Sorry for the late reply. I have been working on this frantically for the past few days. I finally got it done but there were more than a few touch and go moments.
I did buy the Lisle boot pliers. They worked great, although I did use a rubber mallet to get as much crimp on there as I could. I could not understand why only one clamp was a different type or how it worked. But a lot of googling led to me to understand that they are
Oetiker low profile clamps and I was able to use the Lisle 30800 CV boot pliers in an ad hoc fashion to close the clamp.
The
Lisle 44900 Lock ring plier something that I would also recommend to have on hand for the transmission style snap ring that separates the axle. It's made in the USA for less than the Chinese junk on Amazon which is weird. I had tried to use a snap ring plier for this job, and the bits snapped off. I do recommend not trying that. I had to order the Lisle pliers overnight as I was stuck at that point.
The passenger side axle took a couple days of pounding to get out of the differential. That big tuning fork looking axle popper kit would have been put to use for sure. I ordered some Wilde pry bars from Harry Epstein which are still coming, but I did get it out on the last attempt.
I chose not to disassemble the axles completely. I have never done any of this before and that was a bridge too far honestly. I wiped as much as I could with paper towels. I used 3-5 rolls worth until the
wiping was mostly clean but it took hours. I did try dish soapy water, but it was more hassle than it helped. I stained my plastic utility sink with even that minor attempt. I did not try any solvents or gasoline as I read to not do that. I should have asked and dug deeper into that, as the paper towel method took a long time.
The CV boots that came on the car looked and felt identical to the ones I put on. So I am hoping for another 214,000 miles and 15 years without any leaks. The old grease in the driver's side looked very similar to the new stuff, just less. The passenger side grease was much runnier however. Some water may have gotten in there.
The axles had a hard time going back in, so I ended up sanding the locking ring that goes into the differential with some 600 grit sand paper. There was marring on them both and I just made them a little smoother, they went in like I saw on youtube videos after that.
While I was doing the CV Boots I also put new Bilstein shocks on the front, swapping the springs out was a major pain. I went with KYB for new top hats, and they turned out to be Chinese made which surprised me, OEM is much more expensive though so I don't know what I do if I had to do it over again. New front sway bar end links from Sankei 555 (Japan), front sway bar bushings (Moog; USA), rear sway bar bushings (AC Delco Professional; Korea), new rear diff fluid (AMSOIL 75w140), transfer case (AMSOIL 80w90), and front diff (AMSOIL 80w90). I also tried to grease the U joints and driveshaft, but the seals on one of the u joints just crumbled. Not sure what to do about that yet.
Thank you to everyone who replied with advice and tips. You guys individually make for an amazing community on here!
