My mechanic reports I need to replace my driver's side axle. Curiously, I wan't told that I couldn't drive it. Is this dangerous?

Anyways, I'm ordering the part online, and it seems that the axle assemblies sold online do not come with the boots. Both mechanics I've taken the car to insist however that they've never seen an axle assembly NOT come with the boots. I suspect that they've don't have any experience with online OEM vendors, but rather, only with Audi itself.

The online vendors do sell both inner and outer boot kits, so I'm wondering if I can simply get away with my mechanic re-using my existing boots with the new axle assembly. My mechanic doesn't believe that an axle would be shipped w/o the boots, so I didn't ask if he could re-use the existing ones.

Any experience with these things? Thanks...

 

OK, looking at the picture I think it does come with the boots after all. I'm surprised at how cheap this is. $110 for the entire axle and boots. The manufacturer is EMPI and ordered from autopartsworld. I hope both are reputable companies (never heard of them).

 

are you talking about the half shafts? they come with boots and everything, basicly just pop it in. if your halfshaft needed to be replaced you most likely wouldnt be driving it.

 

Outer boot kits areprobably allyou need, unless they've been broken for a long time and the cv joint is making a clicking/clunking noise around sharp corners. Ijust did my 2 front outers thisweekend. The boot kits are about $20 a side, so you'll save $ if that's all it really needs.

 

Well, both mechanics claimed I needed a new axle on the driver's side. So, if it were truly broken, then I wouldn't be able to drive it? There aren't any strange noises, and I wasn't told that it couldn't be driven. It sounds as if the boot kit is all that is needed here, and perhaps they just wanted me to get the whole shebang, as it seems it's easier to replace than the trying to install just the boot.