isleblue65

Any tips or tricks to replacing the inner front CV boot (driver's side) on a 2000 2.7t? Mine's torn and spewing grease on my cat downpipe. I plan to replace the outer on the same axle while at it. The kit I ordered does not contain the bolts or axle seal - I saw these referenced in a post after I ordered the boot kit with grease and clamps. I also saw mention of a special tool, but it seems that this is only required on some cars.

Bentley will probably fill me in on a lot of info, but there's nothing like real-world insight to prepare me for what I'm getting into.

old96A4

I replace the whole axle, by the time you take the original out and fool around with taking the CV joint off etc.. you can just replace the whole thing. Axles are not that expensive. around $70 , I've done both fronts on my A6. yes I saved the old ones to put new CV boots on at some point.
pretty easy job... I think I was able to take the bottom control arms off and pull the axle out from the bottom, sometime the bolt holding the top controls in can be a pain to get out.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Pull the axle and fully cut the boot. Remove the triple roller from the base/driver and clean it out. Take the triple roller off the axle...just immerse it in mineral spirits about 3" and swish it around, clean it with a paint brush and flush with clean mineral spirits a couple times. Get an inner boot kit from ECStuning.com and put it back together.

You have to remove the triple roller from the axle to get the new boot and clamp on the axle on the small diameter

You might need tø get a cv joint band crimping tool, they're maybe $15.

Takes maybe an hour. joint boot kit comes with a new bolt but you can probably use the old one again once.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

There has been a lot of back and forth on this, quality of replacement parts, wrong length axles, etc. I've come to the conclusion that replacing a CV joint or triple joint or just the boots is the least expensive and more reliable way to go. Not the least messy, mind you, but least expensive.

isleblue65

ECS Tuning's Front inner CV joint kit is $325.54 per side! I bought a boot kit for $24 for both sides. I have no reason to believe the cvs are bad - just a torn boot.

Do I have to remove the axle to install the inner boot, or just the outer joint to slide it all the way on? I have the clamp tool by the way.

I'm not spending $650 on this job.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Yes. You have to remove the triple roller to get the small end of the boot and the small clamp on the axle. Then you put the triple roller back on the axle, fillip the driver, assemble the axle and roller to driver with boot and clamp after filling driver(housing in bentley)w/grease. You also need a 10mm triple square bit and a long extension and a torque wrench for 52 ft.lbs IIRC. I use air wrench to remove driver housing to flange bolts but not install. Also use blue not red loctite on housing to flange bolts. If you have an innercv joint vice inner triple roller procedure is somewhat different.

isleblue65

OK, thanks. I see that Auto parts Warehouse sold me the wrong boot kit (no flange included, and the part number listed elsewhere as a Chrysler inner boot kit) This one (below) from Blau should be all I'd need, other than the triple square bit which I don't have and some way to separate the axle from roller and driver. Is a puller required, or a BFH to separate? Also, you say:

"Then you put the triple roller back on the axle, fillip the driver..." What is "fillip", or did you mean to say 'flip the driver'?

I appreciate your overview of the job.

Blau kit:
http://www.blauparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=F4C2007-DD

SloopJohnB@mac.com

yep...I think you need this øne for manual trans (ECS lists another øne for automatic:
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-C5_A6-...eshaft/ES1485/

I see you have this inner CV joint rather than the triple roller:
http://img.eautopartscatalog.com/hir...300&height=300

As you can see you need to remove the circlip to get the joint off and the small end of the boot on. Sometimes there is a dished washer that preloads the inner joint against the circlip...easy to open the circlip to get the joint off but you have to put the joint øn (don't forget to grease the splines with cv joint grease) and then slide the circlip over the splines and press the circlip/joint assembly down using a large socket or axle socket towards the outer end øf the axle to get the circlip to snap in. Or not. YMMV.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

All you really need is an inside/outside circlip pliers. Any auto parts store should have a cheap convertible one...I like a slightly more expensive pair that I don't have to fool around with changing from inside to outside.

About as cheap as you can get:

http://www.harborfreight.com/snap-ri...FUOo4Aodqk6nxA

isleblue65

I invested in a few pairs of inside/outside snap ring pliers from Snap-On about 15 years ago, so I'm good there. This job shouldn't be too difficult.
Cheers for the help.