Went out to my car today to see which brake wear connectors i had, and i had a suprise waiting for me. Both of my front outter boots are destroyed, and the grease is all over my wheels,brakes and everything. I have searched a bit on here and noticed that there are a few options. There is replacing the boots and going on with life as usual. And than there are people that say to replace the half shaft, and than there are people that say to do the rebuild kit on them.Both of these options are to prevent it from failing etc in the future. How do i tell if my CJ joint or axle is bad and i need to replace/rebuild it? I have had a sound like a rubbing coming from my right front wheel but i thought it was most likely my rotors/pads because i knew i had to redo them. Im trying to get some opinions from people that have done the above stuff, and try to way my options of what to do with it. I am assuming that its not a good idea to drive with out fixing them? Just so you know my car is a 99.5 A4 5 speed quattro with 105k on it.I tried taking pictures, but the file sizes were too big. so i can email pics or if anyone knows how to make them smaller i can do that, that is if pics would help. Left front boot is total seperated all around, the pass. is cracked in a few small places. ANy input would be great. thanks.

 

i'm going re-manufactured on mine. with all the work you have to do to get the boot off, i figured i might as well replace the axle just incase anything got in there to contaminate the joint. and the idea of replacing the joint. it was actually cheaper for me to find a new oe axle than it was for a joint from ecs. if you dont have the tools (17mm allen and 8mm 12 point) it starts to add up fast.

 

You should be careful with the axles. Lately there have been problems with new aftermarket axles not being the right length. A friend went through four of them on his 30v Passat in three weeks. He then opted for a CV rebuild kit and not only was it ridiculously easy to do, it reused the OEM shaft (which we know to be the right length). Zero problems with it since, and the rebuild takes about fifteen minutes once the axle is on the workbench.

I was lucky I guess - last year I bought two Empi axles and they're fine, but the same brand was a complete failure on the Passat. If you go new aftermarket, be warned. I'd seriously advise you to buy the CV rebuild kits. The job is simple enough that my mother could do it with no mechanical knowledge and basic tools.

To the OP, don't wait too long - if one of the joints fails, you'll coast to a stop and won't move again.

 

Hmm.. I wasnt aware of there being issues with the right length.. Do you know where people got these CV joints that were the wrong length. I get this ever so slight click in the front when I start out going straight that ive never been able to figure out.

 

It wasn't a joint problem - the axle shafts themselves on the aftermarket new axles were the wrong length. On our friend's Passat it was as much as half an inch too short. This meant that once installed, the CV joints were being "stretched" to make the reach from diff to hub, and they were wearing out very fast (in one case, inside of 25 miles). The axles were Empi brand, bought through German Auto Parts, and German was awesome with helping him out. They gave full refunds and paid for two-way shipping on every faulty axle, and even sent him upgraded axles for free (not billing him a dime and paying for shipping) to try and get it solved. Even those were too short, and on their recommendation, he bought the CV rebuild kit and we rebuild his OEM shaft with perfect results. Go that route. German said they're in the process of discontinuing the axles themselves since the quality from their supplier isn't there anymore. German was fantastic through the whole process though - don't mistake that. Any one of us involved in it will happily buy from them again.

 

i had to replace my front two CV boots during the winter. my mechanic said that one of the halfaxles needed replacing (part of it was cracked), so I replaced that one but I don't see a reason to replace the other one.

 

Hm interesting.. Im almost positive i replaced mine with Empi but they have lasted a half year now so I hope im good, although it worries me. I just still get a weird click every once and a while.

 

I have Empi axles as well - put them in a year ago and have zero issues. It may be that my car is quattro and his is fwd though - maybe only the fwd axles were made wrong, or maybe I got mine before the problems arose. That part I don't know.

 

damn, why do you guys have to scare me now lol. I got to get it done and now im debating on the rebuild or full half axle? save what about 40-60 bucks going with the rebuild or spend that different one two new axles. decisions decisions. Any idea if they guy that had the short axle problems was ordering the wrong engine code? i noticed that mattered, dont know the exact difference or not. I know i have the AEB engine code. WOnder what else the issue is. any thoughts on that ?

 

www.raxles.com has a great reputation