# How hard to replace outer CV boot on 96 Sentra GXE?



## ProV1 (Jul 6, 2006)

Hi,

Dealer told me that the outer CV boot is torn and needs replacing. They said it's a fresh tear so the CV joint is fine; just replace the boot ASAP. They wanted $250 for the job.. yeah ok the part is like $12 at Autozone!! 

How hard is the install, I'll do it myself..


----------



## zachmccool (Mar 7, 2005)

I think you ought to just replace the entire thing, that's what i did. The new shafts only cost $96 and then you have the peace of mind that you CV joint are indeed fine. Plus i think you have to remove the shaft to replace the boot enyway.


----------



## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

zachmccool said:


> I think you ought to just replace the entire thing, that's what i did. The new shafts only cost $96 and then you have the peace of mind that you CV joint are indeed fine. Plus i think you have to remove the shaft to replace the boot enyway.


Yes to do this yourself you remove the shaft assembly then dismantle the joints to replace the boots. Fairly long job, and messy, and yes you can get exchange axles with lifetime warrantee fairly low cost from the Auto supply places, autozone etc etc.


----------



## snoop (Jun 13, 2005)

not unless you buy one of those boots that come in two pieces at auto zone, you just put the greese in the joint put the boot over the shaft, super glue the two pieces and clamp it down.

But if you do replace the whole shaft, make sure its the exact same size as the stock one cuz when i replaced mine they gave me one that was about a 1/2 in. shorter twice and it kept comming out of the tranny whenever i made a sharp turn


----------



## Bull (Jan 28, 2005)

do not use the ones that come split. just take a saturday, or whatever day you have to spare and pull the whole thing out and replace the entire boot. if you get a split boot, more than likely it will develope a leak and you'll keep doing this every few months. it's not that hard to pull the whole thing off. don't be intimadated, I did the same job and it saved me money and I'm no mechanic, just take your time and do it right, and if you haven't already, download the FSM and you can just print out the pages you need to take with you to the garage.


----------



## 95 SentraB13 (Jun 14, 2002)

Definitely worth doing yourself for 2 reasons, first off to save money, secondly to give you hands on experience fixing the car yourself. Like Bull said, it's not that difficult, probably a 2.5 out of 5 (5 being the most difficult). The toughest or most strenuous part is removing the outer axle spline from the wheel hub, at least in my case. After that I cleaned out the grease, washed it with Varsol and then soap and water and dried it out.

My axle boot was tore in half so the shaft itself was exposed and slightly covered in dust, sand and small rocks. I thought, based on what I read on this forum, I would need to replace the axle - 2 years later and it's still okay. Definitely go with the $12 vs. $80+ and enjoy a day off working on the car. I found replacing a whole axle(1 on the Sentra, 2 on the 200sx SE-R) more difficult and awkward than just doing the boot.

**Note: You WILLl need a set of boot/ring clamp pliers. Either buy one or check locally for rent/loan-a-tool store nearby.


----------



## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

95 SentraB13 said:


> **Note: You WILLl need a set of boot/ring clamp pliers. Either buy one or check locally for rent/loan-a-tool store nearby.


before going and getting a special band tool, check the type of boot clamp in the kit you buy.
I have purchased some that have a coarse adjustment then you tighten with pliers on a crush 
adjuster. ( I have a boot band clamp tool so I did not shop for this type of clamp deliberately.)
good luck....


----------



## zachmccool (Mar 7, 2005)

Well after a year with the new cv shafts my inner CV boot tore this weekend at the autox event i was at. Dose that seam right to only get a year out of a saft?? I mean sher the added stress of racing and all but come on. 48min of extra hard running should not cause this should it?


----------



## ProV1 (Jul 6, 2006)

thanks guys. bought the boot kit at autozone for like $11. will post when i replace it.


----------



## IanH (Feb 11, 2003)

zachmccool said:


> Well after a year with the new cv shafts my inner CV boot tore this weekend at the autox event i was at. Dose that seam right to only get a year out of a saft?? I mean sher the added stress of racing and all but come on. 48min of extra hard running should not cause this should it?


If it tore when it was that new I suspect some sort of road hazard type impact tore it not Autocrossing. What reason do you have to believe that autocrossing caused this ?


----------



## zachmccool (Mar 7, 2005)

At first i thought it was a blown strut (go read my right up on the suspension thread, also no sine of leak before now big sine of leek), called a fellow autoxer and asked if a thick grees leaking from my strut is a sine of it being blown. He seed to check all of my cv boots. Found that inner driver side boot was torn open all the way around the clamp and that all the grees was flung out. So now i'm going to have to replace it agian and wile i'm at it i think i'm going to replace the front struts with the adjustable ones.


----------



## zachmccool (Mar 7, 2005)

Well i just major fucked up. I when out jacked up my car, pulled the wheel off, and started the engine. put the car in 5th and let out the clutch to see if both boots were fucked, with in 30sec the shaft seized and now my car wont even move. Got to replace it now.


----------



## zachmccool (Mar 7, 2005)

Well, replaced the shaft. The origanal replacement shaft was for a AT not a MT, this explains the premature failure. Good thing it was under wornt and that they would swap it out. I was also running really low on gear grees (now that that's fixed i now can shift into 1st from 2nd.)


----------

