a pinhole leak, it is in your best interest to pull the whole axle in order to clean everything out. Contamination with road grime will not be removed by trying to replace the boot while part of the axle is left on the car. You may even add contamination due to falling road debris while removing/reinstalling. You may have a bear of a time getting the new boot properly clamped down while the axle is still in the vehicle. It's still in your best interest to replace all the grease regardless of how bad of a tear because grease doesn't last forever. Only way to be certain all old grease is removed and no contamination is introduced is to pull the axle shaft and do the boot replacement on a bench.

I think you are better-off by just buying a rebuilt axle shaft and swapping them. This way, you at least get a more complete, limited warrantee. The labor time involved is shorter this way and the mess factor is significantly reduced.

I seem to recall running across a thread that said "the inner CV boot cannot be purchased separately, the only fix is a remanufactured axle assembly". Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this statement.

Dave Keller
1995 Contour SE
1999 Contour SVT

Thanks for the information! I probably will end up pulling the shaft out completely, just to make sure everything goes alright. I read that post also that said a replacement boot was unavailable, but when I went down to the auto parts store, they had one.

Get a whole new axle assy from RAXLES. They use new outer joints, rebuilt inners, premium boots and they are packed with AMSOIL syn grease.
I paid about $137 for mine last April. Changing it is a real PITA, however.

I changed mine today, the only special tool needed was snap-ring pliars. It was real easy, I dissasembled the hub assembly, popped the axle out of the rotor, cut the old inner boot off, my buddy accidentally yanked the axle out of the cup that goes into the transmission, luckily. It was easy as pie, we removed the snap ring from the end of the shaft, removed the bearings, replaced the boot, reattached the bearings, slid the assembly back into the cup, and tightened down the clamps. We also filled everything with grease It went much easier than I thought after we got in there and got dirty. I would highly suggest rubber gloves for this project.