Cardone Boot Problems

[Hawge]

Well,Had my 1st problem with new cardone passenger side, boot. I replaced the stock clamps with screw type only to have the larger clamp squeeze off the boot after about 400 miles. My question is , when i reclamp it, with a little Ultra Cooper RTV, How much gear oil is put back in ? Any help ?

 

[v7guy]

you shouldn't have any gear oil in the CV. It uses CV grease. Gear oil will not do the job.

There's a delicate balance when tightening those clamps on a CV boot, and the aftermarket axels CV boot may not be sufficient for a lifted vehicle. It needs to be firm but not tight. You can't muscle it down.

 

[Hawge]

Thanks for your response. When i switched out the clamps a couple of drops of,what appeared to gear oil, had seeped out leading me to believe it was filled with gear oil. When i went to replace the clamp after it slipped off, i realized it was grease.

 

[The_Roadie]

I wouldn't obsess over a small amount of grease like a couple of thimblefulls. But if you do add any, it's special CV grease only used for this one location in the vehicle.

 

[Sparky]

you shouldn't have any gear oil in the CV. It uses CV grease. Gear oil will not do the job.

There's a delicate balance when tightening those clamps on a CV boot, and the aftermarket axels CV boot may not be sufficient for a lifted vehicle. It needs to be firm but not tight. You can't muscle it down.

Hm I thought the aftermarkets were supposedly better. Hm.

What happens if you crank it down? I have a bad habit of really tightening stuff And how do you know they are proper tightness?

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Stock has been far superior to the Cardone for me. While more flexible, they are far weaker. I had couple ruined by little sticks in the woods poking holes in em. I only use rebuilt shafts with stock style boots now.

 

[v7guy]

I've had a lot of "difficulties" with the aftermarket CV axles. But my combo is shitty and I knew it would likely be a problem going into it.

because of the design you really can't tighten down the clamp on the boot too much or it just pops out, much like you've discovered. Tightening things to much can frequently be just as bad as leaving it loose.

How do you know it's tight enough? Experience.
You want it very firmly tightened, but not so much it's bulging or starting to slip after you tighten it. You also want a significant amount of CV grease in the tripot when you reassemble the axle. There's a little thread on offroadtb "CV boot that stays together", I'm the OP I think. Do a quick search and take a look



With all that said, I wouldn't worry about a little bit of grease seeping out.

 

[Hawge]

After i put more grease in the boot, buy the way it wasn't CV grease, didn't realize it had its own, I placed a small bead of the Ultra Copper RTV in the channel slipped the boot on and clamped it. Its been about a week now and no slippage . I swear buy this stuff, the original boot had a small crack in the crease of the boot, so just for kicks , cleaned the crack put some copper RTV on and it sealed . Gotta love it.