Front suspension dust boot split at very young age

[wrcsixeight]

Installed new Moog Idler arms today.
Greased all front suspension zerks.

Noticed 2 rubber boots split from the center to the perimeter.

One boot has been out of the box, in service for 4 months, the other for 15 months.

The suspension had not been abused since I installed the new parts. Mild temperatures.

Poor quality boots?
Improper install?
Corrosive grease?
Common ?
Better aftermarket boots available?

Thx

 

[Quest]

not sure what you are talking about RE: rubber boots. Are you talking about tie rod end ball joint boots? lower ball joint boots?

Also: what vehicle are you talking about?

Q.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Sorry for the need for clarification.

One of the torn boots is a tie rod end boot, the other is on the drag link.

The vehicle is the Van in my signature.

 

[NHGUY]

Cheap China rubber.The pressure of the grease probably blew it out.Go with colored Poly replacements.Energy Suspension...etc. And dont buy the Taiwanese Dorman replacements,they are terrible.

 

[andyd]

Wow, castle nuts and cotter pins. If the ball joint is OK, I reboot. Either replace the boot or the entire thing depending the condition of the ball and socket.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Thanks. The front suspension is now completely rebuilt. Control arm bushings, springs, bump stops, ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arms, drag link.

It's just the 2 boots that have split disgustingly prematurely. These do not really seal and it would be impossible to balloon them up with grease like the ball joint boots. The ball joint boots are still fine. I found some of the aftermarket TRE boots online and will order them up.

Thanks.

 

[mechtech2]

Keep them well greased until you fix them.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Shortly after this mid november thread of last year, I replaced the 2 damaged boots with some polyurethane ones.

Now I have an annoying squeak, but am not 100% sure it is the new boots. I crawled under, and red straw sprayed all the boots with some silicone spray then wiped all with a rag. Doing reverse pushups on my back, I was not able to replicate squeak.

More than a little annoying considering all the effort I have spent rebuilding the whole front suspension.

Any Ideas?

 

[Trav]

I doubt its the poly boots. Stupid question.. Did you tighten the lower control arms with the weight of the truck on them and not up in the air?

BTW i just went through some big problems with Moog boots, 2 were split right out of the box and one was 2mm too small, i called Moog and they said they have had some problems.
OEM only for me from now on, i cant afford the problems.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Not a stupid question,
I tightened the LCA bolts after the van was back on its wheels.

I'm now suspecting the strut rod bushings

 

[wrcsixeight]

I crawled under there today, and determined the squeaking was from the lower control arm bushing.

Apparently I should have re torqued them at some point after I Installed them. Here you can see the teeth on the inner cylinder of my previous bushings.

I guess the teeth on the new bushing dug in or flattened out since the install

I drove it to the flat area I originally tightened the LCA bolts with the weight on the wheels, and got about 3/4 more turn on each bolt.

Squeakus Endicus!

Thanks Trav for pointing the way

 

[wrcsixeight]

Just had to replace another split TRE end boot with some Energy Suspension aftermarkets. This split boot was Mcquay Norris brand, but not the 'extreme' version.

I don't care for the red color, but they were less expensive than black, and with free shipping.

I'm glad I have access to a Pitman arm puller which makes replacing these boots simple. I'm not big on hammering suspension components with a picklefork.